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GameCube Haunted Mansion Developer: High Voltage | Publisher: TDK Mediactive
Rating: B+Rating: EveryoneHaohmaru
Type: Platformer Players: 1
Difficulty: Intermediate Released: 10-23-03

Haunted Mansion cover

You’ve heard of the famous ride that’s had millions of unsuspecting passengers. You’ve heard of Disney, a huge corporation based in Florida. You’ve also heard that Eddie Murphy is cast in the film as the lead role of Jim Evers, whose family has just bought the haunted house without knowledge of the ghosts that reside there. I hear this might help Murphy get his career back, but one never knows. In any case, here’s a secret: did you hear that The Haunted Mansion, a Disney license for the PS2, is actually a good game? Shh.... don’t tell anyone. The ghosts might be listening. Come inside...

You’re Zeke Holloway, a shadow of a man who looks meek and acts meeker, who has been deceived by an advertisement in a local newspaper that seems to have been placed by benign ghosts who need rescuing. You read that right. See, their souls are trapped by an evil ghost who’s become the “head of the house”, so to speak. You’ll have to do battle with his minions, explore Gracey Mansion, solve puzzles and recover 999 lost souls along the way. The game is set to take place before The Haunted Mansion film, so you’ll not have to worry about an Eddie Murphy siting.

With the help of the “body-less” fortuneteller Madame Leota, you must use your magic lantern to combat ghosts, spiders, bigger spiders, even bigger spiders, and badder ghosts via a burst of energy similar to a fireball. Your goal, in each of the rooms that you explore, is find the way to restore light to the room. Madame Leota will give you a specific hint for each room, if you request it, and will offer advice and information throughout the game. She will discuss with you the gems that you will require for your lantern (read: you need to find them and upgrade your lantern to continue on) and will periodically give you tidbits of history and information on your ultimate opponent as well.

Your goal is fairly straightforward: you have to explore the many rooms of the mansion and capture a specific amount of souls in each room. These areas are only accessible via doors, each of which requires that you have a specific amount of souls captured before you can open (unlock) it. You have a “courage meter” which takes a hit each time you are “scared” (touched by an opponent, ghost, spider, etc.) and progressively gets lower. When the bar reaches its end, you lose a life. Thankfully, you can earn additional lives as you progress and complete areas and/or tasks. Each locale that you enter has a means by which to illuminate the aforementioned area - some of which can be successfully lit with ease and others which require puzzle solving and specific actions from you. Once you accomplish your goal, you will have to meander around the room looking for trapped souls that can be captured with your magic lantern. They can be in chests, vases, graves, or anywhere else in the room. Your courage meter will expand (presumably because you can “see” better) and this part of the game is less taxing than its prior puzzle solving requirements. Areas can house a certain amount of spirits, anywhere from five to fifteen or more depending on the nature of the room. You will know how many spirits are within each room and when your task is accomplished.

It should be noted that the puzzles and room designs can be quite simple or incredibly clever. I don’t want to go into specifics of any puzzles as that’s part of the pleasure of discovery that make the game worth investing in. There is, however, a broad range of subjects that are certain to flummox you and keep you occupied for hours. Part of the fun is NOT asking Madame Leota to give you the hint that you need. But, you’ll be talking to her, I’m sure. High Voltage should be commended for making the nature of each area that much different from the places that you’ve already been and thereby creating a uniquely rewarding experience for each place that you travel to.

When you “clear” a room (by capturing the lot of spirits), the ghosts that occupy the room come into view and you can interact with them, albeit in limited fashion that mostly consists of listening to what they had to say when they were “alive” in the room. A few of the apparitions will actually talk to you, instead of being part of the backdrop, and might even give you something. The real strength of The Haunted Mansion lies within its layout and its problem solving.

The game’s few problems come in when you are required to solve a puzzle with arcade like movements, which the control scheme isn’t really designed for. You’ll find a few instances where the automatic camera shifting will frustrate you and the control of the main character is a bit touchy. The small spiders, for example, are difficult to target with your lantern and it magnifies the frustration factor that the weakest of your opponents is the one damaging you. However, these shouldn’t be construed as major issues because they aren’t. With a bit of patience and practice, you can overcome these minor setbacks and enjoy the rest of the game.

The Haunted Mansion is graphically pleasing. The environments are rendered with great attention to detail and the characters, antagonists, and interactive elements are consistent with what you would expect from Disney-esque construction and production values. My only nit-pick is that the main character doesn’t draw you in emotionally and, effectively, isn’t all that charming or easy to care about. You seem to be on the outside looking in.

The sound production is top notch, with glorious effects that work in conjunction with the graphical elements. Whether it’s thunder in the background, hands popping out of a door while shrieking or the simple gasp when Zeke sees a friendly ghost start moving and talking, the sound elements are simply masterful.

Recovering all “999” lost souls to finish the game might seem like a daunting task, but it’s much worse than it sounds and is very accomplishable with a bit of perseverance and determination. The title is engrossing enough that it should be a non-issue for those that have purchased it. High Voltage and TDK Mediactive look to have a sure fire hit on their hands with this title that rises above the mediocrity that is usually associated with games that are produced from movie licenses. Well done.

· · · Haohmaru


Haunted Mansion screen shot

Haunted Mansion screen shot

Haunted Mansion screen shot

Haunted Mansion screen shot

Haunted Mansion screen shot

Haunted Mansion screen shot

Haunted Mansion screen shot

Haunted Mansion screen shot

Rating: B+Haohmaru
Graphics: 9 Sound: 9
Gameplay: 9 Replay: 7
  © 2003 The Next Level