The Egyptians

If we are to believe Hollywood's accounts, ancient Egypt is a tricky old place where nothing is as it appears. Sparkling jewels turn out to be carnivorous scarab beetles, roughly ten per cent of statues conceal insect-ridden passageways to hidden tunnels and/or deadly booby traps, and the pyramids themselves are trans-dimensional spacecraft… Really, what are the chances?

Judging by HandyGames's latest release, the world of mobile games is doing nothing to dispel these slippery notions, because The Egyptians is packed full of surprises.

The first of these regards the nature of the game itself. What at first glance appears to be a real time strategy game - in which you'd go through the motions of building up your base, creating attacking units and then expanding to explore the map and defeat the enemy - soon turns out to be somewhat closer to a Tower Defense challenge in which you build your base and have to withstand successive waves of undead hordes.

Expectations are further confounded by the movement and behaviour of your 'moveable' troop units (including archers, chariots and elite swordsmen), who don't actually move themselves to seek out or pursue opponents. Instead they have to be manually shifted from one place to the next in a style more akin to turn-based warfare (which is only exacerbated by the fiddly menu system and the need to find a large five-square space to move them into). Suffice to say this wouldn't be so much of an issue were it not for the fact that the enemy are hacking away at your pyramids and temples in decidedly real time!

Manage to handle this initial learning curve however, and you'll discover a genuine treasure in the form of an enjoyable, diverse and well-balanced game.

The strategic options on offer from the various units and buildings are pleasingly variable - do you opt for a mix of troops or a wall of fire-eyed Sphinxes? - and the scope increase as you progress through the technology tree - should you spend your belief (the game's currency) to enhance your pyramid, build a library to research new tech or focus on beefing up and repairing your existing defences?

The addition of aerial units and sun-shield force fields brings further options to the mix while a limit on manna and total unit numbers ensures that you have to make genuine choices rather than just building everything and overwhelming all-comers.

Meanwhile, yet more variety is provided by the enemies' attacks which vary in direction and severity as the game progresses, culminating in a particularly hard end-of-level boss in the scenario mode.

Oh, and as if that wasn't enough to get your head around, there's also the small matter of divine inspiration to consider. You see, by building a temple (and then monoliths) you unlock the opportunity to call the Gods to your side, providing your troops with powerups. These vary from longer range shots and better shielding to the ability to expose the map and smart-bomb special attacks. Although you can complete earlier levels without ever necessarily needing these, as the game progresses they become invaluable and the need to build and protect the monoliths becomes yet another to-do upon your list.

Naturally, this being ancient Egypt, there aren't any detailed instructions or even a proper tutorial to speak of, so you'll have to figure all this out for yourself. Which, as it happens, is a rather good metaphor for the game as a whole.

So if you're the type who likes to roll up your sleeves, stick on your fez and explore, then this game's depth and longevity ensures there's many hours of enjoyment to be had. Then again, if you prefer an easy life, watching Hollywood heroes exploring Egypt, you might be better off spending a night in with [The] Mummy.