Just like books and films, videogames are broken up into many different genres. Yet, there is one genre that is on a whole different level in videogames - survival horror. While the other mediums make a valiant effort of imprinting fear upon the viewer or reader, videogames just do it better. Situation: 3AM, home alone, pouring rain accompanied by thunder and lightning, playing a survival horror videogame in surround sound - it's as scary as it sounds. Even after you turn off the game because it has the unearthly ability to linger.

This is what drives people to play these games, because they want to be scared senseless and not just engage in another title. Of course, it takes a skilled bunch of developers to make a title that can scare (or impress) the hardened veterans. More often than not, attempts to develop a breakout title for this genre often prove laughable. While Curse: The Eye of Isis isn't horrible, it lacks many touches that could have made it a much more enjoyable title.

First and foremost, before even mentioning the story, let's talk about how scary this game is. Titles like Silent Hill 3, the latest installment in Konami's 'scare de stuffing outta ya' line, are filled with fear-inducing moments. There are times that are so intense that the player would need to just get up, turn the lights on and walk around. It's graphic and scary that a warning appears before you can actually play the game. That's a sign of a good horror game. Curse: The Eye of Isis doesn't have one of those screens.

It's clear that an effort was made, and that's applauded. However, applause and effort don't make the 'scary scenes' any less innocuous. Both in terms of presentation and fear factor, the game doesn't deliver the goods. Where is the "OhmygodOhmygod!" scene that causes wet pants syndrome? The answer is nowhere, and that's the main problem with Curse: The Eye of Isis.

Not only are the scares done in sissy style, on the level of a four year old jumping out from behind a shoe yelling, "Boo!" but also the story is as weak as no-name hot sauce. Focusing on Darien Dane and Victoria Sutton, the game is about two childhood friends who are about to be reunited on the eve of a new Egyptian museum exhibit. However, a botched burglary and various accounts of trespassing later, players assume Darien, who now has to figure what exactly is going down in this zombie-infested museum.

Exploring the museum and the other various locales in the game would have been neat is the control wasn't downright nasty. Resident Evil, Capcom's heralded survivor horror series, is known for having character that control in the fashion of a tank. Curse: The Eye of Isis ups them one and has controls similar to that of a submarine.

Graphically the game is fairly unimpressive. The areas themselves look decent, but the character models and voice acting lack some much-needed TLC. Improvements here could have made the game a tad more frightening, as the zombies don't look anything other than ugly.

Curse: The Eye of Isis is not a good survival horror game. It's a decent game marred by some shoddy control and a lack of aesthetics. Sure, creating a survival horror game sounds easy. The equation is simple, right? Take some scary elements, a few pasty protagonists who stick out like a sore thumb in the darkness, and some B-movie horror music to set the mood. Well, as Curse: The Eye of Isis proved - creating a truly scary game requires more than just that. It requires craftsmanship of a level beyond what was applied to Curse: The Eye of Isis.