Monster House was a charming but dark movie that I reviewed a few months back, so when the game came in, I was intrigued enough to pop it in. I was pleasantly surprised when it booted up, as Monster House is first and foremost a shooter, where I was expecting more of a kiddified adventure.

The game doesn't follow the movie, per se, but rather it picks up when the kids get sucked into the house itself. The entire game is the kids battling the house while inside and trying to escape. I really liked this approach, since you certainly didn't know every move to make just by watching the movie.

DJ (Mitchel Musso), Chowder (Sam Lerner) and Jenny (Spencer Locke) all lend their voices to the game and really give it an authentic feel. They all say really funny things when they get scared or are idle, very appropriate to their characters. The sound effects and background music are all appropriately eerie and work your nerves as you make your way through the house.

As far as visuals go, you'll see a number of things that you may have seen in the movie, but explore plenty of new areas never before seen. As you go from room to room, the same room may rotate and you'll find yourself walking on the ceiling and climbing through a hole in the wall that wasn't accesible in the previous room. Nice touch. The visual style of the camera is a very shaky and off-putting one and really serves to set the player on edge. I was literally nervous while playing this game and that doesn't happen too often. It has an almost Resident Evil feel to it, so of course I was immediately drawn in.

So DJ, Chowder and Jenny get sucked into the house and need to get out and it's up to you to help them. Each child comes armed with a Super Soaker as their primary weapon, but each also have a secondary, more powerful weapon as well, plus a melee attack. DJ has a camera that flashes and stuns the enemies, Chowder has water balloons and Jenny shoots marbles, and different areas may require a particular character's expertise and weapon. Melee attacks range from a kick for Jenny to using the guns for blunt force with DJ and Chowder.

As you progress through the house, you'll play as each kid since at different times, the house will suck the other kids into large hoses as happened in the movie. So you'll get your chance as each as they fight to meet up with each other while surviving. Enemies include chairs that reform to look like crabs, lamps that attack you, the dreaded hoses mentioned earlier, wood flooring spiders, radiators that deliver painful steam, furnaces and the worst of all - an evil tree branch that bursts through walls to grab you up at random moments, requiring you to hit the button flashed on the screen to escape. Hit the wrong button or hit it too late and you die.

You'll spend your time ducking barrels and model airplanes as they hurl themselves at you. You'll push blocks to access areas out of reach. You'll dodge flailing pipes as they come up through the floor and walls, attacking you. It's rough going for these kids. There are upgrades for your water gun, but they come at a price - normally in the form of a pretty package that when touched, releases scads of enemies to defeat. You'll also spot cymbal-clanging monkeys placed is secret areas and these are collectibles. Under the Extras, you can view unlockable game art and I imagine gathering these monkeys is what opens the art, since I have been gathering monkeys and the art has been opening.

Probably the coolest thing about the game, hands down, is the opportunity to play the mini-game Thou Art Dead, the videogame featured in the arcade during the movie. I can only presume the game is present with a good number of levels, since you can gather tokens for the arcade by bashing barrels and vases. I played a few levels of it and it's a blast. Completely old school and very Ghosts 'n Goblins. This is almost more fun than the main game, but definitely adds lots of added value.

Most of the difficulty in Monster House stems from either control issues or a lack of save points. L3 is your quick 360 turn around, but you'll find that you'll press it far too many times unintentionally. ARGH! Then your back is exposed to all manner of attacks and the enemies will take advantage of you.

Worse than that, some areas are insanely long with mini-boss fights inserted and no save point afterward. There is one point, about 50% through the game, where you will find yourself in the basement as Chowder. I counted 2 hallways, 5 rooms, and 2 hose mini-bosses with no save point after! The save point finally came some 2 rooms later, but when I died in a hall (via the evil tree/twitch response) after defeating the hose bosses, then was sent all the way back to the original basement area, it was too much for me and I turned the game off. Eventually I did get past this, but it was more of a chore than fun.

I mentioned controls earlier, well let me expound. The camera works fairly well, but you can also use the Right Analog stick to move the camera around - although this is damn near impossible to do. It will only let you move it a slight bit and really not while you are in motion, so it's practically useless. Like I say, the standard camera is good enough though, so that's a plus.

You'll use the Left Analog stick to control each of the kids, duck with L1, melee attack with R1, shoot with (X), use your alternate weapon with Square and use all those buttons when the evil tree branches attack, depending on the whim of the game. When shooting enemies with your water gun, the game would lock-on to an enemy, which sometimes helped and sometimes hurt as you had other enemies who might be closer attacking you. By hitting Circle, you could disengage your lock-on, but sometimes the damage would already be done. One touch that I absolutely loved was that you had to "pump" your Super Soaker to reload, by hitting Triangle over and over. Clever.

Along the way, you'll find boxes where you can refill your secondary ammo and these are handy, however I have found that the game will leave you in an impossible spot with nowhere to go to escape and no secondary ammo and that sucks. It's where I am now and I doubt that I will complete the game because of this, which is a shame. Basically, I started the area with Jenny again, in a tight space with lots of enemies and a relentless furnace that is inescapable, and no marbles with which to kill him and no way to get marbles. Bummer.

All in all, I had lots more fun with Monster House than I ever thought I would. It's a very clever and well-done game and A2M does the license proud. Oftentimes, licensed games are disappointments but this one is a good bit of fun. It's definitely not without it's flaws, but the good overshadows the bad. If you liked the movie and enjoy shooters, give this one a rent at the very least.