The Mummy Demastered Review: Nicely Resurrected

I’ll be straight up honest – I hated Universal’s 2017 treatment of The Mummy. In fact, a lot of folks did. It just didn’t capture the goofy spirit of the films that preceded it, and tried to do too much with too little.

And it’s weird how WayForward’s The Mummy Demastered, based on the film of the same name, does the exact opposite. It doesn’t overdo its presentation, and thrives because of it. What’s more, it doesn’t try to weigh down the material with something that isn’t there. Instead, it takes a simple take on a formula – in this case, Metroidvania – and rolls with it. And, boy, does it gain momentum.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that WayForward dominates a game such as this, considering how well it’s done with other franchises like Shantae and Double Dragon (with the cult classic Neon). The Mummy Demastered channels the best of the Metroidvania formula, while keeping its run-and-gun tactics true to the likes of Metal Slug and Contra. Although it takes a slight bit of getting used to at first – especially considering the disposable nature of your hero – it’ll eventually grow on you and become quite the favorite for this Halloween season.

In the game, you play a soldier that works for Doctor Jekyll’s monster-hunting foundation from the film (you’ll consistently get communications from a look-alike of Russell Crowe’s character), and you come across a dreaded mummy, Ahmanet (from the film), that wants nothing more than to destroy everything. As a member of the “clean-up crew,” so to speak, you’ll run your way through a number of stages, taking on beasts big and small while tracking down save points and weapons that’ll help you out.

Although some folks may be like, “What, you’re not paying Tom Cruise?” I like this choice better, and I’ll explain why later in this review.

A Well Wrapped Package

Some upgrades are quite useful, especially the weapons. These include the harpoon gun and a great plasma gun that actually scans for enemies, even some that might be out of view. You can also push up general abilities to improve your performance as well, though you will eventually succumb, particularly to large bosses.

That’s okay, because that leads to another cool part of Demastered. When you die, all your upgrades go with that character — and that couldn’t work with Cruise’s character, unless it gets really weird and floods the screen with Cruise look-alikes. Now, once you’re brought back, you can hunt your old killed self down (resurrected, of course) and attain everything you lost. It’s kind of like Zombi U, but without the tiring process of needing to hunt yourself until you’re caught. (Your old self pretty much dwells where you left him or her.) The process can be slightly tiring later on in the game when you die more often, but it’s better to have than have not anytime. So, sure, we’ll hunt ourselves down and kill ourselves. Again.

The gameplay is razor sharp, and stands as a clear definition of how a run and gun shooter should work. You can take out enemies at angles, and also use your weaponry to your best advantage when you become surrounded. And the challenge level is just right, not getting to the point of frustration, but still knocking you on your ass when you deserve it. WayForward has this formula down pat.

I liked the presentation, too. The graphics resemble a Metroid-style design, but with a great ambience that channels the most recent film without going into overkill territory on the whole “Tom Cruise is in this” thing. The background designs are stellar, with both exterior and interior settings; and the animations are cool, albeit a bit simple. I loved the way the mummy animates, for instance, as she appears and disappears from the screen.

Don’t Pass This Mummy By

Oh, and the music. Wonderful. Not quite up there with Shantae: Half Genie Hero‘s boppy soundtrack, but still good fun, as if WayForward is fondly remembering the 8-bit days. There’s not much to the sound effects, but they’re ambient when they kick in as well, so it’s worth noting.

The Mummy Demastered will take you a good while to get through, but it provides utmost moments of joy throughout, keeping you motivated as you try to shut down the mummy evil once and for all. The controls are excellent, and the presentation is amongst the best we’ve seen from the Metroidvania genre, even with the likes of Axiom Verge coming to the Switch first. There’s certainly room for both in your system, and I recommend making room for them.

While The Mummy remake may have left a bad taste in some mouths, Demastered has more than enough kick going for it to make up for it. Well, almost. We are talking about a really awful movie…

RATING: Four stars out of five.

Disclaimer: A review code was provided by the publisher.