Scooby Doo Mystery

"Scooby Scooby Doo, lookin' for you, shouldn't be a game about ya!"

I watched Scooby Doo as a kid, but eventually it seemed to me that it was regarded as a classic more because it had been around forever than because it was a good show. Every episode is the same: a guy dresses up as a ghost or monster to scare people away from a place where buried treasure or a smuggling operation is hidden. I guess the developers figured the name would sell itself, as this is not a good game at all.

The game consists of two mysteries. One is Blake's Hotel, run by Daphne's uncle who's letting the groovy gang take a ski vacation there. But wouldn't you know it, the ghost of an Indian chief has been scaring all the guests away. Jinkies! The other one is the exact same thing, just like the show. I swear I'm not kidding. Just replace ''ski resort'' with ''carnival'' and ''Indian chief'' with ''clown.'' These guys can't pick up a six-pack without a mystery falling on their heads like a safe on Daffy Duck's, can they?

You control Shaggy, and are sort of not really assisted by Scooby, who walks around sometimes points out significant features of the surroundings. Like in the show, they're being chased around by the guy in the monster suit while the others are finding the clues to crack the case. Which defeats the purpose of making a game based on a show that centers around solving mysteries if you ask me. Yeah you solve puzzles, but you never do anything to figure out who the villain is behind the mask or how they're doing what they're doing. Anyway, it plays like a poorly assembled Day of the Tentacle clone, with you walking around and using a list of verbs to interact with the environment. If you can figure out how to do anything in this game what with the frankly ridiculous puzzles the game puts you to.

The graphics are drab and washed out. Shaggy looks a little like Shaggy, Scooby looks a little like Scooby. But this game came out late in the lifespan of the Genesis, yet the graphics were better in Golden Axe and Moonwalker. The sound effects and music are okay, at least, and the Genesis does an acceptable if not outstanding job of recreating the Scooby Doo theme via beepy noises.

I can't recommend this game to anybody. Not to point and click adventure fans because of the stupid puzzles that you practically need to be psychic to figure out, or even to Scooby fans. To me, it's a mystery why this show is popular at all.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 03/04/04, Updated 06/08/06