Scooby-Doo! Unmasked

''Scooby-Doo! Unmasked'' is a 2005 platform game based on ''Scooby-Doo''. It was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement and published by THQ for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS.

Plot

The game opens with Scooby-Doo and the gang visiting Fred's cousin Jed at his special effects movie studio and factory ''Monstrous Fright and Magic'' or M.F.M., but once they get there, Jed is missing, and his animatronics have gone haywire. They find M.F.M. CEO Winslow Stanton and his assistant Marcy, who inform them Jed is responsible for sabotaging M.F.M. and has not only stolen some expensive animatronics but also a large supply of Mubber (a special compound used to make animatronics into life-like special effects monsters). Scooby and the gang thus take it upon themselves to track down Jed and recover the stolen items.

Their first stop is the local Chinatown, where they meet Maggie Xi, who warns them that the demonic sorcerer Zen Tuo has disrupted the local festival she is organizing before disappearing when a dragon roar is heard. Scooby finds clues and searches alleys, a sewer, a dojo, and a fortune cookie factory to track down Zen Tuo, save Shaggy and Daphne, and battle Zen Tuo's dragon in a kung fu costume made of Mubber. Zen Tuo turns out to be Xi in disguise, as Velma admits she gave it away when disappearing into the sewer entrance when they first met, using the dragon as a distraction. Maggie Xi cackles as her body disintegrates, revealing that she is one of the stolen animatronics, with a male voice coming through a hidden device telling the gang that they "can't catch what they can't hold!". Though Fred knows that the voice might be Jed, he remains in disbelief.

Velma tracks the signal from the device to the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Land amusement park where a man named Alvin Wiener informs the gang that a masked musician, the Guitar Ghoul, has scared off all the other guests. Scooby finds clues that tell of disturbing events (rides going havoc, animatronics chasing people, etc.). In time, Shaggy falls down a slide, promoting Scooby to save him. After a scare from the Guitar Ghoul, the two meet Nikki Starlight, who claims to be the Guitar Ghoul's girlfriend. Afterward, Daphne is trapped in a cage in a circus tent and is saved by Scooby in a new gliding costume. Regrouping, the Guitar Ghoul mocks the gang, as Scooby finds his location in a house of mirrors and defeats him. The Guitar Ghoul is revealed to be Alvin, as Velma reveals that he is really a failed musician who blamed the Guitar Ghoul for ruining his career. Nikki reveals herself as the real Guitar Ghoul, having done so to keep her private life secret. Velma tells Scooby to smell Alvin's costume, revealing it to be Mubber as Alvin admits he doesn't know the name of the person who gave him the suit. Nikki thanks the gang for saving her reputation and tells them to go to a private natural history museum where M.F.M. worked on some of the exhibits.

There, the gang learns that a Caveman haunts the museum and a pterodactyl takes Shaggy when he goes looking for food, promoting Scooby to save him again. Saving Shaggy, Scooby finds a large bone in the tar pit. Scooby later finds a contract from Stanton and gives it to Velma, as Fred and Daphne are trapped in a cage but are then freed by Scooby in his archer costume. The gang confronts the Caveman, defeating him. The Museum's head of security, Joseph Grimm, is revealed to be the Caveman as part of a scheme to sell the valuable petroleum deposits located under the Museum. Velma correctly deduces from this chain of events that Stanton is responsible for the thefts, having framed Jed and sent the gang on a wild goose chase to distract them.

The gang heads back to Monstrous Fright and Magic to confront Stanton, finding Jed stuffed inside a costume where Stanton trapped him when he learned of his plans. Stanton's voice is heard over a microphone, and he summons a giant Pterodactyl robot to battle them. Scooby defeats the Pterodactyl and reaches Stanton's location. The real Stanton appears behind the group; a UV light reveals that "Stanton" is Marcy in a Mubber disguise. Marcy tells them that she wanted revenge for Stanton taking all the credit for the creation of Mubber, which they both made together. Begging for forgiveness, Marcy and Stanton console and Stanton agrees to let her be a full partner in his company. The game ends with Shaggy making a Mubberwich (a sandwich with mubber); before he can eat it, Scooby uses the light to disintegrate it. Velma replies "Now that's what I call a "light" snack!" with the gang laughing, as another mystery has been solved.

Gameplay

The player controls Scooby-Doo to defeat enemies, collect clues for Velma and ingredients for Shaggy, and solving the mystery. Scooby-Doo can change costumes in certain areas, which can give him different abilities such as kung-fu, gliding like a bat, and archery with plungers. These costumes are necessary in order to complete some levels.

In the Nintendo DS version, there are a few minigames included making use of its touchscreen.

Reception

''Scooby-Doo! Unmasked'' received "mixed or average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. GameRankings gave it a score of 64.50% for the Xbox version; 66% and 64 out of 100 for the GameCube version; 65.96% for the PlayStation 2 version; 61.60% for the Game Boy Advance version; and 63.75% for the DS version.

Frank Provo of GameSpot gave the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox versions a 5.7/10, praising its graphics and sound but criticizing its difficulty and length. He stated that "''Scooby-Doo! Unmasked'' isn't much of a game, but it is a decent way to interact with a feature-length ''Scooby-Doo'' story."

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scooby-Doo Unmasked
2005 video games
Detective video games
Nintendo DS games
Game Boy Advance games
GameCube games
PlayStation 2 games
Xbox games
Video games with cel-shaded animation
Video games based on Scooby-Doo
Video games developed in Canada
Video games set in amusement parks
Behaviour Interactive games
Platform games
THQ games
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment games
Cartoon Network video games
3D platform games