Luxor Evolved

Gameplay

The objective of Luxor Evolved is similar to other marble-popping matching games such as PopCap Games' Zuma. Typical of the Luxor series, each stage faces the player with a series of scarabs pushing a line of marbles along a path toward an open pyramid. The player is tasked with destroying the marbles, using a marble-launching "winged scarab" that moves across the bottom of the screen, by matching a chain of 3 or more of the same color, or by using various powerups, which are dispensed randomly when the marbles are destroyed. If any marble completely enters a pyramid, the player loses a life.

Luxor Evolved introduces gameplay and style which is a notable departure from the series' norm. The gameplay is faster paced than in previous installments. Rather than resetting the stage if the player loses a life, the chain(s) of marbles are reversed, leaving some remaining; losing a life on a survival stage ends the stage immediately. The powerups are unlocked and upgraded by earning enough score or in some cases, beating a boss. Among the powerups are "super powerups" which the player will unlock after beating the first, third, and sixth bosses. Upon unlocking a super powerup, emblems which correspond to that powerup will periodically appear and will fill up a meter corresponding to that powerup, activating it automatically when the meter is topped off. The graphics of Evolved are reminiscent of the vector graphics commonly used in video games of the late 70s and early 80s.

Luxor Evolved has multiple different types of stages: classic, survival, bonus, secret, and boss. Many of the levels featured are mirrored or reoriented versions of stages from previous Luxor games. If the player outlasts the timer on a survival stage, they are rewarded with a bonus stage where they must clear all the marbles using a certain powerup differing between special stages. At the end of each group of stages, the player is faced with a boss stage where they must destroy a giant robot named after an ancient Egyptian god, such as Mecha-Sekhmet or Mecha-Horus. If the player collects enough falling treasure, they will immediately unlock a secret stage to beat in addition to the normal stages. The player is told how much treasure to collect in between stages.

Evolved features numerous references to many of the video game tropes of the time. All of the secret stages pay homage to classic arcade games such as Asteroids and Pac-Man. The pause menu features a Qix that flys across the menu screen. The game's ending sequence is a simulation of a kill screen and error handler, "rebooting" into a playable credit roll thereafter.