Curse: The Eye of Isis is a survival horror video game that was developed by British studio Asylum Entertainment and published by DreamCatcher Interactive and Wanadoo for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Windows. It was released stateside for Windows in October 2003 and for Xbox in April 2004. The PlayStation 2 version was only released in Europe.
| Curse: The Eye of Isis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Asylum Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Sai Wun Poon |
| Designer(s) | Jacqui Jomain |
| Programmer(s) | George Kartvelishvili Ed Key Graeme Baird Ian Cottrell Martin Fermor Richard Steer |
| Artist(s) | Jason White |
| Writer(s) | Dan Gould Louis Ho |
| Composer(s) | Mike Willox |
| Platform(s) | Windows Xbox PlayStation 2 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
It shares the same sort of atmospheric setting, gameplay, fixed camera angles, and ammo preservation as the earlier Resident Evil games, as well as many other archetypal survival horror games in the genre, such as ObsCure and Silent Hill.
The Xbox version of the game was very briefly backwards compatible with the Xbox 360, but was removed from the list because of glitches on December 1, 2005. The game remains unplayable on that system.
Story
editThe game is set in 1890s victorian London. Darien Dane was invited by his childhood female friend Victoria Sutton to see the egyptian exhibition at the British Museum, where an ancient and valuable statue known as the Eye of Isis, recovered by Darien's father, the archaeologist, Dr. Stanley Dane. However, upon arriving, he finds the museum is closed, because some thieves break in and steal the statue and unleash a powerful curse that brings back to life the mummies and other dead. Darien is also trapped in the museum and, with the help of Abdul Wahid — a friend of his parents — faces thugs, mummies and revived dead, seeking to save his female friend and to end the curse.
Reception
edit| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | PC: 59%[4] XBOX: 60%[5] |
| Metacritic | PC: 63/100[6] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Computer and Video Games | PC: 5.7/10[7] |
| GameSpot | PC: 6.8/10[9] |
| GameSpy | PC: 3/5[10] |
| GameZone | PC: 7.3/10[11] |
| IGN | PC: 7.8/10[8] |
| Just Adventure | PC: D[12] |
| Team Xbox | Xbox: 70/100[13] |
| Game Informer | Xbox: 68/100[14] |
The game received mixed reception upon release.[6]
TeamXbox gave a mixed review, categorizing many aspects of the game as "average" or "decent." The reviewer praised the game's voice acting, but stated the game overused its "random freaky noise effect." He also found the graphics generally acceptable but they "seem[ed] just a tad too flat" and had "little life". His overall opinion was that gamers looking for an "el cheapo title" might consider it "worth the twenty bucks".[13]
Game Informer gave a generally negative review, comparing the game to a "B-grade horror movie" and a "19th century version of Resident Evil", and stated that "the menus are clunky, the map is useless, and combat is too easy", although the controls were noted as above average, especially compared to the Resident Evil series.[14]
References
edit- ^ Reed, Tara; Gaum, Bryon (2003-10-30). "DreamCatcher Games Ships Curse: The Eye of Isis on Xbox" (Press release). Dreamcatcher Games. Archived from the original on 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Reed, Tara; Gaum, Bryon (2003-10-20). "DreamCatcher Games Ships Curse: The Eye of Isis on PC-CD" (Press release). Dreamcatcher Games. Archived from the original on 2006-11-25. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Bramwell, Tom (2003-11-14). "What's New?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 2022-07-05. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
- ^ "Curse: The Eye of Isis for PC". Game Rankings. Archived from the original on 2019-12-05.
- ^ "Curse: The Eye of Isis for Xbox". Game Rankings. Archived from the original on 2019-12-05.
- ^ a b "Curse: The Eye of Isis". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2024-04-25.
- ^ "Curse: The Eye of Isis Review". PC Zone. Computer and Video Games. 2004-01-14. Archived from the original on 2010-07-26.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Curse: The Eye of Isis". IGN. Ziff Davis. 2003-12-10. Archived from the original on 2004-01-04.
- ^ Todd, Brent (2003-10-12). "Curse: The Eye of Isis Review". GameSpot. CNET. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16.
- ^ Bennett, Dan (2004-01-17). "Curse: The Eye of Isis". Gamespy. Archived from the original on 2004-06-05.
- ^ RGerbino (2003-11-25). "Curse - The Eye of Isis". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2003-12-04.
- ^ Indrawn, Vicky (2003-11-24). "Curse: The Eye of Isis Review". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on 2003-11-26.
- ^ a b Guidi, Tony (2003-12-22). "Curse: The Eye of Isis". TeamXbox. Archived from the original on 2004-07-21.
- ^ a b Juba, Joe (February 2004). Andy McNamara (ed.). "Ye Olde Survival Horror". Game Informer. No. 130. Sunrise Publications. p. 68. Archived from the original on 2008-06-24.