The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian

Experience the adventure that started it all.

NA release: 11th September 2002
EU release: 5th December 2002
JP release: N/A
Developer: Point of View
Publisher: Universal Interactive
NGC Magazine Score: 30%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

While Brendan Fraser’s The Mummy films are timeless classics (other than the awkward CGI for this game’s titular character), the spin-off series of The Scorpion King is easily forgotten, even though it was Dwayne Johnston’s big acting break (outside of Star Trek: Voyager) and it somehow lasted longer than The Mummy, with four direct-to-DVD films, none starring The Rock. The video game tie-in to the first Scorpion King film gives us the origins of The Rock’s character that nobody really cared about.

The story is just an excuse to hit lots of people. The vast majority of the game plays in the following way: enter a room, kill some generic enemies, run around for a bit waiting for more enemies to spawn (which can happen where you’ve previously been, or even in your sight), kill more and so on until the next door opens. Then do the same many times.

With a decent combat system, this could still be fun, but The Scorpion King’s combat is really dull. You have some basic attacks, a spin move to throw enemies away and that’s all you need. Enemies run at you and you just bash buttons. As your opponents tend to swarm you, pulling off combos is actually a detriment, as it’s better to flail between your targets.

You’ll gain access to four types of weapons, each of which can be upgraded to stronger forms. These all feel exactly the same, and Dwayne flails around wildly like he has no idea how to wield them. You may as well use the big stick as it has slightly longer range. You level up your health, strength and endurance as you progress, which means the game just gets easier and easier as you move on.

At the end of each area, you’ll get to fight a boss, and working out how to damage them is the closest the game gets to variety. The gorgon fight is also the only time the game looks interesting visually. The bosses all seem fairly typical, though, but at least you need to attack in a slightly different way. The only other variation are rooms where you have to hit gongs within a time limit, usually involving platforming with terrible jumping and bad edge connection.

The Scorpion King is an immensely dull game that is immensely boring to play. There’s no charm of intrigue to the story, the combat is tedious and it’s all grey and beige to look at. With all the waiting around for enemies spawning and having to kill X amount to open the door, there’s just something artificial feeling about the whole thing.

Poor

We despair. We really do. There are games that were never meant to be, bore screaming into a harsh world, that you take one look at, play with for five minutes, before weeping quietly to yourself. There’s simply no need for this game to exist other than to bring a total wave of depression over anyone unfortunate enough to have paid for it.
NGC Magazine #75

Remake or remaster?

There’s no need for a ramake.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian.