The idea of extra terrestrial life has been one of the prevailing influences on American culture since the middle of the twentieth century. But whenever any alien actually did attack any part of the Earth—US or not—in films, books and videogames, they were always eventually demolished by either the fierce power of human ingenuity or the laws of nature itself. In Alien Pyramid Challenge, the former happens to be what binds the foreign protagonist of this game to failure.

Having had landed on Earth, the little alien you’ll play as ends up somehow lost in the deepest depths of an Egyptian pyramid. Your guide throughout your traumatic bid at an escape from this architecturally anomalous tomb will be a mummy with a quick wit and bad jokes. By the end of the adventure, you’ll find that you’ve both been satisfied by the mildly challenging puzzles and disappointed by the lack of levels within the game.

Most of your time in the game will be spent picking up square-shaped stones. These stones, when stacked the right way and in the right spot, will aid you in advancing through each level to reach the end, at which point you’ll enter a portal taking you to the next stage. The only trick to stacking the stones is that you can only lift a stone which doesn’t have another atop it and is directly in front of you.

Therein lies the challenge, as you’ll find that the little alien’s poor jumping abilities coupled with this one catch to stacking the stones will make every mistake crucial and most mistakes damning. While the fourteen stages the game has in store for you will certainly cause you to keep thinking ahead at least a little, this small game just doesn’t pack the brain-busting wallop any great puzzle platformer does. There aren’t any enemies either, so your toughest foes will be your own follies or some random spikes thrown in here and there.

Visually, there isn’t much to rave or scathe about. The stones you’ll be moving differ in look from the stones which make up the entire level. These level stones, which are the foundation of the game, look suspiciously like the bricks you’d have to jump up and hit in Super Mario Bros. for the NES. But beside that strange fact, there’s nothing to see that would sway the experience in either direction.

Audibly, the same can be said. The music will mostly be drowned out by your thoughts, but if you ever do find your mind is that silent you’ll hear some spacey-sounding tunes. There’s absolutely nothing worth mentioning in the sound department.

For better or for worse, Alien Pyramid Challenge offers little content, but what is there is undoubtedly fun. Despite some slight control issues, little can be complained about when playing the game. That said, there’s almost as little to smile about, too. An entertaining, though short-lived experience, Alien Pyramid Challenge earns a C+. 

Grade: C+