Scooby-Doo: Phantom of the Knight

Requires: P166, Windows 95 or later, 16MB RAM, 32MB HD, 16bit color, 4xCD-ROM

Description:

"Scooby dooby doo, where are you? We've got some work to do now"... to solve the mystery, that is! Scooby and the rest of the Mystery Van gang are all here in wonderfully rendered animation. Join them in their adventure at the Joust for Fun castle as they try to solve the mystery of the missing princess.

This delightful adventure takes place in a renovated Scottish castle, which has been transported to the US and is now a family fun center. Just like the cartoons, mysterious shenanigans have been disturbing the guests, and now the star attraction, Bernice, has disappeared! It's common knowledge that Pizza Palace wants to buy Joust for Fun out, but just which employee have they suborned to help them out? Could it be the jester, who's tired of playing second-rate shows? How about the cook, who's having financial problems and needs her car fixed? The girl's uncle doesn't seem too concerned about her disappearance, but maybe it's the magician or the actor who plays opposite Bernice, both of whom have motives as well.

To get to the bottom of this, the gang will need to search for clues and helpful objects all around the castle. Objects found can be used to help get more clues, objects and information to advance the story. There are 5 suspects and 5 clues (which are given to the gang by the suspects themselves during the course of the game) that lead to the discovery of the suspect at the end of the game. During the game, there are also helpful objects to be picked up and used. The suspects and clues change every game, but the objects themselves or their location do not.

Each suspect has a simple activity to be solved before handing over a clue, and there are also 2 fun arcade games to play for scooby snacks!

Features:

• Scooby Doo!
• Fun adventure to be solved
• 2 arcade mini-games
• Really bad puns
• 5 activities
• Lots of areas to explore
• 3 difficulty settings
• Online manual
• Printable poster

Technical Aspects:

The hearing impaired will have a hard time playing this, as the dialogue is all verbal with no text options.

Report and Conclusions:

The flavor of the cartoon is captured very carefully, with special attention to details. A lot of love went into this game, and The Learning Company truly have done an outstanding job with this title.

However, I do have a slight concern about the longevity of this game for the upper age range. Yes, the suspects and clues are randomized, but these aren't used until the very end of the game. The game objects are NOT randomized (at least not in the 5 complete games I played here at differing difficulty levels), neither are their locations; so essentially, the same game is played each time.

My 10 year old daughter played through the first time in one hour by herself, after I gave her an initial hint about the first object found. She enjoyed it tremendously, but I doubt that she will play it too many more times, given that the gameplay itself won't change. The difficulty levels really only affect the activities and arcade games, not the story or adventure.

Despite these small reservations, we loved this game, and I would recommend it for children in the mid range of 6-9 years of age.