Review: Scooby Doo Who's Watching Who (PSP)

Quickview:

Good: Captures feel of the show

Bad: driving missions; glitchy platforming; camera issues

Good riddance to: Scrappy.

Scooby Doo: Who's Watching Who? is your standard platforming fare. Stages are divided into themed hub worlds, each with three levels. These levels consist of a driving level, an exploration level and a chase level.

These level types all have their own share of problems. Exploration levels are plagued by glitchy platforming. It's possible to jump through solid objects, reappear on solid ground when you should be dead and even float in mid-air. It's even possible to fall through the map into deep, black infinity. This issue alone would make the game tantrum-worthy, if the developers hadn't given you infinite lives.

The camera is also an issue here. When the camera is free, it requires constant adjusting in order to survive the platform-heavy gameplay. As annoying as it is to continually manage, it is preferred to the times when the camera is in a fixed position. During these segments it is often too far away, making it difficult to judge distance and height from one platform to another.

The fixed camera is even worse in chase levels. In these levels it's placed in front of Shaggy and Scooby as they run for their lives from a ghost. Here, the camera's too close, making it impossible to see what's in front of you. This, like in the exploration levels, leads to many frustrating deaths that could have easily been avoided if the camera was slightly more competent.

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As bad as the exploration and chase levels can be, driving missions are by far the worst of the three, mainly because of the horrible driving controls. I know it's a van, but since when does the Mystery Machine control like a Zamboni? It unresponsively drags around turns at times, violently jerks from the slightest tap at others. What's more, it's almost impossible to stop the vehicle once it gets going, which is especially frustrating when the objective is to follow another vehicle.

The game does have some redeeming qualities. What it lacks in technical polish, it makes up for by capturing the presentation of the show. In-game graphics are cel-shaded, matching the cartoon perfectly. The voice acting is spot-on and the mysteries are all presented as episodes from the show. The culprits even say, "and I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for that dog and those pesky kids!"

Fans of the show will enjoy Scooby Doo: Who's Watching Who for its recreation of the cartoon's atmosphere, but under a solid presentation is a game with a some very notable problems namely broken physics and a crappy camera. If you're considering this title based on presentation alone save yourself the money and watch a rerun on Cartoon Network.

Graphics: 6.5

Sound: 6.0

Gameplay: 3.5

Firstplay: 5.0

Replay Value: 4.5

Overall: 4.8

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