It's surprising how much it feels like you're actually playing through a classic Scooby Doo episode. You can tell a lot of care was given to make the whole vibe feel very genuine to the show. Found myself bumbling around in the dark as Shaggy, getting scared and chased, running through rooms, accidentally luring the guy chasing me into a slippery puddle, making him slide into the wall and stunning him. Wasn't expecting some genuinely tense chase sequences spanning multiple rooms in an N64 Scooby Doo game and I'm not sure what more I could ask.
Very simple and short but I think that's to its benefit. It's got enough charm on display to last its 4 short episodes. Episode 3 is the weakest one, it's got a lot of empty space where nothing happens. And it overall feels pretty half-baked compared to the other 3. Otherwise the only complaints I could have is that the controls are on the jank side. It's got both tank and non tank controls available, but neither feel quite right. The problem with the non-tank controls is more that the fixed camera snaps very frequently. Felt a bit sloppy with just how many angles they'd give you for even small rooms at times. Tank would be the optimal choice because of this, and normally I have NO issue with tank controls, but the game really wasn't designed around them. But it's nothing I couldn't handle, if anything it just made the chases more tense.
You get to see Shaggy's jaw unhinge in the eating minigame so that's worth a few points. Always been weirdly keen on the idea of a Resident Evil style Scooby Doo game, only to find out it actually existed and isn't bad at all. Clue finding and puzzle solving fit perfect with the style and capping it off with an emphasis on chases is a lot of fun.
Also I'm really struggling to decide on a concrete star rating between 3 1/2 vs. 4. Been sitting here thinking about it for about 10 full minutes now. This is going to keep me up at night.
Very simple and short but I think that's to its benefit. It's got enough charm on display to last its 4 short episodes. Episode 3 is the weakest one, it's got a lot of empty space where nothing happens. And it overall feels pretty half-baked compared to the other 3. Otherwise the only complaints I could have is that the controls are on the jank side. It's got both tank and non tank controls available, but neither feel quite right. The problem with the non-tank controls is more that the fixed camera snaps very frequently. Felt a bit sloppy with just how many angles they'd give you for even small rooms at times. Tank would be the optimal choice because of this, and normally I have NO issue with tank controls, but the game really wasn't designed around them. But it's nothing I couldn't handle, if anything it just made the chases more tense.
You get to see Shaggy's jaw unhinge in the eating minigame so that's worth a few points. Always been weirdly keen on the idea of a Resident Evil style Scooby Doo game, only to find out it actually existed and isn't bad at all. Clue finding and puzzle solving fit perfect with the style and capping it off with an emphasis on chases is a lot of fun.
Also I'm really struggling to decide on a concrete star rating between 3 1/2 vs. 4. Been sitting here thinking about it for about 10 full minutes now. This is going to keep me up at night.