But that's not what we're here for. I want to talk about a game based on a movie that I had no idea existed until I saw someone else talk about it (coincidentally, that's how I got more details on that Scooby-Doo game I told you about.), a game that works, but as you get older, you could tell how desperate they were for some extra money (I take it rentals weren't as good as the distributor had hoped.)
Personal Background
This was one of many games I used to play when I had access to the family desktop. I didn't think much of it at the time, same with the other games I had, it was just a time waster. I also wasn't that familiar with Casper at the time. My earliest exposure to the character was through the 1995 movie of all things (which for the record isn't as bad as people may lead you to believe.) When I saw one of the game's niches, it left me confused, because I had no idea that another Casper movie existed, and that the game was based on that.
Game History
The game is based on the 1997 direct-to-video film Casper: A Spirited Beginning. It was developed by WayForward Technologies, who you may recognize as a developer for many of SpongeBob games for the Game Boy Advance post SuperSponge, also Shantae. It was also published by SoundSource Interactive, a former protege for TDK Mediactive, one of the more shameless license publishers out there. It came out a year after the movie and basically fell into obscurity soon after.
Is it deserved? Kinda, but that isn't a dealbreaker I assure you.
Gameplay
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| Feel excited? |
As it's said in the title, the game is a mini game collection. You could select from five different mini games, with a sixth remaining locked until you collect fifteen casper coins. To get the coins, obviously you'd have to play the other games, the amount you receive depends on what difficulty you play (easy gets you one, hard gets you three and if you want to play these games in a perfect order, play them all on hard.) Here's what you'd be in for.
Casper's Spinning Squares
Basically a slider puzzle, without the luxury of you having the desire to skip them because you hate those damn things. You have to click on certain squares to fix the image, and for your reward you get to see a clip from Casper: A Spirited Beginning. I would say that it isn't ideal to include spoilers, but as far as I know it only shows clips from the first half, so they got me there. The challenge comes in the fact that you'd have more squares to flip depending on what difficulty you choose, otherwise you could just flip one or two squares, repeat that fifteen times and you'd have unlocked that secret game before your mouse could grace over the other game icons.
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| All I have to do is click the middle row and I'm done. |
Fatso's Kitchen
Basically a brain teaser, where you have to drag the right ingredients into Fatso's bowl. The right ingredients are the answers to riddles you have to solve, which range from simple (add the color of grape soda) to difficult by kid standards (this is obviously aimed at much younger people, not going to lose my shit over that.) This is one of the better games in the collection since there is a stronger sense of challenge than the previous game.
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| Basically if you don't know your foods, you're screwed. |
Snivel's Mix and Match
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| Imagine the possibilities. |
As it says, it's a mix and match game. A ghost comes up and you have to switch its head, torso and legs so it matches a picture Snivel is holding. Only difficulty changes are that you'd have to change all three in the hardest difficulty, while in the easy mode it's down to one or two. There is one cool aspect about this though, you could mix up your own image and print it out.
Stinkie's Goo-Toss
No game is complete without a target practice game. As Stinkie, you throw goo balls at ghosts (which are actually cameos for characters that appeared early on in the movie the game's based on, interesting factoid.) Beyond the casper coin reward, you also get ranked depending on your accuracy. This is another one of the stronger games in the collection, thanks to its replayability.
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| Ready for a GOOd time? |
Stretch's Memory Game
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| I take it the face is there to throw off your concentration? |
Back then I sucked at memory games, and this is no exception. The point of this game is to memorize a pattern and keep it up until the game ends. On easy, you only have four spots to contend with, but it doubles for every difficulty spike, with the highest pinning you against a complete clock face. As you'd expect, this is another highpoint in the game, there is some genuine challenge in the game (human error helps this too.)
Kibosh's Magic Puzzle
Alright, have you got enough casper coins? Did you buck up and go all hard difficulty on all five games? Did you just grind in Casper's Spinning Squares? If so, a grand reward awaits you.
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| And by grand, I mean you get to see this lovely face which you'll cover with puzzle tiles. |
The name tells you everything, it's a jigsaw puzzle. What's so magic about it? Once you complete it, you get to see a movie clip from the game's source movie. Let me tell ya, as an adult, I feel fucked. First up, the puzzle is piss easy, so easy that you could (mostly) see the outlines of the puzzle. There's no thought process needed, just follow the pattern and you're done. Not to mention, the magic is kinda meaningless when you could just go to Casper's Spinning Squares to take advantage of the movie clip niche. I'd normally be lenient to this game, but the fact that it's the only thing in the game you have to unlock and that it's promoted before you could even play the rest of the game, it feels like a ripoff.
Rankings
- Stinkie's Goo-Toss: One of the more fun games in the collection. It's higher up because of the ranking system. It encourages people to play again to top their previous score.
- Stretch's Memory Game: Actually a good way to test your memory. Doesn't feel like a total waste of time.
- Fatso's Kitchen: A fun little brain teaser, non-offensive.
- Snivel's Mix and Match: It's kinda boring and lacking in difficulty, but the printable feature's a very nice touch. Too bad you'd be limited on what you could put in your design.
- Kibosh's Magic Puzzle: It may be a rip, but it has a little more weight to it.
- Casper's Spinning Squares: You just click squares, sometimes just two.
Design
Basically, the overall design is a mixed bag. The background look kinda cheap, electing to use real life photos which clash heavily with an otherwise cartoony design. Ironically the best looking levels are the ones with the least detail. The characters are hand-drawn and, I'm not kidding, they look a lot better than they did in the movie the game's based off of. They're more fluid and expressive, and they're a bit easier on the eyes.
Music
You wouldn't think it, but the game has a decent soundtrack. The songs fit the themes of the levels and the characters, but at least one sounds like a ripoff of the other. An organ-laden theme compliments Kibosh's level, a cartoonishly clumsy theme compliments Snivel's level, we have a carnival-type theme that blends perfectly with Stinkie's level and a slovenly theme compliments Fatso's level (though it sounds a bit like Casper's theme.) Stretch's level has absolutely no music, but then again how could you concentrate on the patterns if you have music blaring in your ears. That's actually a very nice touch.
Overall
For a game that was intended to be a cash grab on a movie that not many people would wind up seeing, it does have plenty to show for it. Obviously they'd have to cut corners, such as using those putrid backgrounds, but there is a level of effort that outshines even the most harmless of licensed cash grabs. You'd think that the success WayForward would find later on would be a redemption tale, but it's more like an underdog story. From a developer for hire with a dream to one of the more respected developers in the industry (okay not by much, but people are willing to refer to them by name for praise, also Shantae)
Whatever the case, I could say there's more to this game than the movie it's based on (it doesn't include a generic father son tale, that speaks numbers.) But if that's not enough for you, it's more sound than those PS2 Casper games. Think about it.
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