PlayStation 2

Disney's The Haunted Mansion

If there is a downside to The Haunted Mansion it is, once again, that idiotic console mentality that insists on end bosses. Yet, as we have been discovering, it is not always the developers who insert these ‘action sequences’ but rather Sony who insists that all games must have some sort of action or arcade sequence in them lest they be thought of as *gasp* pure adventure. In fact, the endgame battle with Atticus is a prime example of what is usually wrong with ‘adventure/puzzle’ games on consoles: after using your wits to progress through most of the rooms, you must then rely on a quick trigger finger and impeccable aim to finish off the end boss. Blah.

Le Manoir Hanté aurait pu être un jeu fort agréable s'il avait disposé de plus de soins, malheureusement ce n'est pas le cas. Sa réalisation paresseuse mais surtout les inégalités du gameplay le rendent souvent frustrant et parfois barbant. A essayer car il réserve parfois de bonnes surprises.

This definitely falls into the category of one of those games we'd like if only it was subtitled. The game itself should only take around 6-8 hours to complete which is a little short but the low price of £24.99 compensates for the shortness in length. The real problem though is the lack of feedback for deaf gamers. The game's not impossible for deaf gamers, not by any stretch of the imagination, but there is a sufficient amount of speech that is not subtitled to reduce the suitability of the game for deaf gamers. If you're interested it may be wise to try and rent the game first to see if you can put up with the omissions.

Despite an impressively ominous intro, it quickly becomes apparent that the only real scare in The Haunted Mansion is its horrifying mediocrity. For starters, the game is brown. Who wants to play a brown game, for flip’s sake? When the game isn’t overtly brown in appearance, it simply means that your character has neglected to throw a light switch, meaning the rentaghosts you shake out of the wobbly furniture will get you that much quicker.