I have to admit that I was somewhat apprehensive when I sat down to play Haunted Mansion. Games with movie tie-ins are generally a chore to play and review, and the awful Pirates of the Caribbean game released earlier this year set some low expectations for Haunted Mansion. Well it’s a good thing that intrepid game reviewers such as yours truly bravely sit down and play every game that comes by their desk because if they didn’t then games that exceed our expectations such as Haunted Mansion would get lost in the crowd of mediocre titles. While it is unlikely that Haunted Mansion will garner any game of the year awards, it is not without its merits and can be enjoyable in its own right.

What's that ahead in the dark?

First it should be made clear that Haunted Mansion is based on the Disneyland ride, and is not based on the movie that is based on the ride. You won’t find Eddie Murphy in the game, or any of the events depicted in the movie for that matter. Instead you are an unfortunate soul lured to the mansion by the promise of a job as a caretaker. Little do you know that the ad that caught your attention was actually placed by the last remaining ‘good’ ghosts inhabiting the mansion. An evil wizard by the name of Atticus Thorn has taken over the mansion and imprisoned all of the friendly ghosts.  The good ghosts need a mortal to restore light to the mansion and free all of the souls trapped there by Thorn.

In Haunted Mansion your goal is to collect the spirits captured by Thorn while avoiding the nasty spooks who have taken over the mansion. Your tool for doing this is a magic lantern that does more than just light your way through the mansion’s dark spaces. The lantern is used to collect the captured spirits. You can fire a beam at the spirits that will pull them into the lantern much like reeling in a fish. The lantern can also be used as a weapon that fires pulses of light that stops nasty spooks in their tracks. The lantern fires in the direction that you are facing, so aiming it can be a bit difficult at times. In an attempt to compensate for the lantern’s poor accuracy, the game has a target lock feature that will automatically aim your shots at an attacking ghost. The target lock works well enough when you are being attacked by only a ghost or two, but when several ghosts come after you it can be difficult to get it to lock on to the target that you want to hit. The game cycles through targets seemingly at random, making it difficult to consistently take out the closest threat first. Since this is a Disney game, the attacking ghosts don’t actually harm you. Instead, you are given a bravery meter and each attack by a bad ghost drains a bit more of your bravado. Should you run out of bravery, you simply pass out from fright.

The Haunted Mansion is divided into a number of rooms and areas that serve as the game’s levels. Access to each level requires that you have captured the requisite number of spirits with your lantern. Since each level has a set number of spirits, this essentially enforces a linear sequence on the levels. Clearing a level is always a two-step process. The first requires you to locate and turn on a light switch. Reaching the light switch invariably requires you to solve some sort of puzzle and it is this aspect of the game that is the most imaginative and enjoyable.

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