Monster House’s completely repetitive nature does little to take away from the overall fun there is to be had.
My hopes for Monster House on the DS were pretty low. With the exception of a few ports (The Chronicles of Riddick, for one), most movie titles that I have come across have been disappointing at best. With that said, it does my heart good to finally report on another success in this particularly money-hungry genre.
Monster House is based on the movie of the same name, and places you in control of the three main characters from the film: DJ, the level headed 12 year-old responsible for your journey into the home, Chowder, the boy who has an unhealthy obsession with his toy glider, and Jenny, the Prep School brain who keeps the boys in line.
A local home in the neighborhood owned by mysterious Mr. Nebbercracker, has long been sucking in everything that steps paw or plastic wheel into its yard. When the house starts abducting people as well, DJ decides that enough is enough, and ventures into the home to try and make it to the boiler room to put out the fire (the heart) of the home.
Playing through the game is simple in theory, but a challenge to actually accomplish. Fifty-four rooms await exploration. These rooms are filled with possessed furniture, ranging from floorboards to dinnerware, which will serve as the main opponents on your journey. You begin each room with a choice of which of the three main characters you should play as. Our heroes are armed with water pistols; DJ's acts as a single machine gun, Jenny's a double machine gun, and Chowder's powerful (albeit slow) triple bead spread (think a water ripple getting larger as it spreads out) rounds out the three.
The action takes place on the top screen, with the directional pad serving as the control of the actual character movement. The bottom screen contains a map of the room and dots of varying colors to let you know whether or not the ghostly furnishings are closing in. This is also the screen that controls your squirt guns. Simply tap the mouse in the direction you wish to fire and a water jet will spurt from the end of your pistol. Hold down the stylus for a full on, non-stop assault. Watch your pressure gauge, however, because just like in real-life, a long time of squirting will cause your shooting distance to lessen. Rub your stylus over the pressure gauge in a pumping fashion to recharge.
The goal in each room is to wander around until you defeat all of the furniture in it. Certain rooms contain toys, like Chowder's precious glider, or random action figures and bouncing balls. If the toy is character related, the level to retrieve said toy does become character specific. Meaning that in the search for Jenny's wagon, you can only play as Jenny.
Each character starts out with five hearts as their health, which can be replenished mid-level. Lose all five hearts and you have to start the room over as one of the remaining characters. Lose all three characters and it's game over.
Varying room layouts and sizes, along with new obstacles and enemies throughout the game break up the core of the repetitive gameplay. Another element that keeps the gameplay fun and fresh is the background sound department. Adding to the ghostly nature of the title, the music is very reminiscent of old scary movies with the “dun, dun dun” sort of beats playing throughout, if little words in quotes can give it meaning. Thinking of any song you would hear playing at a trick-or-treat party would probably suffice.
The story itself breaks in every few levels, in the form of text bubbles, which is a bit contradictory in a children’s title, being that some of the target audience might not be at the highest of reading levels. Then again, the gameplay itself is a bit on the complex side, at first glance, which also adds to the grownup feel of the title.
Overall, after looking past the redundancy of the gameplay (which is easy enough to become accustomed to) the story is a fun and interesting take on the average family film/game. A2M has done a great job at porting this successful film onto the DS, and if the film itself is as enjoyable as the game, I can only see good things in its future.
Children's game or not, this is definitely one that I would recommend.
Review text part of Grrlgamer.com. Full review and screenshots at: http://www.grrlgamer.com/review.php?g=monsterhouseds