This is unfair for a number of reasons. Some of the greatest works made have been remixed versions of someone else's. Most of Disney's early movies, for example, wouldn't have existed without someone creating those tales and characters prior. Taking a licensed show/movie and translating it into a game has a lot of potential, as you're translating fairly linear storytelling into a playable experience, which sometimes, but admittedly not often, outdoes the original, or at least captures its spirit.
There's no better example of this than Disney's Haunted Mansion game.
It was released around the same time as the Eddy Murphy movie, but thankfully not an adaptation of it. The game itself is an action/adventure title, with some light shooting elements, and heavy puzzle solving.
Surely that's all it is? Cut and paste a genre into a licensed skin. Well, that couldn't be further from the truth. To start with, the premise, look, and atmosphere of Haunted Mansion are all dead on with the ride. The spooky yet comical atmosphere remains intact, and the story is absolutely nothing to snort at.
Alright, alright. That's it though. An awesome atmosphere and story that nails the ride, but still, standard gameplay?
Hell no. Haunted Mansion does things not only impressive for a licensed game, but impressive on the scale of the entire medium. The mind-bending, pathway twisting puzzles, no matter what you think you know, will be more than you bargained for.
Unfortunately, literally no videos I could find do the game proper justice. You'll just have to trust me when I tell you there are elements in this game that are still groundbreaking for the medium, simply because no other game has done as much with them since. (That I've seen as of yet)
No comments:
Post a Comment