This game (boxed with Frankenstein: Through the eyes of the monster) is on sale at EB for $10. I thought I couldn't go wrong with a game effectively costing $5, so I got it. Loads of fun.May I share my thoughts with you?

An older game (of 1996 vintage) M:TOTP is a first person, point and click game that takes you to a mining operation in Egypt. You are Michael Cameron, sent by the suits in NYC to figure what's going wrong at the mine.

You run into various FMV characters, none for very long except for the mining operations chief, played by Malcolm McDowell. The other characters are moved offstage by various means, but in the early part of the game, every time you trigger something, he shows up to complain about your snooping around. But he never does anything about it, even after you steal stuff right out of his office.

Well, not to give too much away, the mine is close to a pharaoh's tomb, and in the tomb, is a (you guessed it) crystal that will allow
you to control the world, or get eternal life, or something. And of course the Nazis were onto this, too. So you have to go get it.

Nazis, mummies, powerful crystals. OK, so the plot is a bit hackneyed. I liked the game anyway. I did it without a walkthrough except for one thing that I didn't see when I should have. The puzzles are fairly clued, though they can be tricky at times. It's all inventory based, and walking around, and reading maps. Not much in the way of set pieces like sliders or anything.

(You know, I read complaints about sliders all the time, but I love them. But I've only seen maybe two or three slider puzzles out of the thirty or so games I've played. Where are they all?)

There's a maze or two, but not anything elaborate. Some actions are timed, and you can get killed, and you don't get an automatic restart, so save a lot. But it's nothing you can't handle, trust me.

McDowell's acting is good, (it's an oily character he plays, and he's good at that) and the limited acting by everybody else is ok too. Actually the guy doing the voiceovers of your character isn't so good, but there is one priceless moment when he's reading the heiroglyphics about the legend of the tomb where he mutters "Boy, this is a long story". ROTFL

So, for the price, this is a excellent choice. I liked it a lot. Now on to Exile.

esube

I decided to give Mummy a miss after the QuickTime that came with Frankenstein made a mess in my registry. I don't know if Mummy uses the same version of QuickTime (2.03 or something) but I didn't want to risk it.

About sliders...

Two really awful sliders are in Puzz3D Orient Expres (took me 3 days) and 11th Hour (gave up and cheated).
There's one in Black Dahlia with different size pieces, which I solved in less than an hour.
Safecracker has a 4 x 4.
Celtica has an easy 3 x 3.
Pandora Directive has a 2 x ? (maybe 2 x 10?)
Labyrinth of Time has a 4 x 4.
Cracking the Conspiracy has one.
The Ward has some 3 x 3's, from what I've heard. I think one of them is timed.
11th Hour actually has 2. One has different sized pieces and that's the one I cheated on. The other has a gold and black door, which took a long time to do because you had to arrange a picture of smudges - not very distinctive.

Sliders don't usually bother me if they're the usual 4 x 4. I have more trouble with odd sized pieces or gimmicks like stuck pieces (like the huge slider puzzle in Puzz3D Orient Express).

I enjoyed Mummy - I do remember that I thought it was a little on the short side, but at the current give away prices it is definitely worthwhile. I thought the graphics were nice too. I agree totally with your assessment of Malcolm McDowell. I was surprised to see him in it. His character and talent really took this game to a higher level.

Laura

Mummy,TOTP, was my very first adventure game, and I was hooked. I, too, bought it packaged with Frankenstein. And, yes, they both used obscure versions of the infamous Quicktime! After that, it was on to Myst and then Riven. I still think fondly of Mummy, and may even play it again someday, although with the graphics available today, it will probably seem somewhat flat.

Pat

Hey esube! Great review! I played Mummy TOTP a few months ago for the same reason you did--at $5, could a true BAAGer pass it up?! Of course not! I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the acting, and the integration of the puzzles into the story line. I even goofed around underground for longer than necessary, just so I could ride those zippy little mine cars! I hope others will stumble onto this little gem--it provided hours of entertainment.

Daysleeper