Scooby-Doo! Unmasked

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Scooby-Doo! Unmasked
PAL game cover art for PS2
PAL game cover art for the PlayStation 2
Developer(s)Artificial Mind and Movement
Publisher(s)THQ
Designer(s)Flint Dille
John Zuur Platten
Platform(s)Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
ReleaseXbox
  • NA: September 12, 2005
  • PAL: September 16, 2005
GBA, GameCube, PS2
  • NA: September 12, 2005
  • PAL: September 23, 2005
Nintendo DS
  • NA: October 18, 2005
  • PAL: November 11, 2005
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

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 was met with average reception. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 64.50% and 62 out of 100 for the Xbox version;[3][7] 66% and 64 out of 100 for the GameCube version;[1][6] 65.96% and 61 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version;[2][8] 61.60% and 48 out of 100 for the Game Boy Advance version;[5][10] and 63.75% and 60 out of 100 for the DS version.[4][9]

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."[26]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for GameCube". GameRankings. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for DS". GameRankings. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  5. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for Game Boy Advance". GameRankings. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  8. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for DS Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  10. ^ a b "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  11. ^ Gibson, Ellie (December 13, 2005). "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked (PS2)". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  12. ^ Provo, Frank (September 23, 2005). "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked Review". GameSpot. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  13. ^ Code Cowboy (October 10, 2005). "Scooby-Doo Unmasked - GBA - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  14. ^ Aceinet (October 12, 2005). "Scooby-Doo Unmasked - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  15. ^ Hollingshead, Anise (October 24, 2005). "Scooby-Doo Unmasked - GC - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  16. ^ Zacarias, Eduardo (October 5, 2005). "Scooby-Doo Unmasked - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  17. ^ Sandoval, Angelina (December 7, 2005). "Scooby-Doo Unmasked - NDS - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  18. ^ Casamassina, Matt (September 13, 2005). "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked". IGN. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  19. ^ Nix, Marc (December 14, 2005). "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked (NDS)". IGN. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  20. ^ "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked (GC)". Nintendo Power. 198: 118. November 2005.
  21. ^ "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 101. January 2006.
  22. ^ "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked". Official Xbox Magazine: 131. November 2005.
  23. ^ Official Xbox Magazine UK staff (October 23, 2005). "Review: Scooby-Doo! Unmasked". Official Xbox Magazine UK. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  24. ^ Luke (October 23, 2005). "Scooby Doo Unmasked Review - PlayStation 2 Video Game Review". PALGN. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  25. ^ Fisher, Matthew (September 19, 2005). "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked Review (Xbox)". TeamXbox. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  26. ^ "Scooby-Doo! Unmasked Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2019-10-26.

External links[]

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