In the 1970s, Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby-Doo, Where Are You became America’s favorite show about 4 groovy teens called the Mystery Inc. and their bloodhound that can’t properly annunciate his words solving mysteries. Not just any mysteries-cursed cases. The Mystery Inc. takes on cases that may have a haunting from a monster legend.
Sometimes, it happens on vacation, a trip to a location of interest, or a call request. Later in the 2000s, the franchise would have a WB Kids sequel called What’s New, Scooby-Doo? So how does one celebrate Scooby’s 30 years running on the air? Create a video game out of the show along with two live-action films.
So, which one of these games utilized the best of Scooby-Doo and his show? It has to be Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Mayhem, developed by A2M (Artificial Mind and Movement) and published by THQ.
What is Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Mayhem about?
Velma received a call from Hambridge University librarian, Mr. Alan Dinsdale about a real haunting. Fred and Daphne hoped it would be another culprit in a monster suit until Mr. Dinsdale opened the library doors to show actual ghosts roaming around. As usual, Fred suggests splitting up, first assigning Shaggy and Scooby to the basement, if they could find a key according to librarian assistant Mr. Walter Peabody.
After getting access to the basement, Scooby and Shaggy find a grimoire called the Tome of Doom. When Velma inspects it, she explains to them that this book contains defensive magic to capture and seal monsters inside. However, many of its pages are torn out, except for the Ghost page. The gang meets up in the library lobby with Mr. Dinsdale in disbelief, seeing the real one Scooby and Shaggy’s hands.
The gang soon finds out it’s Mr. Peabody. He purchased the book and placed the Tome of Doom’s duplicate in the center of the library lobby to keep it to himself. However, it is unsure why the pages are torn. At the end of the first chapter, we see a mysterious hooded woman in red who is keeping an eye on the Mystery Gang.
In the later assigned cases, they would recover monster pages. Velma slowly connects the pieces for each case. According to her findings, Peabody has spread these pages to masterminds of their assigned cases. These instructions were given out by Sherman-Tech’s CEO, Travis Sherman, and his assistant, Selena Drake.
Sherman-Tech’s motive was using Selena’s Mind Alter Alpha Wave Modulator disguised as satellite antennas. They will send mind-control waves, brainwashing anyone near them to buy their products. The monsters from the Tome of Doom are used to scare the locals so they can buy land to spread their company merchandise.
Mystery Mayhem is Scooby-Doo’s Luigi’s Mansion
The monster-catching mechanic with the Tome of Doom is similar to catching ghosts in Luigi’s Mansion. As Velma told Shaggy and Scooby, you must gather the missing monster pages to capture more. To capture monsters, you approach a monster from behind or a set distance, then open the book to suck them in. Rapidly press the book button until Shaggy says lines to let the player know you got the ghost, like, “Buh-bye, ghost!”
The Tome of Doom does not have an infinite use like Luigi’s Poltergust-3000. It requires magic energy, which can be collected from the spinning voodoo skulls at different levels. The book also does not work on any human or animal enemies. In the Bayou, Scooby must sneak around the military and avoid getting bit by the alligators while swimming.
Enemy detection can be picky since a few enemies can see you from afar. It’s better to use the Disguise power-up instead. Disguise is inspired by Hitman, which allows one to get closer to their mission’s target or objective. Using it around enemies will make Scooby and Shaggy invulnerable for a limited time.
You can swap between Shaggy and Scooby for obstacles to get through. Shaggy can climb on ladders and boosts Scooby onto tall crates. And Scooby can crawl through narrow spaces. It’s more of a nice thought than a mechanic since, in the show, Scooby has shown he can climb on ladders despite having no opposable thumbs.
Both of them share a Bravery Meter. Getting scared by monsters will drain it until it reaches zero. When a monster attacks you with no Bravery, Scooby and Shaggy will enter Fright Flight, where Shaggy carries Scooby in his arms. To fight it off, you must remain in control of the duo long enough to stay in the area you are in, or you will return to your last checkpoint. You can recover Bravery by eating floating Scooby Snacks.
Mystery Mayhem’s boss fight builds up slowly to the finale. The weakest boss has to be the Crimson Knight since it’s a trap sequence created by Fred that overstays its welcome with him trying to figure out how the set switches work on the Castle Set in Milton Brothers’ Film Studio. The rest of the bosses are good as you suck up their monster hoards to become more vulnerable.
Mystery Mayhem’s Game Design
Mystery Mayhem’s character models are great for the time of its release. While they do not have ink lines, the expressions and movements are very well animated during cutscenes and gameplay. I feel like I’m watching a marathon of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You on my Gamecube.
Thanks to its presentation, A2M managed to capture the show’s essence. There’s even a laugh track for those humorous moments.
Voice acting is superb as it’s Hanna-Barbera’s studio voice cast. Daphne’s voice actress, Grey DeLisle, is giving out the most work in this game out of all the cast. You can hear her Azula voice from Avatar: The Last Airbender when she voices Selena Drake.
I can’t say the same for Mystery Mayhem’s soundtrack. There’s only one boss theme with its repeated bass and piano loop. The Bayou doesn’t get a track at all. You only get background outdoor noise until you reach the Hillbilly Zombie boss fight.
Level design is okay. Each environment matches the location they are taking place in the Scooby-Doo universe. The two levels I did not enjoy are the Bayou and Milton Brothers’ Film Studio. There were a lot of wide spaces being used for no reason, and a dozen times, I lost track of where I was heading. My favorite level is the Sherman-Tech lab, utilizing every mechanic the player learns for the endgame.
Scooby-Doo Mystery Mayhem’s Verdict
Overall, Scooby-Doo Mystery Mayhem is a nice licensed game. A2M made use of Scooby-Doo’s source material to create their own story. Its strongest aspect is the monster-catching with the Tome of Doom. We don’t see much of Mystery Inc. facing actual monsters until they appear in front of them by coincidence or being lured into a trap.
It’s not perfect, but it’s also not terrible.
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