Scooby-Doo! First Frights

Scooby-Doo! First Frights

Young Scoobs and the gang embark on a charming though not so challenging series of missions. You may find more to do with your hands while watching the movie.

Here we have a good-looking game with plenty of pizzazz, with gameplay aimed squarely at your youngest relatives. As with the upcoming Scooby Doo live-action movie, First Frights features the crew of Mystery, Inc. as teenagers – before they became ‘pesky kids’ for whom ghost-busting is all in a day’s work.

Since most kids prefer action games this is the angle adopted for First Frights. Proceedings are therefore light on problem solving, rather sadly low on spookiness, but instead very big on bashing things into. It’s highly polished, with voice actors from the recent animated series, and Warner Bros lovely artwork bringing everything to life.

There’s just about enough variation to keep you keen to complete each new level. Warner Bros play the ‘different characters with unique abilities’ card admirably. Daphne is quite the gymnast, for example, whereas Scooby Doo can crawl into small spaces. Every stage has hidden areas that can only be accessed by a character with a specific ability, and it should prove fun for a couple of young friends to explore these in co-op mode. Seasoned gamers won’t be so easily entertained.

The world of Scooby Doo is rich with opportunities to make a classic videogame, in keeping with the timeless appeal of the original show. Sadly this hasn’t proven to be the case here with First Frights. It simply requires that players shoot or smack sea monsters, witches and wotnot out of the way through four short stages.

We would’ve preferred a mystery-solving angle for Mystery Inc., with lengthier dialogue from the villains, some great one-liners from Shaggy and Scoobs. But, like we said, this isn’t the audience Warner is pitching for.

Younger kids will find enough to giggle about for a week or so, especially with some of the silly costumes that can be unlocked (for no apparent reason other than to make you laugh). Scoobs is always good value, he’s hilarious even when he’s standing still doing nothing, let’s face it. It’s a real shame Warner Bros didn’t seize this opportunity to stretch Mystery Inc to its fullest potential to attract new fans or endear the game to parents that remember watching the original TV show.

Think of it as a Scooby Snack, but not the fast-food banquet you maybe had in mind.

3 out of 5