Exhumed (aka Powerslave)
| Developer: Lobotomy Software | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: BMG Interactive/Playmates | Sound: |
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| Year: 1996 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: First person shooter | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
8/10 | |
After Los Angeles, it’s Karnak’s turn, in Egypt, to attract the covetousness of an alien invasion force. You’ve come to kick bottom and chew bubblegum, but you’re all out of bubblegum…
In 1996, I had replaced my Super Nintendo with a Sega Saturn. Exhumed was my first “32-bit” game (alongside Sega Rally Championship—what a more glorious way to break in the beast!). I’ll always remember level 1; the grandiose soundtrack, the smooth 3D (for someone used to Sim City), and Ramesses II’s disembodied head speaking to me in French! It was mind-blowing, the title that technically confirmed a generational shift.
It’s actually the only first-person shooter I would still deign to control with a gamepad, because although it was ported to PlayStation, and a PC version exists (entirely different), the Saturn version remains the most successful, thanks to a 3D engine specifically designed for it, which would be reused for the adaptations of Duke Nukem 3D and Quake. The Saturn analogue controller was even compatible, by the way.
The game provides the expected features, three years after Doom: you can jump, swim (fly!), tilt the vertical axis of the camera (although you still only care about the horizontal axis for aiming). Both enemies and power-ups are still represented in 2D (you’ll notice, if you stand above them, that the object appears lying down) and the convoluted architecture of the levels leaves plenty of room for exploration and searching for secret passages.
What sets Exhumed apart, besides its Ancient Egypt theme, is its non-linearity. Most levels contain areas inaccessible on the first visit, or multiple exits. You’ll be prompted to return to places you’ve already visited, equipped with new gear that will open a new route, just like in Metroid (NES, 1986).
During my secondary school years, I remember spending time scouring every corner, and when I thought I had seen everything, a friend asked me how many dolls I had found… Excuse me? What dolls?
Another peculiarity: ammunition is universal (the same bonuses recharge whatever weapon you’re holding). They take the form of spheres, which appear randomly (sometimes life, sometimes ammunition, sometimes nothing at all) after destroying jars or killing enemies.
The weapons lack punch in my opinion. The flamethrower doesn’t last long enough, the cobra scepter seems to only hit its wielder, and I believe this iteration of the M60 is the feeblest I’ve ever handled in a video game (until Shadow Warrior 2!).
I also regret the long delay when changing weapons. A group of monsters appears, and by the time I equip my trusty grenades, they’re already on me. I’m left with two choices: drop the grenade at my feet, or swap weapons again, and in the meantime, get trampled. I eventually developed the unfortunate habit of stopping in front of every door to equip grenades. It really affects the pacing.
The grenade has another function: leaping higher (rocket jumping), but that should be an optional feature offered to the adventurous player, not a requirement for getting out of a pit. I don’t have fond memories of the few times I found myself stuck, out of ammo, because the surrounding jars contained only health orbs…
A remaster was released in 2022. For once, the initiative seems justified, as it offers the best of both worlds: the superior version (Saturn, although some details were borrowed from the PlayStation version) and keyboard and mouse support!
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