Scooby Doo’s Classic Creep Capers (N64)
Published by: THQ

I’ve always thought that the Scooby Doo franchise could be the basis for a really good video game (or series of video games). It could be perfect for a cartoony puzzle/adventure game or maybe it could even provide a new twist to the survival horror genre.

There have been attempts in the past to make games based on Scooby Doo, and of course, they have all been horrible. Horrible I tell you! But still, I cling to that faint hope that maybe one day someone will get it right. Someone who is not just throwing together some crappy game that they think will sell itself by name alone. Someone who was maybe even a fan of the TV show, and who knows a little bit about designing video games.

Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting much here, but I simply couldn’t resist renting this game. Also needless to say, I was let down yet again. This game is pretty pitiful, and I couldn’t really stand to play it for long.

They had the right approach with this game. They attempted to make a mystery/adventure game, with the storylines based on some classic Scooby Doo episodes.

You control Shaggy as you and Scooby walk around looking for clues and then report back to the rest of the gang. You have to avoid spooky monsters along the way, or your courage meter will fall to zero and you and Scoob will “fly the coop” so to speak. Luckily, you can pick up Scooby snacks along the way to replenish your courage meter. Don’t ask me how the Scooby snacks got littered all over the place like that though. It’s not like the consequences of losing all your courage are all that dramatic anyways. It just means you start over again from outside of one of the rooms you were just in.

The objective is to gather enough clues to solve the mystery, and then gather up some items to create a trap for the bad guy. At least they incorporated some of the classic elements of the show. Too bad it’s so boring doing it.

The graphics are pretty nice looking, I will give them that. The spooky scenery and the cartoony characters look great in 3-d.

The sounds, well, they aren’t all that amazing. You get to hear the occasional exclamation from Scooby, but the rest of the speech is done through dialog boxes. The music is not bad, but I think the music in the SNES Scooby Doo game was better.

Anyways, the way I see it, this game has two main downfalls, the first being the fact that it is a totally dumbed down game for kids. (I guess this is to be expected, but I still don’t understand why they don’t try to market Scooby Doo nostalgia to the people who grew up with the show, rather than forcefeed it to a new generation of kids who don’t really get it.)

The mysteries are not really mysteries at all. The puzzles are completely linear. I’m sure you know the type. Find object A. Use object A. Find object B. Use object B. It’s like “Okay Shaggy, find us a way to get in that window”. Hmm… there is a ladder on the screen too, I wonder what we can use that for?

The second downfall of this game is a big one. It is the reason that I could not stand to play it for very long. The controls are just terrible. As you explore the different areas, the camera angles change quite frequently. Each time a camera angle changes, the controls usually change as well. So if you are just trying to walk in one direction, once the camera angle changes, you can’t just keep holding down that same direction, because suddenly that moves you in a different, unexpected direction. I never said that designing play control for a 3-d game was easy, but hell, if they had anyone at all play testing it, they should have known it was extremely frustrating, and pretty damn near unplayable. Plus, it is an important part of the game too. You need to avoid various obstacles during your exploration, and not only are the positions hard to judge in 3-d, but with play control this bad, it’s game over. It also doesn’t help that Scooby follows you around aimlessly and often gets in your way as you are trying to walk! It’s the type of thing that would have a lesser man hurling his controller at the wall in agony.

Another strange annoyance in the game is that any time your characters make use of an inventory item, or take some sort of action that requires the characters to animate, the screen usually temporarily fades out and the fades back in. It’s very disorienting, and frankly, I don’t see why it is necessary.

I guess overall, I’d have to say this game just lacks fun. Even with the control problems and the cheesy puzzles, I would probably have sat through at least part of the game if it was amusing in any way. But it’s not. You don’t get any sort of reward for finding clues or escaping the bad guys. If the game had a sense of humour, or a slightly nostalgic feel to it, it could be somewhat worthwhile. The few attempts at humour are pretty embarassing.

I don’t think I really need to go on bashing this game, and in fact, many people are wondering why I even wasted my time renting it, much less reviewing it. But hey, who knows, it is possible that one day someone like Lucasarts will get a hold of the licensing for this game and make a hilarious Monkey Island-esque adventure game for the old school Scooby Doo fan. And only then will anyone realize just how fun a Scooby Doo video game could be. As long as crap like this continues to be produced, the Scooby Doo franchise is going to be digging its own grave, and I will be poised over the toilet as I vomit profusely. Ewww. — Sean