Seeing the world’s attractions and monuments is an expensive ordeal, and it’s much cheaper just staying in front of your Mac wishing you could be there. Egpyt is one of those places that would be nice to go but not viable for security reasons. Luckily, Egyptian Pyramids 3D offers a small glimpse at what the landscape and sights are like right from your desktop, and what’s more, it only costs $2.99.
Overview
The moment you open the app, your wallpaper is Egypt. The low panning shots of sand, ruins and pyramids will prove to be quite a distraction, so I would suggest that you close it if you actually have got some serious work to do.
You can also go fullscreen if you feel like it, and a screensaver of the same thing is available as a free download from the website (linked from inside the app).
For me, the area of this app with the most potential but also the most disappointing is interactive mode. It’s pretty cool: you go full screen and can walk around exploring the ruins at your own pace and survey the landscape, like first person shooter just without the guns.
However once you’ve checked out everything (which you can do in about ten minutes), it gets pretty boring. You could do so much with this: add an actual Pyramid you can go inside, add a jump feature. I realize that it is originally intended to be a live wallpaper, buy the functionality is already built in, so why not just expand it a little?
But the live wallpaper is definitely absorbing, and that’s the primary function, so you can’t really argue.
Verdict
Egyptian Pyramids 3D is a great way to have a bit of Egypt on your Mac, and for an affordable price. The live wallpaper feature works well, even though if you’re running many high intensity applications at once, it might not work (to be expected).
The interactive mode offers lots of potential, but as it is, it does get boring after a while even though initially it’s very cool. It could be improved so much to be totally awesome.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $2.99 (Mac App Store Link)
Pros:
- Gives your desktop a taste of Egypt
- Captivating (that could also be a con, depends on how you see it, literally)
- No setup required.
Cons:
- Interactive mode has so much potential, it could be a lot better, even though it isn’t bad.
