Goosebumps: The Game (3DS)

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scotland
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Goosebumps: The Game (3DS)

Postby scotland » May 13th, 2017, 9:03 am

This might be another game for the Critic's Halloween list. Its full of campy Goosebump / Creature Feature monsters like evil Ventriloquist dummies and mummies. Maybe not adult horror movie scary, but that type of scary you felt as a kid afraid to go outside and walk the dog (maybe you saw a movie like Poltergeist or IT at a young age). You play here as a high school kid too, which puts you back into that frame of mind. You aren't mentally thinking about taking on zombie hordes with a shotgun or machete, but how can you be sneaky, cunning, or swift to solve your problems. I like that.

I had not played my 3DS in awhile, got it out (the battery was still pretty much fully charged - good job Nintendo), and found this game was inserted but there was not a single save file. I think I got it around Christmas in one of those Gamestop 2 for 1 sales. I looked at the Metacritic and its got rather poor ratings, but I think I might enjoy it as an old Universal Monster movie fan.

I was pleasantly surprised that its an old timey point and click adventure. Awesome - I like these Choose Your Own Adventure style of games. Its about puzzle solving and some story in something like our real world. The UI is a bit more awkward than keyboard and mouse since you move the stylus on the bottom screen to move the cursor on the top screen. I also prefer to use my left hand thumb and the touchpad and Dpad on the left instead of trying to use the stylus with my right since I only have 2 hands, and this way the weight of the unit is always in two hands, not one. (This may be something the Switch does better too - like the GBA and the Sony PSP, you play the game while keeping it in two hands as you should.)

I hear you die a lot in the new Zelda game. Prepare to have your high school student self die a lot here too. Just beginning and I met a threat. I did choice A - and died. Choice B and died. Thought I would be creative and try Choice C - and died. Okay. I figured it out eventually.

The graphics so far are very 90s point and click. Static scenes to investigate for objects, and then animated sprites for some action sequences (like my 3 quick deaths already that began with a jump scare and a description of your demise). This may be a sort of Old Skool Throwback Thursday kind of game, but gaming should be diverse enough to keep making these too.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Goosebumps: The Game (3DS)

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 13th, 2017, 2:39 pm

Scotland - thanks for posting this review. Looks like something I may want to pick up in September - right before Halloween.


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