"Good or Evil... The choice is yours."
- Though thousands of years have passed since the fall of the Scorpion King, history has a way of repeating itself.
According to the calendar of the ancients, the year of the scorpion is once again upon us.
The Mummy Returns is an Action-Adventure video game based on the 2001 film of the same name, released in the same year for the PlayStation 2. It was developed by Blitz Games and published by Universal Interactive Studios.
The game allows players play as either Rick or Imhotep, and follows the film's plot rather loosely, with some minor alterations depending on the playable character.
The Mummy Returns provides examples of the following tropes:
- Actionized Adaptation: The game's levels contain far more action than the movies. For instance, when getting the Bracelet of Anubis, Rick gets attacked by a gigantic Living Statue of Anubis as a boss. There's also an extended level in the London metro which wasn't in the film.
- Adaptational Badass: Rick can kick way more ass than his film counterpart. For instance, in the film Rick barely survives fighting a lone mummy while atop a bus - here he fights all four mummies in a Sword Fight, and wins.
- Adaptational Wimp: Imhotep. Even when fully regenerated, he can be damaged by cats, weapons, pygmies and crocodiles. The use of some special powers can drain the health bar with Imhotep becoming more mummy-like. In the movies, cats only scare Imhotep when he is not fully regenerated, and nothing can damage him. Justified, because it would not be fair to have Imhotep as invincible in the game as he is in the movies.
- Adapted Out:
- No sign of Lock-Nah or Balthus Hafez anywhere in the game. Or the three unfortunate treasure-hunters who got pranked by Alex early on (before getting their souls absorbed by Imhotep) for that matter.
- The mighty battle between the Medjai and the Army of Anubis? Not in the game either.
- Downplayed that Izzy, who had a Big Damn Heroes in the movie, does appear... mentioned in Rick's ending.
- Another Side, Another Story: The game lets players play as either Rick or Imhotep.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Imhotep's ending.Truly, Evil has won the Battle, and Evil has won the War.
- Close-Range Combatant: When playing as Imhotep, the player is unable to use firearms and must rely on blades, fists, or grabbing and sucking out the souls of enemies.
- Dem Bones: For some baffling reason, the jungle level has animated skeletons dressed in Roman armor as enemies.
- Dueling Player Characters: Just before the end with the Scorpion King, the player as their character gets to defeat their respective foe.
- Guns Akimbo: Rick uses dual revolvers in shootouts, just like in the movie.
- Jungle Japes: The Jungle levels.
- Menacing Museum: Both Rick and Imhotep have levels set at the British Museum after closing time, each with its own share of threats. If you're playing as Rick, you have to fight your way through Imhotep's cult, plus every single mummy in the museum brought to life by Imhotep's power... but if you're playing as Imhotep, you're the menace in the museum, pitted against terrified security guards and (later) hopelessly outmatched Medjai.
- Sword Fight: As Rick, Ardeth or Imhotep, you can swing a sabre and use it to fight enemies armed with similar weapons.
- Take Over the World: As Imhotep, this is your eventual plan after obtaining the Spear of Osiris. And in the ending where The Bad Guy Wins, he succeeds!
- Wolverine Publicity: Not only does the film's poster showcase Dwayne Johnson as the pre-transformation Scorpion King, but he is also shown on the cover of the video game, even though only his scorpion form is shown in the game.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: As Imhotep, you can suck the souls out of unfortunate mooks as a Finishing Move. It can restore a bit of your health in the process.
