First Frights is split into four episodes, each one its own mystery. Players control one of two Mystery Inc. members, and can switch between them to make their way through the levels. It all plays very similar to the LEGO family games. Each character has a special ability and players have to switch to them to progress. Some of them make sense: Scooby can crawl through vents. Some of them don't make sense at all: Shaggy has a grappling hook. And some of them are unintentionally hilarious: Daphne can shimmy up and down vertical poles.
Throughout the course of the game, players will encounter so many WTF moments that it seems as if Torus Games has never watched any incarnation of the franchise. Remember that episode where Velma dressed up like a sumo wrestler and belly flopped evil clowns, then beat the living crap out of a giant robot? No, because that makes no freaking sense. The game does have cut scenes featuring the current voice actors for all the characters, though the terrible jokes play out more like the one liners and puns from "Scooby-Doo Movies", except without Mama Cass.
Sure this game is aimed at younger kids, but it's also clearly designed for parents to play too. The drop in drop out co-op (on the consoles) makes the game a team effort, though it's not likely anyone will get stuck at any point. So with this seeming emphasis on cross generational Scooby love, why is this game unrecognizable as a Scooby game?
Throughout each of the four gloomy, boring worlds, players will beat up dozens upon dozens of bad guys. Mutant sea creatures, witches, evil creepy dolls, etc. None of this gets an explanation. The game does throw in the mystery element by having the player find clues, but usually the cutscene makes it extremely obvious who did it. But when it's time to wrap up the mystery they don't explain how the middle school gym coach commanded an army of ghosts and monsters. I'm sorry but after decades of the team being able to easily explain how the bad guy did everything (except for that one time with those zombies), I expect Velma to be able to explain where murderous flying witches came from.
Without a story that makes sense, or is interesting, it's hard to plow through the extremely repetitive gameplay. First Frights is basically the same for all three versions. Sure the DS one has a couple instances of very basic touch screen control, but it's limited to tapping a glowing green box. The entire game is running around, mashing on the attack button until the enemies die. It might be a little more interesting if even half of the enemies made a reaction to getting bicycle kicked in the face by Daphne. Instead they just stand there, or keep attacking you, and eventually flop over and die when they feel they've been hit enough.
Much like the LEGO games there is a free play where players can go through levels with other characters to find secrets. All of the secrets end up being more Scooby Snacks, which are used to buy costumes that you can then use when you replay the level on free play (which you just did already). It's not very useful or exciting, especially since you already earned plenty of Scooby Snacks during the initial run through. The trophies are a nice attempt at offering something extra, but there's no point. Making the trophies unlock secret costumes would have added more.
Closing Comments
So maybe adventure games are old news these days, but doesn’t Scooby Doo demand that? First Frights is not a Scooby game. It’s a boring, repetitive action game for kids that skimps on the story. Each level feels basically the same, just with a different group of bad guys, and I really doubt that was an homage to how formulaic the show is. The epic scale of the battles is lost when it’s Velma throwing books. I don’t see any reason this game would make any young child a fan of Scooby, and it will do far less for anyone that already is.
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