Curse: They Eye of Isis can best be described as Resident Evil in Egypt. Despite the unique setting, all the things that make survival horror such a take-it-or-leave-it genre are present in full form, which makes it a game worth renting before a purchase.
Set in a late 1800's British museum, Curse has you playing as two friends set to reunite at a showing of an Egyptian artifact. Of course, before this can happen, someone dies, the museum doors mysteriously lock, and thus you are off to find out what's going on.
Let's get this out of the way – the survival horror genre has made great strides since the clunky interfaces of such titles as Resident Evil were chart-toppers. Curse, however, sends the player back to PS1 days, with miserable camera angles the likes of which the world thought extinct, and an inventory system that actually makes the player step to a door, examine said door, then manually select the appropriate item from the inventory. Haven't we moved past this sort of thing?
Most of the enemies you'll encounter are clichés. Mummies, zombies, the "mysterious" yellow force that reanimates the (un)dead, etc. Combat is as clunky as any RE game ever managed to be, though the flamethrower is an absolute delight. The game's few puzzles are nothing but simple fetch quests. The list of complaints above may have been innovative mechanics in the 1990s, but today they just seem tedious and archaic.
To the game's credit, it does a good job of immersing you in its world, thanks to the crisp, clean textures and palette of theme-appropriate dark colors. The voice acting seems to be the only thing that has gotten a next-gen update, as Curse features far better voice work than the classic fossils it derives from. All in all, Curse's presentation may be the best thing about the game.
Perhaps the biggest problem with Curse is that the game forces players to meet it half-way in order to enjoy it – to experience the intriguing story and immersive production values, gamers have to get past the mile-high roadblocks formed by the controls and often tedious pacing. This was easier to do back when this kind of game was fresh and new; but in 2004, all but the most ravenous fans of the "house that Capcom built" are going to want to leave Curse's gameplay conventions where they are – dead and buried, in the past.
-George
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