The Haunted Mansion

Unlock the secrets of The Haunted Mansion

NA release: 16th October 2003
EU release: N/A
JP release: N/A
Developer: High Voltage Software
Publisher: TDK
NGC Magazine Score: 69%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

The Haunted Mansion was a 2003 film starring Eddie Murphy, based on the ride in Disney’s theme parks. Even though the game box includes a code to redeem a ticket to see the film, the game itself has absolutely nothing to do with the movie (outside of some similarities to the design of the outside of the house), instead being its own interpretation of the ride. I think this is a good thing, as it means that the game can focus on designing itself around being a game, rather than trying to adapt the plot of the film into gameplay segments.

The Haunted Mansion has a rather retro feel to it. You tackle things a room at a time, first solving a challenge and then hunting for ghosts. It’s very much like a classic arcade game in 3D, and the cartoony look definitely helps it. It actually reminds me a lot of Grabbed by the Ghoullies, another haunted house themed game which was released…. five days after this. That said, while there is a surprising amount they have in common, the core gameplay itself is very different.

You have no melee attacks in The Haunted Mansion, instead you use your magic lantern to shoot energy. As you progress, you can charge it into other attacks. You can bring the camera close to aim manually (there’s never a need to do so) or lock-on. Enemies will change slightly, but combat is just really boring and really easy, so it just adds tiresome runtime to an already short game. Luckily, plenty of rooms have puzzles to solve but they alternate from being mind-numbingly east or difficult just because it uses a mechanic which you haven’t been shown before.

Take the kitchen for example. There’s a table that launches plates at you and there’s a random bit of fire somewhere. After lots of fumbling around, it turned out that you have to make the plates hit tiny bottles dotted across the level (no idea why you can’t knock the bottles over) to make the fire spread in order to light a fire. Making the room brighter is the main goal of each room, which makes all ghosts vanish (although spiders and steroid-filled vampires can still appear) and triggers the next phase of the room.

With the lights on, you can start hunting for souls to capture into your lamp. This is pretty much a case of running around the room tapping B until they appear, then holding X to capture them. It really slows the game down even more (and, as stated, the game is really short) and is just tedious. Some of these will also reward you with parts of death certificates (which you need to collect the MacGuffins to defeat the villain), but as you need to collect all of them anyway to open the next room, those parts seem pointless.

The Haunted Mansion has plenty of nice ideas and little touches, but the gameplay itself does not hold up to those moments at all. It’s a shame, as clearly plenty of effort was put into the game, I just don’t think the developers were given the budget required to pull off what they wanted.

Fun

Like I said, there was rich promise here, but High Voltage has dropped the ball with its sloppy approach to the combat. Clocking in at less than 10 hours on the first run through it’s not a game that will outstay its welcome, and could make a decent value rental – for optimal enjoyment we suggest you stick on the infinite energy cheat halfway through, admire the puzzles and wonder what might have been…
Kristan Reed, Eurogamer

Remake or remaster?

While it’s a nice game, too much would have to change to improve it.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get The Haunted Mansion.