Monster House
SCORE: 73
Monster House on the Gameboy Advance is a mix between a Legend of Zelda style of game, and a Resident Evil video game. In fact this game has a lot in common with Luigi’s Mansion on the Nintendo Gamecube. The house is haunted, and the kids want to destroy it before Halloween. In fact the house likes to eat people from the neighborhood. The entire premise is making a lot of hairs bristle on the back of a lot of our readers necks right about now, and we know it. In fact I was a little concerned when THQ first let us know about this game. It is based on the ‘PG’ rated movie (rating is for scary images and sequences, thematic elements, some crude humor and brief language). The three children decide to try and take the house out, with their water guns. This is a movie based video game, so the story is completely fantasy, and has nothing to do with the reality of real demonic activities. It is my hope and prayer that people will investigate the real problem in the real world with demons, the occult, and Satanic influences.
Graphically Monster House is really dark, and brooding. The house is old, and decrepit. The enemies in this game are usually furniture that starts coming after the player. There are mean looking bees as well. In fact all of the enemies look mean. The graphics do work well for the theme of the game. The artwork is actually pretty good for the Gameboy Advance, especially in the different rooms. There are no occultic images that I could find in this game.
The sounds in Monster House are very crisp and clear. The music, while not cheery is not too dreary either. In a way the music does not completely fit the game, but in this reviewers humble opinion that is a good thing. One of the characters has a habit of saying: “oh my gawd” during times of high stress. This using the Lord’s name in vain is a serious problem that is handled as common place.
Monster House is large for a Gameboy Advance game, and includes quite a few floors. There are also a lot of secret enemies that when beaten give up a secret toy. There are quite a few rooms that require some amazing backtracking to just get into. This is ultimately an action role playing game (RPG) so it is mainly for one player. If you are an older video game player, and the spiritual overtones do not bother you, then this game would be worth the money. All other cases will want to pass on this game.
The controls are very quick and responsive. It is quite easy to switch between players, turn on tools (like a flashlight), and fire the water guns. The level designs of these floors is simply amazing. The intricate flawless design works really well. There is always somewhere to go when a dead end is found. Defeating an evil house is a honorable thing to want to do, but the way the players go about doing it is questionable.
Monster House has some good themes to it of fighting evil. The whole
using water guns to fight off demonically possessed furniture is
troubling, since the real way to free those from demons is prayer in the
name of Jesus Christ. This game is only for the older players who can
handle such themes, and of course the fantasy violence. This is not a
game that warrants any kind of warning, just make sure that if you do
purchase it that the player is mature enough to handle it. Which is a
shame, because this is a solid game.
- Paul
Graphics: 73%
Sound: 72%
Replay/Extras: 75%
Gameplay: 78%
Family Friendly Factor: 67%
System: Gameboy
Advance
Publisher: THQ
Rating: 'E' for Everyone
{Fantasy Violence}
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