"Ri ron't row!"

"ZOINKS...A LISCENSED TITLE, RUN SCOOOOB!!!!"

And that about sums it up.

But if I only sent that in for my review, I'm sure Bahn would have my head on a pike by morning, so I'll elaborate. Scooby Doo: Classic Creep Capers (alliteration is bad, mmkay?) is based on three actual episodes of the TV series, and has you scurrying around various haunted joints with Shaggy and Scooby hunting for clues.

Sound exciting? No? Good boy. You get a Scooby Snack.

Graphically, the game does a fair job of capturing the show's atmosphere. However, this is the N64 we're dealing with, and as such it lacks one element that could've made this game look GOOOORGEOUS--cell shading. Y'see, after seeing Looney Toons Racing on DC...I just can't cope with this. The graphics aren't HORRIBLE, but the lo-res blurring does rear it's oogly head and it's...it's like going walking through South Central after having been to the promised land. But in all honesty, the graphics aren't that bad. They're just not that damn good.

Sound wise, (a key element in any liscensed title) fails to eminate any radiatiant factors of bliss. While we get some relatively good representations of the show's unique music, the voices on the other hand, wait...where are they? There's hardly ANY! Where are my "ZOINK"s? Where are the "JINKIES"? I WANT VOICES, DAMMIT! This is a HUGE dissapointment to me. I would've even settled for the watered down voices they've been using in the new Scooby movies, but since this game is based on actual episodes, I don't see why they couldn't just port the voices straight from the show (yeah I realize it wouldn't really fit the game that well, but still.....)

As for gameplay...ZZZZZNNKT...oh sorry, it's just that remembering about it makes me bored. I realize this game is for kids, but c'mon now...when I was a whippersnapper (and some would argue I still am) I had to deal with the likes of Castlevania and Ghosts and Goblins. Kids nowadays are getting off easy. Moving on, the gameplay consists of collecting items...and...that's about the majority of it. You also have to eventually set up a trap to lure the "monster" into at the end of the stage, but quite honestly, that really is a rather small portion of the game.

This upsets me. In my twisted mind, one the main points of a Scooby Doo game should be running frantically away from some masked crook, avoiding obstacles in Crash Bandicoot-esque fashion. Instead, in SD:CCC you die if you get "scared". And as anyone who watches the show knows, Shaggy and Scooby get scared easily. Which means even if you LOOK at something "scary" and you lose life. Guh.

This game is not for me. I need thrills. I need excitement. I need my cell shaded Shaggy and Scooby to be chased around by a freaky looking monster while CD-quality cheesey fake rock plays in the background. Not a scavenger hunt clearly aimed at little kids who are still too young to know what a good game is. Jinkies.

· · · Riisuke