  The scariest thing about this picture are Jenny's toothpick legs ... that's just not right!
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It would be way too easy to make a heap of comparisons between Monster House for the Nintendo GameCube and the Resident Evil series.
So that’s exactly what we’ll do.
The Monster House game is based on the movie of the same name and was developed by the current kings of movie-based games, THQ. In the game, you follow the antics of the three main characters – DJ, Jenny and Chowder – as they try to escape from the dreaded Monster House, armed with barely more than a water gun each.
If you’ve ever played a Resident Evil game, the comparisons are striking right from the beginning. The slow, tank-like controls, the fixed camera angles, the context-sensitive moments strewn about the game – but hey, if you’re going to borrow heavily from a game series, it may as well be one as good as Resident Evil, right? Luckily for THQ, most kids who play Monster House probably haven’t played a game in the Resident Evil franchise, so they won’t be able to spot the glaring similarities.
The game does have some high points, but a lot more low points. First, it is quite creepy – the ominous music constantly playing adds a lot and it’s nice to know the developers didn’t skimp out on these little things that add to the game’s atmosphere. The house is constantly creaking and shaking and you never know if it’s an enemy coming up behind you or just another clap of thunder.
Your character – whether you’re playing as either of the two boys or Jenny – is always walking at the same pace; there is no button you can hold down to run. This is more frustrating than anything but at the very least it is possible to do a quick 180 turn if you need to aim at something behind you at a moment’s notice (another move borrowed from the newer Resident Evil games).
The controls themselves are too clunky for their own good. When a room fills up with enemies, your character automatically targets onto the nearest one, but there’s no way of changing targets other than to walk away from the currently targeted enemy and waiting for the game to manually change it for you. It’s frustrating when trying to take down a particularly annoying enemy who simply won’t allow itself to be locked on. In addition, the sprays of water from your gun simply don’t hit the intended targets much of the time. It’s almost impossible to hit an item box from further than about 10 feet away. Luckily each character has a melee attack for such occasions.
The game takes you through nine levels around the house using characters in pre-determined areas – that is, you can’t choose who you use, but really, they all play almost exactly same so there’s no need to worry about readjusting as you flip between characters.
The game is very short – about four hours or so for an experienced gamer. Extras are few and far between; toy monkeys can be found throughout the campaign to open up concept art, and credits can be picked up throughout the levels as well, which allow you to play a Castlevania-esque side scroller called ‘Thou Art Dead’, which gets to be pretty boring by about the third level.
Though the game is quick, it could be considered an enjoyable experience if it weren’t for bugs in the game that just shouldn’t appear in this day and age. Most rooms you enter only allow you to pass once you’ve defeated all the enemies. Twice I entered rooms where the final one or two bad guys never spawned, therefore I couldn’t get any further and had to restart from the last save point. At another point, my character was walking down a basement hallway when suddenly the entire level disappeared. I basically walked into a programming error of some sort and had no way of getting out. Once again, it was necessary to restart from the beginning of the level. Frustrating to say the least.
Monster House has all the signs of a hallmark forgettable movie tie-in game: lazy level design and controls, a very short story, few extras (and zero multiplayer to boot), too many bugs and bland action. At the very least, the voices from the movie take on the roles of the three main characters of the game, but even then, has anyone really heard of Mitchell Musso, Sam Lerner or Spencer Locke?
Your best bet here is to wait until the Monster House movie is released on DVD. With extras, it’ll probably be about as long as the game and you and your kids won’t have to put up with design problems or frustrating controls.
WHAM! Rating: |
4.9 out of 10 |
ESRB Rating: |
E 10+ (Everyone 10+) |
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