I'm perplexed about why we haven't seen an Ace Attorney-style Scooby-Doo game at this point, but this is a pretty far cry from that. What I'm really complaining about isn't so much the presentation of the game, but how it plays. If nothing else, the hyperstylized characters are still instantly recognizable, and the game also utilizes voice actors from recent Scooby-Doo animated films, which is a nice touch and might draw in some fans of current Scooby-Doo efforts. I suppose I'm being a little unfair in saying that the game doesn't resemble much from Scooby-Doo. Also, since the game places a heavy emphasis on two characters and teamwork, it thankfully features drop-in and drop-out options for a second player to join in on the inane bashing of ghosts, goblins, witches, zombies and other random creatures. These sections seem to constitute the game's hidden areas, adding a little bit of replay value to the game once you finish the relatively short single-player portion. In each stage, you'll also notice areas that are obviously designed for other characters. This is due to the fact that each character has a particular ability that you'll need to use to overcome various obstacles, such as Daphne's ability to climb poles and swing around on chains.

There's not a lot to the actual gameplay you're automatically paired up with a CPU-controlled character for each stage, and the character selection for each stage is predetermined. This definitely isn't the Scooby-Doo that I grew up with, so if the developers weren't going for nostalgia, then why is the gameplay so bland and boring? There are a handful of other kid-themed brawlers out there, and a few even incorporate two-player mechanics similar to First Frights (the last Nicktoons game comes to mind), so why pick up this title over the rest of the competition?įirst Frights actually plays fine for a standard beat-'em-up game, and I'd say it manages to slightly outdo the Nicktoons titles that THQ manages to churn out year after year. Maybe I've been out of touch with the franchise for far too long, but I know that a live action, direct-to-DVD film was just released to perhaps go with this game.

On the one hand, it's intended for kids, which is evidenced by the cutesy design of the characters and the overall ease of gameplay, but if you're going to pick up a well-known licensed character and run with it, you'd think that someone would try to incorporate some familiar franchise elements instead of just depending on the familiarity of the characters to drive sales. I'm unclear about the target audience that the developers were aiming for with Scooby-Doo! First Frights on the Wii. Interactive Entertainment Announces “Scooby-Doo! First Frights” Mystery And Action Combined In A Pick-Up And Play Adventure Game For Wii, DS And PS2 | Press Releases (function(w,d,s,l,i)

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