Luxor

Brief Description of Luxor

The map you follow

Need a bit of adrenaline rush? Want a game that requires a bit of strategy and has a lot of fast action? Care to try to save ancient Egypt from destruction? Perhaps it's time to try Luxor.

Luxor is a thoroughly addicting action puzzle game. The basic idea is simple. There are groups of spheres being pushed along a path by a small beetle. You control a scarab at the bottom of the screen and launch coloured spheres toward the group. When three or more match, the group explodes.

The game is divided into stages. Each stage contains a number of levels. You must complete all levels in the stage to advance to the next. Whenever you restart the game, any stage you have completed is available as a starting point. The game default is to begin from highest stage you have achieved.

The game uses music and sounds well to add to the game play. The background music changes to a heartbeat tempo if spheres have almost reached the exit pyramid. Sounds alert you to when a level is almost complete, when you have caught a gold coin, and when you have caught a power talisman.

Game play and hints

Catch the gems.

Creating matches to destroy the spheres is the primary aim of the game. To do this, you must aim and fire the winged scarab with great accuracy. When a segment of spheres begins rolling in, they are moving quickly. During this time, you need to be careful if you fire, the target is much harder to hit.

As you make matches or create cascades (multiple sets of spheres being destroyed), three types of items may fall from the cascade. All items that may fall have some sort of benefit, if you can catch them.

• Power talisman - catching one of these gives you extra power for a time. These include: stop, reverse, lightning bolt and fireball.
• Gold coins - collect 30 coins to gain another life.
• Gems - these only fall if you remove all spheres in front of the little beetle. The beetle transforms to a gem. Each gem is worth several thousand points.

As you progress through the game, it becomes more difficult. There are several methods used in Luxor to achieve this. The first is that the spheres gradually move faster. The second is that more colours of spheres are added. Another is that more levels are required to finish the later stages. The final is that the layouts become much more difficult.

In the later stages, concentrate on keeping the spheres from reaching the exit. Don't wait for items dropping from the top of the screen, take another shot or two before you catch them.

Gripes about Luxor<

None - it does what it is meant to do very well.

Conclusion for Luxor

Part of a complex layout

Fortunately the game is readily available for download. Shockwave.com, MSN and even from the creators MumboJumbo to name just a few places. I do recommend downloading the trial before you purchase the game. The demo version lasts an hour which is long enough to decide if you enjoy it.

This game requires skill, timing and a lot of luck. If the pace of the game is too much, Snood may suit you better.

Some final thoughts on the game.

Hard to resist any game that on your very first play nets you more than 1 million points. I also rather like the music, which is quite unusual for me in this sort of game.

They have released an online version, which has inferior music and is set in a very small window. It may be free, but not worth it to me.

There are other similar games available. Zuma is one of the better known of this type. Unlike Luxor, the Zuma launcher is stationary and you spin around to shoot at the incoming objects. Some gamers prefer Zuma, other prefer Luxor. I have tried Zuma but bought Luxor because I could control the launcher better.