Scooby-Doo!: Night of 100 Frights (GC, 2002)
Graphics-7 Sound-7 Control-6.5/5.5* Challenge-6.5 Story-4.5
Level Design-6 Frustration-7/8** Fun-6 Originality-5
Overall Score-6
*Camera
**Parts of the lab area
+
Gain new movement abilities and tools for exploration and progression (springs - double jump (Dragon Buster), helmet - charge through things and into enemies+break boxes and press certain buttons (similar to Sonic or Zelda 3+LA), umbrella - glide jump (Pac-Land, Wonder Boy in Monster Land)+climb upwards winds, smash/stomp - pound enemies and press certain buttons+break through weak floors (Hammerin' Harry), shovel - dig up items at certain spots, soap bubble - encases enemies and lets you use them as temporary platforms (Bubble Bobble/Metroid; bubble gum is used in a similar manner); gum shoes/galoshes and boots - walk across sticky surfaces/up steep slopes, )
Warps/teleporters (several per area/level - accessed via the hub area outside the manor from the get go as well as found warp gates in later areas)
Puzzle boss fights
Some decent level gimmicks (the tires/chandeliers/lanterns you can swing on, timed switch gates and rising water chase segment, upwards winds)
Mostly skippable and mostly voiced dialogue, Skippable cutscenes
Named rooms/sub areas on the map
You'll sometimes meet Shaggy who helps you progress after being rescued (at one point he'll toss you upwards and can be controlled - you also make him press down a switch for you in the same room, some of these ideas feel underdeveloped however)
Some shortcuts back to the hub and between certain sub areas
Cart/lawnmower segment (kinda slow but decent variation and it's forgiving)
Some hidden paths and items
One large scale environmental change (lower the water level in on sub area) and some smaller ones (bringing down the giant icicles/stalactites to use as platforms)
One minor sequence break (high path in hedge maze part 2 by double jumping then using the stomp to reach a little further however you don't gain anything important here, more?). Can do a partial skip in the one way trip area but you'll quickly run into an ability gate (soap?)
Decent pirate boss fight (puzzle element)
Can keep playing after the ending
Groundskeeper scene during the ending is kinda funny
+/-
Mostly linear structure (manor (first key)->cove (double jump)->haunted hedge maze (helmet)->back to manor etc., can enter mystic playground from the get go (just a short tutorial area though) and the mystic manor almost as quickly (collect some snacks in the hub area), can go to skull cliff or creepy crawlies sub areas after getting the stomp move however the former doesn't lead to finding another traversal ability, need the umbrella to get to the bubble gum shot (get it from the pirate boss) and the bubble gum shot to get to the soap bubbles (cellar part 4))
Collectathon (not a problem until the mid-late game (see below); have to collect 3 keys in some rooms to progress)
Pretty frequent save points and health drops from enemies at first - gets kinda rare after a while
Respawn at the beginning of the current sub area if you die with no collection progress lost
Mostly 2.5D gameplay (similar to Klonoa)
Basic 2D TD view map (shows which room you're in and the overall world layout but*), No mini-map
The game outright tells you what ability or tool you need to reach gated items or paths early on
Some pits and instant death hazards however the game is pretty forgiving in that you just lose additional HP picked up and restart at the beginning of current room
Basic stealth (gained slippers for sneaking and lampshade for hiding) - not particularly useful. The optional and hidden suit of armor (don't look down part 1) is an upgraded version but a defense upgrade would've been more useful
Can't kill larger enemies/monsters until you get the helmet - sadly it trivializes most enemies
Gallery room (unlocked monsters, cutscenes and pics)
Various gated paths just lead to monster tokens (some info on monsters from the cartoon in the gallery room)
Captures the vibe of the cartoon series pretty well (for better or worse, uses laugh tracks and the jokes are mostly bad)
Sometimes oddly happy music given the situation
Can't keep health items for later (no item inventory)
No shop
No HP or AP upgrades
-
Can get stuck if you enter the lighthouse area via the secret passage under the docks and then use snacks to go back. At the final area (lab) you suddenly hit an 850 snacks gate which leads to some backtracking and collecting of snacks unless you were thorough up until that point
Some control/interface issues (no camera control - not great at picking the optimal angle outside of the 2.5D segments and sometimes doesn't keep up when running, when backtracking the camera tends to be placed in front of you which leads to cheap hits and deaths, *map doesn't show room layouts and you can't place map markers+doesn't mark found points of interest like keys (you'll run into many temporary dead ends that you'll have to memorize or write down and backtrack to later), auto-break after sprinting (has a set length) and running - breaks flow though you can jump to avoid it, some delay before you can jump after starting to sprint+neither it nor running affects jump length - jumps are very vertical focused like in Contra, can't press the back button to go back from a menu in some cases, so-so hit detection on the lanterns outside the manor, when the camera tilts as you're entering a perpendicular path you have to manually adjust your movement or you'll walk into a wall or sometimes a hazard - would've been better if you kept following the path until you let go of the d-pad/stick, sometimes inconsistent shadows when jumping, no subtitles during cutscenes, sometimes you're not shown what pressing a switch did, somewhat unforgiving hit detection on the snacks and there's no item magnet upgrade, somewhat unforgiving hit detection on the red buttons in the lab, unskippable staff roll)
Sub areas are mostly linear winding "corridors" with some side paths here and there. There are also many arbitrary invisible walls, making exploration often feel limited and discouraging sequence breaking
Some tedious elements (some boring backtracking, the manor is a bit drawn out without focusing on exploration or giving you new abilities, kinda tedious platforming in the factory at the docks and parts of the wreck on the deck area, one-way path at the shipwreck - don't jump down at the snack gate, at one point in the manor if you go back to part 2 of it you'll have to redo that whole sub area, some minor empty detours, some of the spring platforming on the large ship deck, some 2.5D segments would've worked better without any z-plane movement being possible, several shortcuts between being one-way seems pointless and can be an issue leading to more backtracking, the final boss is kind of annoying due to the delay between your tackle and jump moves and constant respawning of enemies)
Some trial & error (the laser shooting enemies can respawn right on top of you, finding certain paths leading forward in an area, the blue lab enemies can't be stomped on before tackling them - seems arbitrary as you can bounce on them after gumming them, no warning that the shortcut back to the beginning of the manor from the final boss is one-way)
Some items are just placed out in the open without a challenge leading up to them or having to explore to find them (key to hedge maze, slippers and lampshade). Ability items tend to be handed out at the end of sub area segments or after beating bosses
Various doors can't be entered nor examined
Kinda lame digging "puzzle" near the beginning - you're just told what to do and where to dig is obvious (one interesting but mostly unexplored side effect is the mud piles that digging creates - at one point you can use this to reach higher but otherwise not)
"Thanks for chasing off those bats!" - I didn't do anything
Some gated paths don't even lead to a collectible
The first entrance to the pier (boat ride) becomes one-way from the other side after visiting the pier once until you get the stomp move - pointless
Pretty repetitive (few new enemies after the third area or so, several enemies look different but behave almost the same, repeated music tracks at times)
Some slow moving platforms
Scooby and interactive elements sometimes blend into the environment a bit much and the graphics are a bit dark and low contrast
Dated 3D models and human facial animation (cutscenes should've been handdrawn cartoons at least), No unique animation for the super smash (stunning stomp)
Dialogue text is placed on top of the speaking chars and the camera work during such scenes is sometimes non-existent
Some plot oddities (glasses' lenses don't really work like that, if velma noticed holly being a hologram when with the gang (not shown to the player before that) why didn't she expose her?, doesn't make sense that all the monsters were holograms since you physically attack them, holly would've had to also mind control her uncle to act like the villain for the final boss fight?)
You'll encounter gum ammo before the ability without any explanation (a bit confusing)
Final boss music doesn't loop properly
Bug:
-Buggy wall hit detection in gloom & doom part 2 (lets you jump up the wall to the coffins but it's pointless)
Level Design-6 Frustration-7/8** Fun-6 Originality-5
Overall Score-6
*Camera
**Parts of the lab area
+
Gain new movement abilities and tools for exploration and progression (springs - double jump (Dragon Buster), helmet - charge through things and into enemies+break boxes and press certain buttons (similar to Sonic or Zelda 3+LA), umbrella - glide jump (Pac-Land, Wonder Boy in Monster Land)+climb upwards winds, smash/stomp - pound enemies and press certain buttons+break through weak floors (Hammerin' Harry), shovel - dig up items at certain spots, soap bubble - encases enemies and lets you use them as temporary platforms (Bubble Bobble/Metroid; bubble gum is used in a similar manner); gum shoes/galoshes and boots - walk across sticky surfaces/up steep slopes, )
Warps/teleporters (several per area/level - accessed via the hub area outside the manor from the get go as well as found warp gates in later areas)
Puzzle boss fights
Some decent level gimmicks (the tires/chandeliers/lanterns you can swing on, timed switch gates and rising water chase segment, upwards winds)
Mostly skippable and mostly voiced dialogue, Skippable cutscenes
Named rooms/sub areas on the map
You'll sometimes meet Shaggy who helps you progress after being rescued (at one point he'll toss you upwards and can be controlled - you also make him press down a switch for you in the same room, some of these ideas feel underdeveloped however)
Some shortcuts back to the hub and between certain sub areas
Cart/lawnmower segment (kinda slow but decent variation and it's forgiving)
Some hidden paths and items
One large scale environmental change (lower the water level in on sub area) and some smaller ones (bringing down the giant icicles/stalactites to use as platforms)
One minor sequence break (high path in hedge maze part 2 by double jumping then using the stomp to reach a little further however you don't gain anything important here, more?). Can do a partial skip in the one way trip area but you'll quickly run into an ability gate (soap?)
Decent pirate boss fight (puzzle element)
Can keep playing after the ending
Groundskeeper scene during the ending is kinda funny
+/-
Mostly linear structure (manor (first key)->cove (double jump)->haunted hedge maze (helmet)->back to manor etc., can enter mystic playground from the get go (just a short tutorial area though) and the mystic manor almost as quickly (collect some snacks in the hub area), can go to skull cliff or creepy crawlies sub areas after getting the stomp move however the former doesn't lead to finding another traversal ability, need the umbrella to get to the bubble gum shot (get it from the pirate boss) and the bubble gum shot to get to the soap bubbles (cellar part 4))
Collectathon (not a problem until the mid-late game (see below); have to collect 3 keys in some rooms to progress)
Pretty frequent save points and health drops from enemies at first - gets kinda rare after a while
Respawn at the beginning of the current sub area if you die with no collection progress lost
Mostly 2.5D gameplay (similar to Klonoa)
Basic 2D TD view map (shows which room you're in and the overall world layout but*), No mini-map
The game outright tells you what ability or tool you need to reach gated items or paths early on
Some pits and instant death hazards however the game is pretty forgiving in that you just lose additional HP picked up and restart at the beginning of current room
Basic stealth (gained slippers for sneaking and lampshade for hiding) - not particularly useful. The optional and hidden suit of armor (don't look down part 1) is an upgraded version but a defense upgrade would've been more useful
Can't kill larger enemies/monsters until you get the helmet - sadly it trivializes most enemies
Gallery room (unlocked monsters, cutscenes and pics)
Various gated paths just lead to monster tokens (some info on monsters from the cartoon in the gallery room)
Captures the vibe of the cartoon series pretty well (for better or worse, uses laugh tracks and the jokes are mostly bad)
Sometimes oddly happy music given the situation
Can't keep health items for later (no item inventory)
No shop
No HP or AP upgrades
-
Can get stuck if you enter the lighthouse area via the secret passage under the docks and then use snacks to go back. At the final area (lab) you suddenly hit an 850 snacks gate which leads to some backtracking and collecting of snacks unless you were thorough up until that point
Some control/interface issues (no camera control - not great at picking the optimal angle outside of the 2.5D segments and sometimes doesn't keep up when running, when backtracking the camera tends to be placed in front of you which leads to cheap hits and deaths, *map doesn't show room layouts and you can't place map markers+doesn't mark found points of interest like keys (you'll run into many temporary dead ends that you'll have to memorize or write down and backtrack to later), auto-break after sprinting (has a set length) and running - breaks flow though you can jump to avoid it, some delay before you can jump after starting to sprint+neither it nor running affects jump length - jumps are very vertical focused like in Contra, can't press the back button to go back from a menu in some cases, so-so hit detection on the lanterns outside the manor, when the camera tilts as you're entering a perpendicular path you have to manually adjust your movement or you'll walk into a wall or sometimes a hazard - would've been better if you kept following the path until you let go of the d-pad/stick, sometimes inconsistent shadows when jumping, no subtitles during cutscenes, sometimes you're not shown what pressing a switch did, somewhat unforgiving hit detection on the snacks and there's no item magnet upgrade, somewhat unforgiving hit detection on the red buttons in the lab, unskippable staff roll)
Sub areas are mostly linear winding "corridors" with some side paths here and there. There are also many arbitrary invisible walls, making exploration often feel limited and discouraging sequence breaking
Some tedious elements (some boring backtracking, the manor is a bit drawn out without focusing on exploration or giving you new abilities, kinda tedious platforming in the factory at the docks and parts of the wreck on the deck area, one-way path at the shipwreck - don't jump down at the snack gate, at one point in the manor if you go back to part 2 of it you'll have to redo that whole sub area, some minor empty detours, some of the spring platforming on the large ship deck, some 2.5D segments would've worked better without any z-plane movement being possible, several shortcuts between being one-way seems pointless and can be an issue leading to more backtracking, the final boss is kind of annoying due to the delay between your tackle and jump moves and constant respawning of enemies)
Some trial & error (the laser shooting enemies can respawn right on top of you, finding certain paths leading forward in an area, the blue lab enemies can't be stomped on before tackling them - seems arbitrary as you can bounce on them after gumming them, no warning that the shortcut back to the beginning of the manor from the final boss is one-way)
Some items are just placed out in the open without a challenge leading up to them or having to explore to find them (key to hedge maze, slippers and lampshade). Ability items tend to be handed out at the end of sub area segments or after beating bosses
Various doors can't be entered nor examined
Kinda lame digging "puzzle" near the beginning - you're just told what to do and where to dig is obvious (one interesting but mostly unexplored side effect is the mud piles that digging creates - at one point you can use this to reach higher but otherwise not)
"Thanks for chasing off those bats!" - I didn't do anything
Some gated paths don't even lead to a collectible
The first entrance to the pier (boat ride) becomes one-way from the other side after visiting the pier once until you get the stomp move - pointless
Pretty repetitive (few new enemies after the third area or so, several enemies look different but behave almost the same, repeated music tracks at times)
Some slow moving platforms
Scooby and interactive elements sometimes blend into the environment a bit much and the graphics are a bit dark and low contrast
Dated 3D models and human facial animation (cutscenes should've been handdrawn cartoons at least), No unique animation for the super smash (stunning stomp)
Dialogue text is placed on top of the speaking chars and the camera work during such scenes is sometimes non-existent
Some plot oddities (glasses' lenses don't really work like that, if velma noticed holly being a hologram when with the gang (not shown to the player before that) why didn't she expose her?, doesn't make sense that all the monsters were holograms since you physically attack them, holly would've had to also mind control her uncle to act like the villain for the final boss fight?)
You'll encounter gum ammo before the ability without any explanation (a bit confusing)
Final boss music doesn't loop properly
Bug:
-Buggy wall hit detection in gloom & doom part 2 (lets you jump up the wall to the coffins but it's pointless)