Developer: Torus Games
Publisher: Little Orbit
Platform: PS3, Wii, WiiU, Xbox360, New Nintendo 3DS XL
Tested on: PS3
Monster High: New Ghoul in School – Review
Monster High from Mattel is very popular amongst youngsters and there’s a huge franchise covering dolls, toys, DVD’s and… games. New ghoul in school is a videogame, developed by Torus Games and published by Little Orbit. This review will help you make the decision: should I get this for my kid or not?
Story
As the newest addition to Monster High, you need to get to know your fellow students, join clubs and, as it turns out, solve a mystery! As you join a wide variety of clubs, such as the Fashion Club, the Fearleader Club and the Robotics Club, you soon find yourself spooked by some strange events taking place in the school. Cleo is the Captain of the Fearleaders, but you will realise her influence stretches far beyond the Casketball Court!
With a wide variety of scary classmates and some of their useful hints, you will not only be able to get to know your surroundings and progress in the exciting story of uncovering secrets, but you will also find various objects and Spirit Coins. You can spend these to obtain the most fashionable outfits, so you make a dashing appearance as the new ghoul in school.
The story is very positive; it’s all about people wanting to fit in, but not at anyone elses expense. Making friends is important throughout the game and misbehaving or bullying are obviously bad. It contains some of the main values we all appreciate, which makes it not only a bubbly, fun game, but also a game with a slightly deeper meaning.
Graphics
It’s absolutely a well made game. The characters are all very different in monster type, hair and clothing and have their own set of gestures, making it all seem very alive. The school itself is large and contains many extra objects, such as lockers, trash cans, funny posters and most of the stuff you would find in an actual school. The use of bright colors is an absolute plus; it gives the vibe of a ‘fun’ game and it portrays the style of Mattel, which it should have. There were a few glitches in the game, including text balloons not matching the spoken words and one complete meltdown, resulting in having to restart the game.
Sound
The voice acting is quite funny with a variety of prejudiced accents and pitch. The game also contains some nice sound effects and sounds of your surroundings, such as Flytrap Plants. The soundtrack of the game is quite nice at first, but becomes very repetitive. It’s annoying after about 3 hours of playing, but luckily you can shut off the music to keep your parents sane.
Gameplay
Monster High: New Ghoul in School is classed as an adventure game and that’s what it is. You need to follow the main story to unravel the mystery surrounding Cleo, but you also need to find money and other spoils around the premises.
In the main storyline, you need to follow up on the activities with different clubs planned for the day, divided in morning, lunch and after school. You can easily select another activity on your ICoffin and an indicator shows you where you need to go, both on the general map as in front of your character.
Roaming freely is an ability which can be seen as both a blessing and a curse; it could be fun to search for goods when you get tired of the main story, but the school is also confusingly big and the corridors look very similar. Although there are a lot of signs which help you to get around and you have a general map, the names or even symbols of the classes on the map are missing, making the map exposable.
The different clubs have minigames; most of them involve looking for something, which is fairly easy. Fearleading works differently; you need to press the right buttons at the right time. At first it’s fun to do, but throughout the game you need to do it so many times, it gets boring.
At the end of the day, you go home to sleep and collect your rewards (coins), so you can spend them on fashion. Being able to change your hair and fashion style is actually really nice to do! Proceeding in the game, you get more choices, and you can even change your monster type!
Conclusion
Overall, this game is well made and interesting to fill about 15-20 hours of gameplay.The minigames could’ve been a little more extensive and various and the creators could’ve put in a little more effort for a wider variety in music, but the overall impression of the game is a good one. The surroundings are exceptionally well made and fun to look at, the characters are fun and bubbly and the amount of available fashion is enough to keep you entertained for hours.
Monster High: New Ghoul in School - Review,
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