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The Haunted Mansion Review - Xbox

School is out and the avalanche of children movies is beginning to appear on the big screen, and expect a videogame to supplement it. Disney's 'The Haunted Mansion' is no different with the movie out this week Gamebiz takes a look at its videogame counterpart to find just what is lurking behind those doors.

Gameplay

Haunted Mansion is a story driven game where we see the story of Zeke unfold before our eyes. Set in 1879 and employment prospects low, the unmarried Zeke a lanky shy fellow, enters a mansion seeking success in an application to become the estates assistant caretaker. What a shock Zeke was in for! Caretaker just took on a whole different meaning. The caretaker ad was a guise to trick anyone to walk into the mansion, so they could rid the mansion of evil. Zeke being petrified and unable to leave had no choice but to help Madame Leota a fortune teller trapped in a crystal ball and her friendly ghosts to rid the mansion of Atticus Thorn's evil and to return the mansion to its former glory.

Madame Leota acts as a guide and the stories narrator as Zeke progresses through the rooms. Zeke is equipped lightly with a Beacon of Souls to over come the evils which is fueled by soul gems. There are a total of six of these which he is given one to start of with. Zeke must obtain further soul gems from the freed friendly ghost which are freed when the death certificate is completed. Each soul gem gives Zeke extra power in his beacon to take down Atticus Thorn evils.

The game is linear, with no freedom to explore by yourself. The game is structured as a story and it will be told as a story. Zeke begins in the Great Hall where he must turn on the light to collect his first lot of Shrivelled Souls. It is these Shrivelled Souls which sets the structure of the game. They are used to unlock the spirit barriers which lock the rooms, and Zeke can only unlock them when he has enough of them to open them.

Once breaking through Atticus Thorn spirit barriers Zeke will enter one of the many rooms in the mansion. It is Zeke's objective to bring the room to light while banishing any evil presence in the room. The rooms are varied in that they appear and look like you would expect say a bedroom, study and a ballroom. The one thing The Haunted Mansion excels at is the range of mini-games and challenges that present to Zeke while trying to light up the room. These challenges range from finding 3 heads in a graveyard to moving walls trying to find a light switch. While trying to solve the puzzles so that Zeke can light up the room by a light switch, ... (continued next page)