Nintendo DS

Monster House

Ultimately, Monster House is a game full of surprises. Few people would expect a movie tie-in to be entertaining for any length of time, and even fewer would expect a kid's movie to be ported into a setup similar to Smash TV, the most violent game around before people started spelling the word "combat" with a K. It's not the perfect game and will probably lead some kids into early carpal tunnel syndrome and hand cramping, but for the five hours it takes to complete, Monster House is a blast to play. If you have little kids who loved the movie, or are a retro-loving gamer who longs for the days where you played Smash TV in the arcade, give the game a try. It's not for everyone, but maybe, maybe it's right for you.

The Good: A fun homage to Smash TV; good variety of weapons and enemies; controls let you move and shoot independently; screen often packed with enemies and bullets; numerous dialogue scenes inspired by the movie.

The Bad: Only takes a few hours to finish single-player mode; constant combat gets tiresome after a while; no multiplayer.

Monster House can certainly be fun, but the formula grows a bit tiresome near the end of the title. It can also be beaten in under a few hours. You can use different paths to go through the house, and there are also 100 toys to collect, but I can’t imagine most gamers going through this multiple times. Fun for the first playthrough, and it should certainly be worth checking out for its target audience (young fans of the film).

Monster House DS won't appeal to gamers who are accustomed to more intricate fare like Resident Evil but anyone who still feels a little tingle down their spine whenever they walk past the run-down old house on the corner will enjoy

It only takes two or three hours to finish Monster House on the DS, but it's enjoyable enough that you may want to revisit a room or two just for the smooth gameplay. It does well what it means to do: provide some action-packed amusement for a younger crowd. Yet if you're an old-school parent grabbing it for your kids, you might want to sneak some time in too, as long as you don't expect anything more than light entertainment.

Monster House is a welcome entry into the frowned upon genre of move tie-ins, especially one aimed primarily at youngsters. The graphics and sound are well put together, the license is put to great use and the gameplay itself is both original and a homage to retro shooters. If you're a fan of shooters looking for something different and retro on the DS, then you should definitely check out Monster House - the kiddies will find lots of enjoyment here, and it'll last them longer than similar games such as Cars would, with a difficulty that isn't too staggering but won't bore them to death either.

Monster House is a game that I think will make your 7-12 year old fairly happy. As an adult I found that it could get a little repetitive, but my son has spent way more time playing and shows no signs of letting up.

Monster House DS gets points for trying to innovate. Had the developers also offered a non-stylus option, beefed up the gameplay a bit, and given the enemies a less generic feel, well, this review would be a lot different. The game aspires but fails to inspire. If you’re desperate for an overhead shooter, this may—very temporarily—appease, but your better off going back to the classics to get your fill.

Despite its repetitiveness and the unfortunate lack of multiplayer modes, Monster House is good game that's perfect for some violence on the run. The gameplay stands on its own, whether or not you care for the license. If you're looking for quick bursts or brutality on the go then you should give this game a look.

If Monster House proves one thing it's just how satisfying shooting down wave after wave of household objects can be. What it also does though is show how things have moved on and while you were probably satisfied some two decades ago pumping coins into a Robotron arcade machine just to beat the high score, gamers now demand a little more variety and it's here where this latest movie tie-in is sadly lacking. There's also little point in revisiting any of the rooms, due to the lack of high score facility, and this coupled with the absence of any mini-games means that one go through is all it takes. That's not to say it isn't fun or challenging it's just that you are unlikely to put it back in your DS once completed.

At the very least the game shows that the Robotron design can work with the DS system's touch screen -- there just needs to be a more competent production to exploit it. Had the designers focused more on the action instead of recreating the film's storyline, Monster House on the DS would have ended up a far superior product. Instead, the game doesn't borrow enough from the games it's lifting its ideas from - it's got the graphics engine and the control down, but what it needs is the quick pace and aggressive action to give Monster House that addictive element that made those similar games so classic.

It's painfully obvious Monster House was a cheap, easy cash-in attempt on the movie, and while other platforms might not fare so poorly, buying Monster House for the Nintendo DS can't be seen as anything other than a mistake.

Monster House for the DS is a good example of how not to integrate the touchscreen into a game. It’s an alright concept (we all loved Sinistar), but using the more-subjective touchscreen is a far cry from a joystick and not nearly as intuitive. Combined with the awkward visuals, inability to freely explore and general lack of things to do the Nintendo DS version of Monster House just doesn’t come off too well. Compared to the well-made Advance version this comes off as half-finished at best

Robotron X für das Nintendo 64 heimste in der N-ZONE 05/98 "satte" 19 Prozent ein. Monster House vertraut auf dasselbe Gameplay, hübscht das Ganze mit deutlich ansehnlicheren Levels auf und hüllt das Spielkonzept in eine kindgerechte Story - fertig ist die mittelmäßige Filmumsetzung. Schade um den prinzipiell guten Steuerungsansatz!

Sans totalement démériter, A2M et THQ n'ont pas réussi à rendre à leur maison hantée la consistance et l'allure d'une vraie foire aux monstres. Si les premières heures de jeu sont plaisantes, le manque de renouvellement et de folie est patent et mène le gameplay aux portes du tout routinier. Monster House sur DS est un hack'n slash solide et bien adapté à la console. Mais il reste la moitité du chemin à faire pour se distinguer, et offrir une somme de plaisir.