| Scooby-Doo! Unmasked | |
|---|---|
 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) | |
| Release | Xbox GBA, GameCube, PS2 Nintendo DS |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Scooby-Doo! Unmasked is a platform game based on the Scooby-Doo franchise. It was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement and published by THQ for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS.
The game opens with Scooby-Doo and the gang visiting Fred's cousin Jed at a special effects movie studio and factory Monstrous Fright and Magic, (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 declares that 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 eatable soy-based compound used to make animatronics into life-like special effects monsters, which can be dissolved under UV light). Marcy states that Jed was seen going to the local Chinatown for a New Year's parade. Scooby and the gang take it upon themselves to track down Jed and recover the stolen items.
At their first stop, they meet Maggie Xi, who warns them that the demonic sorcerer, Zen Tuo, and his dragon pet, has disrupted the local festival she is organizing, before she disappears when the dragon's roar is heard. Scooby then finds clues and searches a cookie factory and its alleyways, a sewer to save Shaggy when he fell into it, and a dojo palace to rescue Daphne and track down Zen Tuo. Scooby then battles his dragon in a kung-fu costume made out of Mubber on top of a warehouse. Zen Tuo turns out to be Maggie 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 cackles as her mubber body disintegrates under UV light, revealing that she was one of the stolen animatronics, with a male voice coming through a hidden device on the floor, 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 then finds clues that tell of disturbing events (rides going havoc, animatronics chasing people, etc.). In time, Scooby enters a haunted house and almost gets tricked by the Guitar Ghoul. Scooby and Shaggy decide to then investigate the water slides, the latter falling down one, prompting 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 and protest that he would have never did what all he just done. Afterward, Daphne is trapped in a cage in a circus tent, and is then saved by Scooby in a new gliding bat costume. Regrouping, the Guitar Ghoul mocks the gang on a big screen, 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 when Scooby goes to the dinosaur exhibit, a pterodactyl takes Shaggy when he showed Scooby a drumstick, promoting to save him again. Saving Shaggy, Scooby discovered a large, oil-covered bone in the exhibit, then later finds a contract from Stanton and gives it to Velma. Afterwards, Fred and Daphne are trapped in an aquatic exhibit with the Caveman but are then freed by Scooby in his archer costume. Though in reality, the Caveman was not actually there. Scooby then confronts the Caveman, defeating him in a UFO battle. 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, being pumped up by the bobbing animatronic dinosaurs (which are actually disguised oil pumps) around the museum and disguised as tar. 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 M.F.M to confront Stanton, finding Jed stuffed inside a monster costume where Stanton trapped him when he learned of his plans. Stanton's voice is heard over a loudspeaker, threatening the gang. He summons a giant Pterodactyl robot to battle the gang. Scooby defeats the Pterodactyl in the archer, bat and kung-fu costumes and reaches Stanton's location, but then finds that there are two of them. The real Stanton appears behind the group; a UV light reveals that the other "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. Begging for forgiveness, Marcy and Stanton reconcile and Stanton agrees to let her be a full partner in his company. The game ends with Shaggy making a Mubberwich (a sandwich made out of mubber); before he can eat it, Scooby uses the UV 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.
In the main console versions, the player controls Scooby-Doo to defeat enemies, collect clues for Velma to unlock new levels and secrets, gather ingredients for Shaggy to increase player health, find trap pieces to view enemies, and to solve the overall mystery.
The main mechanic of the game is Scooby-Doo changing into specific costumes, giving him different abilities.
These abilities range from doing kung-fu moves, gliding like a bat, and archery with plungers. However, most costume uses in levels require mubber, a resource dropped by enemies, marked boxes and other such sources. It is also used in some levels to obtain ingredients, and is reset when finishing or exiting a level. The costumes are necessary in order to complete or access some levels.
The Nintendo DS and Gameboy Advance versions are instead shorter 2D platformers with little direct focus on enemy combat, but collecting clues is still the main goals of the game. The DS version also has mechanics with the touchscreen, like a Scientist costume that has you dissolve mubber cubes in the way, boss fight chases that have you avoiding obstacles and triggering traps, and manually researching clues with draggable tools.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | (GC) 66% [1] (PS2) 65.96% [2] (Xbox) 64.50% [3] (DS) 63.75% [4] (GBA) 61.60% [5] |
| Metacritic | (GC) 64/100 [6] (Xbox) 62/100 [7] (PS2) 61/100 [8] (DS) 60/100 [9] (GBA) 48/100 [10] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Eurogamer | 6/10 [11] |
| GameSpot | 5.7/10 [12] |
| GameZone | (GBA) 8/10 [13] (PS2) 7.3/10 [14] (GC) 7/10 [15] (Xbox) 6.5/10 [16] (DS) 6.2/10 [17] |
| IGN | 6.9/10 [18] (DS) 6.5/10 [19] |
| Nintendo Power | 7.5/10 [20] |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine |   [21] |
| Official Xbox Magazine (UK) | 6/10 [22] |
| Official Xbox Magazine (US) | 6.4/10 [23] |
| PALGN | 6/10 [24] |
| TeamXbox | 7/10 [25] |
Scooby-Doo! Unmasked received "mixed or average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. [7] [6] [8] [10] [9] GameRankings gave it a score of 64.50% for the Xbox version; [3] 66% and 64 out of 100 for the GameCube version; [1] 65.96% for the PlayStation 2 version; [2] 61.60% for the Game Boy Advance version; [5] and 63.75% for the DS version. [4]
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]
Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera. The series features four teenagers: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps, while traveling using a brightly colored van called the "Mystery Machine". The franchise has several live-action films and shows.
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is a 2004 American fantasy adventure comedy film based on the animated franchise Scooby-Doo. It is the second installment in the Scooby-Doo live-action film series and the sequel to 2002's Scooby-Doo, and was directed by Raja Gosnell, written by James Gunn, and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Matthew Lillard, Seth Green, Tim Blake Nelson, Peter Boyle and Alicia Silverstone, with Neil Fanning reprising his role as the voice of Scooby-Doo.
Daphne Blake is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doo franchise. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her beauty, red hair, purple heels, fashion sense, and her knack for getting into danger, hence the nickname "Danger-Prone Daphne".
Norville "Shaggy" Rogers is a fictional character and one of the main characters in the Scooby-Doo franchise. He is an amateur detective, and the long-time best friend of his lovable dog, Scooby-Doo.
Velma Dinkley is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doo franchise. She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange turtleneck sweater, a short red pleated skirt, knee high socks, Mary Jane shoes, and a pair of black square glasses, which she frequently loses and is unable to see without. She is seen as the "brains" of the group.
Frederick Herman "Fred" Jones is a fictional character in the American animated series Scooby-Doo, leader of a quartet of teenage mystery solvers and their Great Dane companion, Scooby-Doo. Fred has been primarily portrayed by voice actor Frank Welker since the character's inception in 1969.
The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and the seventh incarnation of the studio's Scooby-Doo franchise. It premiered on September 7, 1985, and ran for one season on ABC as a half-hour program. Thirteen episodes of the show were made in 1985. It replaced Scary Scooby Funnies, a repackaging of earlier shows; another repackaged series, Scooby's Mystery Funhouse, followed.
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Mayhem is a third-person action-adventure video game based on the Scooby-Doo franchise. The game was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement and published by THQ in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. It was later released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox in 2004.
Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights is a 2.5D platform game developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox. The game was released on May 22, 2002, in North America and was released later that year in PAL regions. It was the first Scooby-Doo! video game on sixth-generation consoles. The PlayStation 2 version became a Greatest Hits title in May 2003. The game has a follow-up titled Scooby-Doo! Mystery Mayhem.
Scooby-Doo! Classic Creep Capers is an adventure game published by THQ for the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color, based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. The Nintendo 64 version, developed by Terraglyph Interactive Studios, was released in November 2000, while the Game Boy Color version was developed by Digital Eclipse Software, and released in February 2001. A PlayStation version, identical to the Nintendo 64 version, had been in development by Terraglyph Interactive Studios but was later cancelled.
Scooby-Doo! First Frights is a platform video game developed by Torus Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game released alongside the DVD release of Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins. The game features Scott Innes as Shaggy, and the other three main voice-cast members returning from What's New Scooby Doo? This is the fourth Scooby-Doo video game to use a laugh track. A successor to the game, Scooby-Doo and the Spooky Swamp, was released in 2010.
Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp is a third person platform video game developed by Torus Games and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, Wii, and Nintendo DS consoles and also for Microsoft Windows. The game was first released on September 14, 2010, in North America and was released in the following weeks in PAL regions. It is the fifth Scooby-Doo! video game title to come to sixth generation consoles. The game is a follow-up to Scooby-Doo! First Frights.
Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur is a 2011 direct-to-video film based on Scooby-Doo. The film was released on September 6, 2011. It premiered on Cartoon Network on September 3, 2011.
Scooby-Doo! Music of the Vampire is a 2012 direct-to-DVD animated musical comedy horror film, and the seventeenth entry in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films. This installment is notable for being the first of the films to be a musical. The film was released to rent through Amazon Video and iTunes on December 22, 2011. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 13, 2012. It premiered on Cartoon Network on March 3, 2012.
Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery is a 2014 direct-to-DVD animated comedy mystery film, and the twenty-second film in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films. It is a co-production between Warner Bros. Animation and WWE Studios. The film features Scooby and the gang solving a mystery at WrestleMania. It was released on March 24, 2014 in the United Kingdom and on March 25, 2014 in the United States by Warner Home Video.
Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon is a 2016 direct-to-DVD animated comedy mystery racing film, a sequel to Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery and the twenty-seventh entry in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films. It is a co-production between Warner Bros. Animation and WWE Studios. It premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 23, 2016, followed by a digital release on July 26, 2016. It was released on DVD on August 8, 2016, in the United Kingdom. The film was also released on both DVD and Blu-Ray on August 9, 2016, in the United States by Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment.
Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost is a 2019 American animated direct-to-video comedy mystery film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and the thirty-second entry in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films. The film is a continuation of the 1985 animated television series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, designed to provide a conclusion to the show's unfinished storyline. The film was released on DVD and digital on February 5, 2019.
Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob is a 2021 American direct-to-DVD animated comedy film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is the thirty-fifth entry in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films and was released on February 23, 2021.
Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! is a 2022 American animated direct-to-video supernatural horror comedy mystery film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is the thirty-seventh direct-to-video Scooby-Doo film and was released digitally on October 4, 2022, and was released on DVD on October 18, 2022.
