Tombs and Treasure Retrospective Review
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Tombs and Treasure is set in the aforementioned city of Chichen Izta, an ancient Mayan city on the Yucatán Peninsula. You begin with two explorers, a young boy and girl, the latter who just happens to be the daughter of a prominent archeologist named Professor Imes. Imes was on a hot lead about an artifact called the Sun Key that was rumored to hold the deepest secrets of Mayan civilization, but like all guys on the verge of a discovery, he conveniently vanished right before finding it (along with his entire dig team.) The only person left is his guide José, who will join your party and aid their efforts in finding the professor.
One of the coolest things this game had going for it was the locations you got to explore, several of which were based on actual places. The El Caracol was actually an observatory the Mayans used to study the stars and create their calendars, and The Well of Sacrifice also made an appearance. In real life, Mayans threw human sacrifices into the well to appease their gods. It really is a shame that kind of thing didn't make it into modern times; my life would be considerably easier if I could dispose of annoying people and blame my reasoning on religious rituals.
Let me stress that as far as relating to the character you play, there really isn't much of that to be found here. While the adventures of the group are often interesting, the boy is kind of a nameless automaton that you are supposed to experience the gameplay through. Sometimes I don't mind this, so it didn't really affect my play of this game, but if you are looking to care about your character this is not the story for you. Of course, NES probably isn't the console for you either, considering that emotional involvement with your characters was kind of nil in the time period the NES was popular.
I'm fairly certain I gave this game a whirl at one point in my lifetime, but I really don't remember anything about it. I guess that speaks for itself.
