This next game comes from the creators of BioShock, and even though I have only played Bioshock a few times, I can see the similarities. It has the first person POV, and the exploration of a place that is full of mystery as it is full of death. This is City of Brass, a game that I’m pretty certain is not related to the first book of the Daevabad trilogy. Don’t feel bad if you have never heard of that, but when I did a search for “city of brass” on Google, that book was the first thing that showed up.

This City of Brass takes place in the world of ancient Arabia, and if you are like me, you don’t want to see any stinkin’ Will Smith Genies in your ancient Arabia story. This story takes place in some ancient city full of treasures that was sunk to the earth by genies. Yeah, the genies in this world appear to be full of dark magic, and this world is full of the undead.

I suppose that this is a treasure hunt game, and you the player are armed with a whip in one hand and a sword in the other. Like Indiana Jones, that whip is very versatile as it is both weapon and retriever of objects across the room. The sword is good for slicing, and there are many enemies to kill. Well, most of them are undead, so you are kind of re-killing them.

I found that this game was quite complicated for such a set-up. It’s tutorial is practically a level in itself, so you can learn all the moves. I have to admit this is the first game that I have played that allows you to push an enemy so it can fall into a trap. By the way, there are a lot of traps in this game, and those spikes just keep flying out of the ground when you don’t want them to.

The gameplay is difficult, and I found that getting killed is way too easy. I was hoping that there would be a puzzle-solving aspect here, but it appears the answer is always to fight your way out. That is, I wasn’t really able to get very far.

I’m going to give City of Brass three out of five stars. I’m certain those that love Bioshock should…like it, I guess. However, if it is more cerebral, it would be a surefire hit.