Scooby-Doo! Unmasked
Score: 80% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: THQ Developer: A2M Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Themed
Graphics & Sound: Scooby-Doo! Unmasked brings back everyone's favorite four-legged sleuth in an all new adventure that will pit the K9 detective against many of the classic monsters that made him famous. Unlike most (if not all) previous Scooby-Doo titles, this one comes in wonderful cel-shaded goodness. Looking back, it's a bit odd that we haven't seen more cel-shaded Scooby games since most titles that are based on a cartoon license these days are pretty much automatically given this graphical treatment. Anyway... Scooby and the rest of Mystery Inc. all look great. Each detail from Scooby's spots to Fred's orange ascot (that sounds like such a dirty word) comes across loud and clear. Scooby's various costumes also appear nice and everything from his Robin-Hood costume to his Kung-Fu get up are brightly colored and pleasing to the eyes. The gang's voices are comprised mostly of actors who have participated in the recent cartoon movies like Scott Innes (Scooby and Shaggy) and Frank Welker (Fred). Those voice actors who haven't had much on-screen experience with the Mystery Inc. detective agency still do a great job of imitating the original cast.
Gameplay: In Scooby-Doo! Unmasked, the Mystery Inc. gang are once again traveling across the country to visit one of their family members. This time, it's Fred's cousin Jed who is a worker for the visual effects company, Monstrous Fright and Magic. But of course, while visiting, something has gone horribly wrong. Someone has stolen a batch of MFM's special substance called Mubber. Apparently, the formula is what MFM uses to create the extremely realistic costumes for their animatronic monsters. Now the formula is missing and Jed is being accused of stealing it. The Mystery Inc. gang take it upon themselves to find all the Mubber, clear Jed's name and take out the many monsters that have started springing to life. And to make things more interesting -- it seems the villains are designed to look like many of the gang's old foes. So not only will you once again face down characters like the Dark Knight and Zen Tuo, but with the help of Mubber, Scooby will be able to create special costumes for himself. With these costumes, Scooby can become a Kung-Fu expert, Robin Hood-like sharpshooter or flying superhero (with a strong resemblance to a pink Bat Man). In each level, you will not only have to collect Scooby Snacks, but trap pieces (so you can catch enemies), recipe ingredients and clues are also scattered about. Each collectible will either give you more health, help you solve the mystery or help you progress through the game in one way or another.
Difficulty: Scooby-Doo! Unmasked has a fairly constant difficulty level. If you can get past the first couple of levels, then you shouldn't have too much difficulty with any subsequent level. This is one of the issues I had with the game. Sure it seems to be geared towards younger players, but after the first few levels, there doesn't really seem to be many new things introduced. Enemies don't have the best A.I., so once you figure out how to take down one of the types of enemies, you can expect the same tactic to work over and over again.
Game Mechanics: Scooby-Doo! Unmasked has a basic control scheme. Tapping the X button makes you jump, holding down the same button will let you grab things and hang from ledges, bars and cables. Square executes a spin attack, Circle is a slide attack, while combinations of X and Circle buttons will perform much stronger moves. The Triangle button toggles the HUD on and off. When you have one of the costumes on, these buttons perform slightly different actions, but still resemble the basic configuration enough to make it a smooth transition. For instance, when in the Kung-Fu mode, you use the Square and Circle buttons to perform more powerful attacks, while using the Circle button in the Robin Hood costume lets you fire your bow and plunger. Unmasked isn't for everyone, but if you have been a long time fan of the Scooby games, then you probably won't be disappointed. In general, Unmasked isn't much different from the past titles -- but what changes were made to the series are a definite improvement and add some new mechanics to the title.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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