The Mansion of Hidden Souls

"Ugh..."

I paid $.15 for this. 15 cents. Good price? No. This game is deplorable.

Story: To tell you the truth, i have no idea what the story is. I played this game for about an hour, and all I could figure out was something about some souls and a red moon.

Graphics (2/10): Decent graphics, but they're all incredibly fuzzy. The Three-Dimensional view is nice, but not when you can barely tell what your walking around in, or what your running into (Is that a door? Or a bookshelf? Or a wall?)
When talking to a "soul" (A semi-transparent disembodied head floating in the air), they cycle through the same animation over and over again. This was actually pretty funny.

Sound (1/10): A good amount of voice acting went into this game, but it's horrible. Faked British accents and cheesy dialogue does not make for a good game. I think Sega needs to realize that.

Controls (1/10): Horrible, Horrible, Horrible. There's a 3-4 second delay whenever you press a direction on the control pad, and the control scheme just does not work. Pressing up to collect items is not very easy when you press up to move forward. Also, I should have been able to see my items by pressing the "X" button. I collected a tarot card, and was curious to see what it did. I pressed "X", and nothing happened. Sega needs to work on their manual there..

Gameplay (1/10): If the last few sections haven't clued you in to the level of crapulence of the gameplay, I don't know what will. You start in the main lobby of the mansion, with a staircase to the top floor in the middle. A door is on the right and left of you and the stairs. There is also a small hallway under the stairs that serves no purpose whatsoever. On the top floor are a door in each corner opposite the staircase, and two doors in each corner of the hall adjacent to it.

After talking to an old bearded "soul" (Who talked about changing into the form of a butterfly), I got the opportunity to find the other "souls" and talk to them. Not an easy task.. the controls suck, and it doesn't help that most of the doors are locked, preventing you from entry. After this point, I quit the game in frustration.

Replay Value: (1/10): None whatsoever.

Final Score: 1/10

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/04