Gaming Target - Xbox: The Haunted Mansion

Written by Leigh Culpin on January 21, 2004

Full Review: But is it haunting?

Disney's latest ride-based franchise goes by the name of the Haunted Mansion and has been presented to the public in both movie and video game form, though the two don't really coincide too much beyond the fact that both take place in a Haunted Mansion. Go figure. I'm not going to comment on the movie (don't go there) but the game's actually rather decent, with the only major problem being that, quite frankly, it really doesn't have a target audience.

You start the game as Zeke, a young author searching the world for his calling. Upon entering the Mansion he finds Madame Leota, a ghost stuck in a crystal ball (which will be familiar to those who have been on the ride), who decides that you're going to save the trapped ghosts of the mansion by capturing 999 evil spirits and then defeating the their dark lord.

Having been to Disneyland in California twice (and what fond childhood memories the thought brings) I've been on, or rather in, the Haunted Mansion ride a few times, and the game does an excellent job of giving you that feeling of nostalgia Ц many of the game characters and events pull directly from the ride, from the singing ghosts in the pause menu to the elevator with the stretching pictures near the end of the game. The team at High Voltage Software did an excellent job of taking the existing features of the ride and adding on to them also, with some very cool and creative puzzles, such as having to make various possessed band instruments play to inspire a library of books to move around in front of you to create a floating path, hiding behind moving knight's shields to cross a room safety, chasing a moving light switch around, adjusting mirrors to bounce light across a crooked room into a crystal ball, and finding your way through a room with moving walls. Unfortunately, while these puzzles (around 24 or so) tend to be innovative, many of them can be frustratingly difficult (often due to platform jumping and the like) and repetitive, which kind of takes away the appeal for younger audiences. Similarly, the game is rated Teen so right off the bat it's kinda of missing what you'd think would be it's preferred gaming audience.

The rating is likely due to the fairly frequent combat (where Zeke fires a powered-up lantern at various ghastly ghouls) and the amusing (if potentially scary for younger kids) scenes and situations throughout the game. Having said that, there's obviously no blood or especially terrifying moments, and the combat and scares alike are all rather comically or cautiously applied so it's a game safe for most younger kids despite the rating.

The game actually has a fairly decent method of progression Ц while enemies and puzzles get increasingly tougher as you move throughout the game, you'll find new crystals to place in your lantern (acquired by collecting pieces of ghosts' death certificates and then handing the completed document over to them) which power it up through new types of shots, such as charged energy shots and rapid fire shots. The combat is generally very easy, and well designed Ц you can lock on to enemies, scroll through the enemies and your movements will be directed around them (so you'll strafe around in a circle rather than just left to right across a room) leaving nothing for you to do but pick your shot and fire. While it's not terribly complex combat, it clearly wasn't meant to be and isn't the focus of the game. That would be the puzzles.

As I said, the puzzles are well varied and designed for the most part, and generally rather Disney-esque. However, while they can be addicting, they make for a rather basic rinse, wash and repeat formula Ц to capture the spirits in the mansion you pick a room, beat any enemies in it, complete the puzzle, flick the light switch (getting to the switch is almost universally the objective of each puzzle) then search objects (the ones you need to find all УpulseФ) to release the ghosts, which you then pull into your lantern. While 999 sounds like an awful lot, the average room has around 6-20 spirits located in it, so it goes by pretty quickly. You also have to do the rooms more or less in order, since each room can only be unlocked by having captured so many spirits. While this certainly makes for a great deal of monotony, the game really is fairly entertaining throughout.

Graphically and audibly the game does pretty well Ц while the game's animations range from odd to poor to all right the visuals themselves are pretty decent, with some cool special effects and neat looking enemies and ghosts. The sounds are all well done, as it the music, and my only real gripe with them is that the menu sound byte (with the three singing ghosts) is too short and repeats too often (it's a catchy tune!). The overall atmosphere of the game is well presented and gives a decent sense of being inside of a giant and haunted mansion, which is naturally what it sets out to do. The aesthetic highlight of this game really is the mansion itself Ц each room seems to have been lovingly crafted in 3D and given an easily adequate amount of detailing for that added pinch of realism. The lighting is especially well done, and most noticeable without the lights on Ц the firing effects, torches, lamps and the like all have a nice eerie feel about them, though once you flick the light switch in each room, the visuals kind of lose their effect.