Play like an Egyptian

This month’s Toy Box takes us to a far away land where the water runs from the south to the north, where pharaohs rule and mummies curse. We’re playing this month in Egypt.

Playmobil has come out with a collection of Egyptian-themed playsets. The largest playset is a pyramid with traps that you set off and secret places to hide treasure. Their other playsets include a sphinx, a floating ship, a tomb, and many different kinds of Egyptians to inhabit your own three-dimensional Egypt. I was fortunate enough to play with the sphinx of this set. It comes with two Egyptians and a mummy. The sphinx has a secret door that is released by placing an amulet in a hole and turning it, great for storing some of the Egyptians when playtime is over. The characters and sphinx itself are large, so they are hard to loose; however, the accessories are small and even warrant a chocking hazard caution. Playmobil says these playsets are for children 4 years and older, but they have other non-Egyptian toys for those younger than 4. The Egyptian themed playsets from Playmobil range from $100.00-$8.00 at Toys-R-Us.

For those who want to tour Egypt from your computer, EA has produced The Sims 3: World Adventures. This is an expansion pack for the game The Sims 3, which means you have to have The Sims 3 for the game to work. In World Adventures, Egypt is one of three exotic destinations your sim (people-like characters you create and control) can visit. In all the destinations there are several tombs that your sim can explore. These tombs are filled with treasure but also contain traps, and in Egypt you need to steer clear of mummies. You can even cause your sim to turn into a mummy by sleeping in a cursed sarcophagus, but make sure you also have a blessed version incase you want the sim to change back. World Adventures does a good job of adding a new dimension of game play to The Sims 3. Going on these adventures is almost like playing an on-line role-playing game, where you need to collect certain items to complete your objectives. With a few cheats entered in the game, you can also build your own tombs to explore; however, doing this doesn’t come easy, so you may find yourself searching on-line for tutorials to do so. The Sims 3 is rated T for Teen because of crude humor, sexual themes, and violence, and costs $30.00 on Amazon.com.

You might not get to sing “Walk Like An Egyptian” with Activision’s Band Hero, but it does have 65 other songs you can sing plus more you can download. Activision brought us Guitar Hero, and the game play is the same. There is a long strip (like a guitar’s neck) on the screen, and when color buttons pass a certain place, you either hold down the button on the guitar controller and strum or hit the color drum with the drumstick. With Band Hero there is also a “Party Mode” that will play random songs from the song list (that you can edit), and you and your party guests can jump in and out of playing along. Band Hero also allows you to change your game system into a karaoke machine, and in that mode you can sing however you want, and you’ll never fail the song. There is also a game mode that allows you to create your own song and download what others have created. Band Hero is rated E+10 for Everyone over 10 for lyrics and mild suggestive themes and is $49.00 on Amazon.com.

Find it online:
Playmobil Sphinx
The Sims 3 World Adventures
The Sims 3 (You need this to play the game above)
Band Hero for the Wii