Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights Review
Spoiler free review at the top for newcomers and my more in-depth thoughts below for those familiar with the game!
Spoiler-Free Review for Newcomers
Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights is a 3D platformer developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox in 2002.
Night of 100 Frights puts you in the paws of Scooby-Doo himself in a story both highly reminiscent of and an absolute love letter to the original series from the 70s.
The Mystery Inc gang have been called in to solve a case by Daphne's old friend, Holly Graham, at her family home, Mystic Manor. Holly's uncle, the famous inventor Alexander Graham, has gone missing and strange things are happening across the estate.
Upon arrival the gang are split up and captured by monsters from their past led by a mysterious ghoul known as the Mastermind. As the last free member of Mystery Inc, Scooby must venture through the haunted manor, spooky hedge maze, and creepy fishing village to save his friends and solve the mystery.
This game is a 3D platformer/Metroidvania. I feel like this is a very rare combination and it's kind of surprising to find it in a Scooby-Doo game of all places./pos
The gameplay itself is predominately platforming and very light combat. The platforming is nothing particularly complicated but does suffer from finnicky controls in certain areas and less than ideal depth perception.
The most intentionally challenging part of the game is the fact it's a metroidvania. Night of 100 Frights isn't a difficult game if you know what you're doing but is a nightmare for those unfamiliar with this degree of spaghetti progression. You're given a large map with many branching pathways that will require you to backtrack after finding certain inventions that will allow you to pass various obstacles. This game is linear in the way a maze in a kid's coloring book is linear, if you know what I mean!
Rating and Trigger Warnings
It's Scooby-Doo, aside from the occasional minor jump scare of the Creepy Heap from the Deep leaping out from an innocuous pile of fish, you're pretty safe!
This is not the best video game in the world, but it is an absolutely incredible Scooby-Doo game!/gen Everything about the way it looks, feels, and sounds radiates Scooby-Doo! This is everything you want a licensed game to be!/gen This game is such a love letter to the franchise that if you're a fan of Scooby-Doo and have access to this game I'm begging you to give it a chance! And even if you're not that into Scooby-Doo and just want a fun little platformer with some fun-spooky vibes and a lot of personality, you'll still probably have a good time with Night of a 100 Frights!
My Personal Thoughts (AKA Gushing, Gabbing, and Griping!)
I am actively confused!/lh What do you mean the monsters were HOLOGRAMS!?!? Some of these guys take two hits to kill, *shakes Velma violently by the shoulders* THAT'S NOT HOW HOLOGRAMS WORK! We can gum these guys to the floor and bounce off their heads like pogo sticks and this game still tells us pointblank that they were holograms the whole time. This might be the single funniest insult to player intelligence in video game history, and I will never not find this hilarious!/gen/a
Asides from that lapse in logic though, the story is decent enough. It's not groundbreaking, but Holly trying to frame her uncle for the hauntings and steal his hologram invention to pass off as her own was a pretty decent Scooby-villain motive.
Why the heck did she deliberately bring Mystery Inc in though? I know she was trying to frame her uncle, but girl, do you really have enough hubris to think that you would be the one person to fool Mystery Inc? Tsk, tsk.
As far as worldbuilding, let's be real, there isn't any. It's honestly a bit of shame. There are a lot of really neat locations that could probably be fleshed out in fun ways. I have so many questions about the Graham family after playing this game. It just feels like there's so much potential for a really kooky family tree and I have head canons! These people own a manor, for one, so they clearly have ton of money. I choose to believe that the progenitor of this family was the captain of that wrecked pirate ship we explore, they have money because they're descended from a pirate! We already know Uncle Alexander is a mad scientist who has a secret lab and whole vat of acid in the manor. What if the game had a few more members of the family and they were all equally eccentric? There could be a plant obsessed member of the family who was responsible for the greenhouse and hedge maze, and a creepy lighthouse keeper/fisherman, maybe a cemetery keeper who's a little too into their work. Asides from giving more context to some locations, that would help the mystery side of the game quite a lot by giving us some more suspects and motives, which is something the story severely lacks.
There's not a lot to say about the characters. Outside of Mystery Inc there are only three additions, four if you count the Mastermind as his own character, and none of them get much screentime.
Can we talk about the cast of this game for a sec though, cuz, holy crap?!?!/pos Asides from the Scooby gang themselves all having the appropriate voices for the time and sounding great the rest of the cast consists of Don Knotts, Tim Conway, and Tim Curry. Let me reiterate, DON KNOTTS, TIM CONWAY, AND TIM CURRY! I know all of these actors have done voices in various Scooby-Doo series' and movies prior to this game, so their involvement isn't unprecedented, but I'm still gob smacked! How does a licensed game from 2002 get a cast like this? How does that happen???
Onto individual characters though.
Holly Graham: Firstly, her name is a pun. Is it incredibly dumb? Yes. Do I love it anyways because I'm an absolute sucker for puns? Also yes. There's not much else to say about her though. Despite being the game's villain, she's kind of a nothing burger of a character and the most noteworthy thing I can think of is the fact that she's voiced by Grey Delisle just like Daphne, but specifically sounds like Sam Manson from Danny Phantom! The most interesting thing about Holly is probably her unexplored friendship with Daphne, but honestly, the gang deciding to visit a friend we've never heard of for a one off mystery is such a common trope in the series that Holly is not unique for that.
Alexander Graham: The man. The myth. The legend. For as little screentime as he gets, he's peak! Seriously, kooky old inventor, voiced by Tim Conway, in a Scooby-Doo project, is all I need in life! He could be a recurring character in one of the actual series and I would be thrilled!/gen The fact that he has weird inventions like underwater tennis rackets, solar-powered night lights, and banana-flavored galoshes is so perfect as a running gag it practically feels wasted here! Also, shout out to his invention, the tricky, sticky, gum-doohickey! Never has a string of words enraptured my echolalia quite the way tricky, sticky, gum-doohickey has!/pos
The Spooky Groundskeeper: May I redirect you to the Don Knotts Conspiracy.
The Mastermind: Absolutely iconic. He's voiced by Tim Curry; how can he not be? Admittedly though, the voice is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. His design fits the old school Scooby aesthetic (it reminds me most of the Ghost of Elias Kingston) but it's not as memorable as a lot of the other villains. He also doesn't really have much of a story within the story, like, what is he supposed to be? Is he a ghost? Is he the ghost of someone specific? How did he bring back all of the past monsters? Why did he bring back all of the past monsters? Much like the game itself, his vibe is fantastic, but he could have benefitted from being fleshed out more.
This game NAILS environments!/gen Every single location has this rundown, gloomy vibe that feels like it was pulled straight from the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? background art! And the selection of environments; manor, graveyard, hedge maze, shipwreck, fishing village, this is as classic Scooby-Doo as it gets!
Every environment is quite distinctive yet still feels cohesive with the others and really feels like they all exist as part of an interconnected map. Which, can we take a moment to appreciate just how confusing this map is??? WHY IS IT LIKE THIS??? I have encountered irksome map designs before, but this one might take the cake! I love warp gates though and have been known to declare "Rit's a warp gate!" whenever I come across the same mechanic in other games!
Going more into the individual areas, you might expect me to praise the atmosphere or level design, but no, that would get repetitive, instead, here's every random thought I've ever had about these locations!
Mystic Manor and Secret Lab:
Why does this place have gaping, smoke filled voids beneath the floor?
Who the heck designed this place? M. C. Escher?
Why is the room that leads to the kitchen accessed through a fireplace?
Why are there paintings that resemble Velma, Shaggy, and the Ghost of Hyde, despite him not even being in the game? Also, I love that the not-Shaggy eats a sandwich if you watch him!
Why are there flaming chandeliers that raise and drop from the ceiling? Is this how the Grahams deter burglars?
The Monster Gallery is fantastic, but it needs to be stated that the Green Ghost in this game is from the Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? episode A Night of Fright is No Delight, not the A Pup Named Scooby-Doo episode A Bicycle Built for Boo, like its information panel reads! Chop, chop, get your act together, game!/lh/j
The Grahams's wine cellar is freaking nuts! Also, having the wine cellar lead into the dungeons is an incredible way to deter teenagers from breaking into the booze!/lh Whoever made that design choice was brilliant!
How tough are these cobwebs that you need to charge into them while wearing a football helmet to break them? Have the spiders been exposed to radioactive waste from the lab?
Where the heck does Alexander shop that he has this much acid? There's no way this is legal! Same goes for the shark in the tank! What happened to that shark, anyways?
Smuggler's Cove and Shipwreck:
Where is everyone? People live in this village, right? Like, somebody works in the cannery and drags in all this fish, right?
This area was the start of my lifelong love of creepy little fishing villages!
Scooby is more dramatic about crabs than half the monsters in this game!
This game gave me unrealistic expectations for flying fish!
I don't want to know how bad poor Scooby smells after the cannery!
I want to know where the pirate ship came from so bad!
Hedge Maze, Greenhouse, and Cemetery:
The statues shooting projectiles is an interesting security system!
Don Knotts is a bada** of a groundskeeper just for being able to get around this place!
What do we think these venus flytraps eat and do we think they were supplied to the Grahams by Miss Grimwood?
Chills and Spills on Haunted Hill makes my Star Stable Online/Starshine Legacy loving heart happy!/gen/a
I killed an unkillable ghost in the mausoleum once. I didn't have any witnesses and haven't been able to recreate it yet. I am so confused!
Is this cemetery where all of Smuggler's Cove's residents disappeared to???
Soundtrack and Atmosphere
Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights OST (Title) - YouTube
This is one of the areas Night of 100 Frights absolutely excels! To compensate for the dark and gloomy visuals a lot of the soundtrack is actually pretty upbeat sounding and even the spookier tracks have enough of a whimsical sound to them to never truly feel scary, keeping the game in fun-spooky territory instead of spooky-spooky. Some of the tracks are also new versions of music from the OG series', as another of this game's many callbacks to past Scooby-Doo media. And on top of all of that, all the boss battles in the game feature brand new bubblegum pop songs done in a style reminiscent of the Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? chase songs from season 2!
And as far as atmosphere goes, I feel like this game is really strong! Some of that might be nostalgia bias talking, but even as a kid I remember being completely captivated by the ambience in places like Mystic Manor and Smuggler's Cove.
For the most part, Night of 100 Frights is a bog-standard 3D platformer in terms of most of the gameplay and puzzles. The one thing that really stands out is the navigation. I'm used to platformers being either mostly linear or mostly open to explore, but not this one! I've seen other people refer to this game as a corridor or 2.5D platformer, and I get their point with those terms. There are a few bigger, open areas, but more often than not you're exploring very narrow pathways that loop back around on each other through finding new abilities and unlocking shortcuts. It actually feels more comparable to Jedi: Fallen Order than any other 3D platformer I've played.
Most of the game is pretty straightforward, but DANG, if the controls aren't a monster during some of the more precise platforming sections! The level Wreck on the Deck Part 2 is infamous in my household for this exact reason. Y'all know the level!
This level... If you say the word sails with the inflection of barely contained loathing within my home, we understand. This level is part of my family's lore. Do you know how hard a level has to be to become part of a family's lore?!?! It is a good thing this game is relatively simple, cuz, if it was meant to be hard, the controls would have done us in!
On an up note, the main gameplay doesn't usually require that much precision, it's just collecting all the Scooby Snacks that's gonna make you lose your mind!/lh (Take it from the person who was foolish enough to 100% this game multiple times!)
I absolutely adore this enemy roster! Now, admittedly, it's pretty easy to please a massive Scooby-Doo nerd by just bringing back a ton of classic monsters, but I think it's decent roster anyways. There's a lot more cosmetic variety than gameplay variety, but in a game as short as this, I don't think it matters that much and at least we get more challenging enemies as the game progresses. I do have some random things that need to be said though!
Why do the zombies chase us, but the werewolves act like they're oblivious to us? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
The gargoyle from A Good Medium is Rare feels like such a random inclusion! It does make the most sense as an enemy in the rooftop levels, but dang, is that an obscure monster!
Spooky Space Kook being able to respawn was terrifying as a child!
Charlie, man, I thought we were friends!
Why are the Hassle in the Castle ghosts unkillable when all these guys are supposed to be holograms? I know it makes sense to have some invulnerable enemies from a game design perspective, but it breaks the lore, man!
Animation is a mixed bag with this game. During gameplay, the animations of Scooby and the other characters look really good, feel fluid enough, and true to the 2D series, but during cutscenes, when we can see the character models more closely, the animations seem a lot stiffer, feeling more animatronic. It's definitely not the worst that I've seen, but it's far from the best.
The animation does have a lot of character though. The animators really went above and beyond to give all the characters as much personality and charm in their movements as possible, and that effort really needs to be acknowledged!/gen
Bonus fun fact: Scooby's running animation on slippery surfaces is extremely accurate to my dog on the kitchen linoleum, so, A+ to the animators!
The characters are a little janky because of their animations, but their 3D models are very faithful recreations of their 2D designs and generally this game is a very close adaptation of the original art style. Less saturated colors though. I honestly never noticed how different the saturation levels are between the game and show until deliberately comparing them in this post, which is kind of wild and makes me wonder if it was intentional or for whatever reason a hardware limitation?
Even taking that into account though, this is a genuinely pretty game! It feels so much like Scooby-Doo! Where are You?, the art direction in this game is absolutely phenomenal!
I love this game./gen Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights is one of the games of my childhood. It's one of my most nostalgic and frequently returned to games. This review was harder to write than I expected at times. The game's simplicity makes it hard to find interesting things to say about it. You either end up sounding like a broken record or going on a lot of silly tangents. (Pretty sure I did both!) The primary thing I've praised in this review is how much it feels like a love letter to 1970's Scooby-Doo, and, yeah, that is the thing this game did so right! Scooby-Doo was practically my first love in life, so having a game that is so faithful to those original three series will always mean the world to me!/gen Even if later games had more in-depth stories and more characters, this one will always have a special place in my heart.
