Monster House (GC) Review
Posted by Damian Sarcuni on 07.31.2006
It still beats living in the projects!
When it comes to doing game reviews, kid’s games come with territory. Sometimes it’s difficult to find fun in action games that have the most user-friendly targeting systems and puzzle solutions so easy you might as well put them on an episode of Blue’s Clues. Thankfully, Monster House doesn’t quite cross the border of redundant baby entertainment.
Don’t get me wrong though. At its core, Monster House is Resident Evil 4: Children’s edition. Featuring the same 2nd person camera style and relatively the same targeting system, Monster House revisits every old RE cliché short of “There is an etching of a spade under the keyhole”. For all those little tykes whose mom’s refused to allow them to get anywhere near the M rated goodness, Monster House does a fine job of showing you what you are missing, all while dressed up in the cg glamour based off the movie.
The game starts about midway through said movie, with all 3 of the main character kiddies being sucked into the house to do battle with it. Armed with super soakers, sling shots, flashbulbs and cameras, the kids make their way through the house in 3 different paths. Your mission is to destroy anything that gets in their way.
Graphics
One thing I absolutely HATE about CG movies is that they have this driving need to make their franchise hell spawned games look EXACTLY the same. I understand that there is a need to get game graphics looking spot on, and that CGI animation allows video games to fill that need, but for some reason in Monster House, it just doesn’t work.
The characters look just like they did in the movie…but they didn’t look all that great in the movie itself either. The locales seem to get a little repetitive too, with a lot of the same textures being rearranged or having a different color cast on them to create a new room. Worst of all, the whole game is given a fish eye lens effect that makes you feel like you are coming down off of a psychlobin high. (Not that I’ve ever done that, but you get the idea.) On top of that, the front to back and side to side cameras move at different speeds so the motion of the game gets interrupted a lot. Even button mashing CG action sequences are choppy and weird looking.
The good side to all this is the interesting way the house itself comes alive to attack you. No more useless doors painted on the walls or non-interactive fluff strewn about the room. If it’s in the game, it can either attack you or get moved around somehow. While the enemies themselves really appear bland and typical, the animation for all characters is actually very fluid. It’s a mixed bag, but it’s fun to watch.
Gameplay
If ever there was a game in need of a run button, it’s Monster House. The control system is fair enough, but the jerkiness of moving the camera can make maneuvering around rooms a chore. The game uses a simplified version of the RE4 control scheme, meaning you will spend most of your time holding down two buttons to lock on and fire. At the same time, the game has all of RE4’s design flaws, meaning you will get hit from behind by objects you could not have possibly seen coming. Since Monster House is more hokey family entertainment than actual horror, getting hit from behind doesn’t add any jolt or impact to the game play. It just makes it more annoying.
Since the game has three main characters and no real weapon switching, each character has their own little quirks and special equipment to try out. Reloading the water guns, with the varying tank capacities and power for each character, is cute. Mash the reload button and watch your character pump that super soaker up for more possessed furniture destruction. Use special equipment to stun enemies or break locks. Each character revisits previous rooms other characters have already been through, so it’s amusing to see one find another exit that couldn’t be reached previously.
Other than that though, there isn’t much to the game. Run around, shoot stuff, look at stuff, and pick up stuff. Occasionally you’ll smile at something you haven’t seen before or a creative spin on a previous game, but that’s about it. Considering the target audience of the game, it’s a perfect mix of technical thinking and all out action. The older you get, however, the more bored out of your skull you will be.
Sound
This part is kind of tricky. Obviously, Monster House is a haunted house game with a survival horror-esque engine. It’s a family game though, so it’s not anywhere near scary. The problem is the music is good; too good. It sets the mood for a nice dark game jam packed with satanic evil, which is what it’s technically supposed to do. But Monster House isn’t quite up to the level of terror its own music is trying to inspire. The occasional gramophone or radio blasting a 1940’s tune isn’t so bad either, and it’s all high quality, good sounding stuff. I want to say there is something wrong here, but I can’t put my finger on it. Either way, it’s nothing you haven’t already heard in any horror game of yesteryear.
The voice acting is good too, again straight from the movie and well synched. However, since we are dealing with little kids as main characters, the voices tend to be a bit…well, LOUD, or at least overdramatic. As you move about the house the kids spout off situation specific lines which are cute, but even in the very first two or three rooms of the game you will hear the same lame catchphrases and out of place comments repeated ten fold.
The sound effects are a mixed bag as well. Enemies tend to make the same solitary creaking and crumpling noises over and over while the house itself only lets out an occasional roar or once in a blue moon, changes up the ambience. Not bad, not good either.
Lasting Appeal
Strangely, the best part of Monster House isn’t Monster House at all. As you search through the house, you can find things like those freaky ass monkey toys from the movie Monkey Shines to unlock special gallery photos. The demonic toys are pretty easy to find, but you can also find arcade tokens strewn about the house. And with those arcade tokens, you can play Monster House’s mini game, Thou Art Dead.
Thou Art Dead is the greatest thing I’ve seen since Spiderman was a boss in Shinobi. Its part Ghouls N’ Ghosts, part Castlevania, and all 8-bit side scrolling fun. THQ developers are clearly fans of the good ol’ NES, and there is nothing quite like hearing a nice raspy computer generated voice state “THOU ART DEAD” as you fall into a bottomless pit or get mauled by zombies. If little kids spend all their time playing Monster House, then their parents and older siblings will spend more time playing Thou Art Dead.
Fun Factor
It’s very hard to fault Monster House for its difficulty. The targeting system is so simple a baby can do it and most of the action is just the same stuff repeated over and over. Even if you die, there are a good number of save points so you start relatively close. Easy puzzles break up the monotony and are just short of frustrating for little kids or even immature adults. The game is on the easy side, but it’s supposed to be, and that makes it a real family style game.
The 411
The next generation of gamers has to get their skills somewhere, right? Why not from Monster House then? Take your little brother/sister out to see the movie (I still haven’t seen it but its Spielberg so I doubt it isn’t child proof) and pick up the game while you’re at it. Train the kiddies now so they will be able to pop zombie headshots later. If anything, it’s a good way to show the ol’ geezers in the kitchen just how far games have come. It’s a quick play, but it’s worth coming back to for the mini-game.
And besides, that mini-game is worth the price of the game alone. THOU ART DEAD.
Graphics
6.6
Good rip on the movie, but a fish eye lens and repetitive locales get old fast.
Gameplay
7.9
Simplified RE4, with some nifty gimmicks thrown into the mix.
Sound
6.9
Well done, but no originality here.
Lasting Appeal
9.0
THOU ART DEAD.
Fun Factor
8.1
Repetitive action and decent puzzles that are on the right side of the difficult scale.
