Post by Ayen on Feb 4, 2012 9:43:01 GMT -6
Monsters, Inc. Scream Team is based off of Disney PIXAR Monsters, Inc. which was scheduled to hit theaters just three days after the game was released in North America. The game was developed by A2M and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and acts as a prequel (naturally) to the events we would later see in the film. Knowing this it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anybody that the game opening would basically be a movie trailer before coming to the title screen.
Now unfortunately, with the exception of three actors, none of the cast members from the movie reprise their roles for the game but the voice actors they get for Sulley and Mike aren't all that bad and in some cases Carlos Alazraqui does sound a little like John Goodman. The story is simple enough, Mike and Sulley want to become top scarers at Monsters, Inc. so they go to Scare Island in order to do it. The scene before the training level is pretty hilarious but once you get to the actual training level you may come to find it's a bit tedious. This is at a time where games just assumed you knew nothing and explained everything to you even if it's something simple which older games would have taught you by just playing it. Instead they stop you, show you and tell you during and after a while hearing Roz speak just gets tiring.
The main objective is to scare robot children called “Nerves”, each robot child is color coded from blue, green, yellow, orange and red and you have to stock up on ooze in order to charge up your Fright Meter. How making faces and poking your eye counts as scary is beyond me but once you're in “Scare Mode” just keep tapping on the button you see on the screen and when the Scare Canister on the bottom right corner of the screen is filled, press X.
But beware of... TOYS!
In Scream Team you'll fight with various different toys in each stage. An attack by a toy cost one health point. But don't worry, there are plenty of ways available to defend yourself which vary depending on whether you choose Sulley or Mike.
There are three special monster moves that Sulley can pull off while playing as him. The first one is called Tailspin While moving with either the directional or left analog stick press the square button and Sully will perform a spin with his tail in order to take out toys and break crates which may contain important items in the game. The second attack is called Monster Fur Flop Aerial Pounce by pressing the X (Jump button) and then the Square button Sulley will do a belly flop and then pounce to destroy metal crates and your enemies. Finally we have the Somersault Jump which is performed by pressing the jump button twice.
Mike of course has three key moves as well which are performed by basically the same controls. His first move is the Spinning Ball Attack which again takes you back to Square in order to perform. Mike, given his small stature and the fact he's round, can roll like a ball in order to attack enemies and open up crates. The Bouncing Eyeball Aerial Pounce the Jump plus Attack button which has Mike jump into the air and mid-air Mike will come back down rolled up into a ball and finally the Double Jump and Hover Jump the double jump is self-explanatory by now but in order to do the Hover Jump hold down on the jump button after pressing it twice to give Mike's legs a little wiggle.
In each stage you'll be looking for three medals in which you need at least one in order to pass. These medals, depending on your performance, can either be bronze, silver or the beautiful, beautiful gold. In order to get a gold medal you must get all 8 Nerves that are in that stage. The silver medal can be earned by collecting all ten Monster Tokens and the Bronze can be awarded with scaring a total of five Nerves.
One unlockable includes actual clips from the movie. Now at the time for those eagerly awaiting the movie and got the game first, this is a pretty nice extra during your wait but now? You can just watch the movie so it's not an award that has carried on well with the sands of time but if you're a fan you probably won't mind either way.
Whether or not you like this game will depend on a few factors, one being age. Now I obviously can't speak for every gamer of all ages, and I won't even try, but this as you can imagine is a game aimed at kids and not something I can see many adults, especially old-time gamers, enjoying all that much both for it repetitiveness, though some kids probably won't like that either, and as I mentioned earlier assuming you're an idiot who don't know what you're doing which sadly only got worse in games over time.
Scream Team offers a fun experience for kids and fans of the movie and if you're a parent with a child who wants to keep that kid distracted with something they can do with their fingers which doesn't involve collateral damage to your house, I'd recommend it.
