Cory in the House (video game)

Last updated

Cory in the House
Cory in the House Nintendo DS Box Art.jpg
North American box art
Developer Handheld Games [1]
Publisher Disney Interactive Studios
Platform Nintendo DS
Release
  • NA: April 15, 2008
  • AU: July 24, 2008
Genres Adventure, stealth
Mode Single-player

Cory in the House is a 2008 adventure stealth video game developed by Handheld Games and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the Nintendo DS. It is based on the Disney Channel television series Cory in the House . [2]

Contents

Gameplay and plot

Cory in the House is an adventure game that requires the player to play as Cory Baxter, a teenager who lives with his father Victor Baxter after Victor gets accepted as head chef at The White House. The basic premise for the game is Cory, after winning a toy contest, starts an endeavor to sell bobbleheads depicting the President of the United States to the citizens of Washington, D.C. The bobbleheads are taken into possession by The Evil Toymaker, who tries to utilize the bobbleheads as a means of hypnotic technology on the population of Washington, D.C. Cory is tasked with retrieving the bobbleheads to stop the hypnosis plan.

The gameplay is an adventure stealth game, where the player controls Cory and his friends as they move through locations including halls in The White House, a school, a mall, and streets of Washington, D.C. Tasks involve sneaking past Secret Service agents, examining rooms for specific items, throwing pastries at hypnotized teachers, and talking to non-playable characters. Additional features include mini-games, which involve tapping the Nintendo DS stylus against the touchscreen along with music or simulating connecting electrical circuits. [1]

Reception

Cory in the House was critically panned, earning an overall score of 35% out of 100 on aggregate review website GameRankings. [3] IGN's Jack DeVries criticized the gameplay controls, calling them "clunky" and "hard to control", and found fault with the game's included laugh track that goes along with the dialogue sequence jokes. [4]

The game received satirical review bombing on Metacritic in relation to an internet meme ironically describing the show as an "anime" series due to its absurd premise. In 2015, the game has an average user score of 9.3, making it one of the highest user-rated DS games on the site. [5] [6] [7] In January 2026, the game was review bombed once again to surpass Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the highest user-rated game on the platform. It was the second-highest rated game on Metacritic, temporarily holding a 9.4 score. This resulted in a surge in sales on platforms like eBay and causing the value of the game to skyrocket. [8] [9]

References

  1. 1 2 "Handheld Games Company Information". GameFAQs. CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  2. Metacritic. "Cory in the House Details and Credits for DS". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Cory in the House for DS". GameRankings . Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  4. 1 2 DeVries, Jack (April 25, 2008). "Cory in the House IGN Review". IGN.com . Archived from the original on December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  5. "Nintendo DS Video Games Sorted By User Score". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  6. "Cory in the House". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 14, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  7. Winkie, Luke (March 27, 2020). "How Cory In The House DS Went From Bad, Forgotten Game To Hilarious Meme". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 19, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  8. "'Awful' Nintendo DS Game Disney Cory in the House Now Selling for Hundreds of Dollars on eBay Amid Viral Metacritic Campaign - Tom Phillips - IGN".
  9. "Nintendo DS Disney Tie-in Looks Set to Dethrone Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as Metacritic's Best User-Rated Game of All Time - IGN".