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brendalaOut of boredom, I checked out the Crystal Cove online game on Cartoon Network's website. And, believe it or not, the story in the game is FAR better than the story in the show! And the romance angle is limited to mild flirtatious dialogue between characters. Which means we get to see MI-Shaggy and MI-Velma act like a couple without the added melodrama of Scooby/Velma hatred, the messy break up, or Velma acting like a bunny-boiler. It's glorious!
The game adapts every episode into a "level" you get to play. But it has to change the story around for both time and gameplay reasons (think of this as a Cliff's Notes version of the show). For instance, since Shaggy and Scooby are the only characters you get to play, certain mysteries (mainly, the Renaissance Faire, Mystery Solvers State Finals, and Mermaid cases) play out differently. And since Velma is the character who provides all the tutorials and sends you off on mysteries, the game doesn't touch the Velma VS Scooby arc or Velma and Shaggy's post break-up animosity. So Velma and Scooby always act like buddies in the game (YAY!).
Some of the changes I liked...
1) The Pup Named Scooby Doo reference: One of the optional missions has Angel sending Shaggy out to collect script pages from a stage play her friend is staring in. Shaggy peeks at the pages, and it turns out the story is about a mystery in a town called "Coolsville". And the main suspect in the play is a person named Red Herring! I thought that was pretty cool! ^_^
2) The explanation the game invented for why Shaggy could fight while under Aphrodite's love spell:
-Pericles "Don't worry, Scooby Doo. The love spell didn't destroy Shaggy's sense of self-preservation. If something attacks him, he'll still defend himself."
-Shaggy "Like, of course! I can't feel the love if I'm dead! I'm gonna go find rose quartz for Velma! Tra la la!"
3) In the Dragon level, the Mai-Lee crush is played out with Mai-Lee flirting with a completely oblivious and uninterested Shaggy. Which is a FAR cry from the skeevy douchebag he was in the actual episode.
4) Velma gets to be SMART!! She actually gets to spend a majority of her time doing something other than futilely pursuing Shaggy's penis!! O_o
Velma is the go-to girl for analyzing clues and sending Shaggy where he needs to go. Basically, she acts like the Classic-Velma we know and love instead of the Bizarro-Bella-Swan-Velma the actual show gave us. And, since Shaggy runs to her for just about everything, their romance actually comes off as believable and sweet in the game.
5) Daphne and Fred: So far, their nutty behavior -both individually and as a couple- has also been toned down. Here's hoping the game doesn't touch the engagement nonsense when it catches up to that episode (the game is updated according to the American air dates)
GAMEPLAY
As for the actual gameplay...well, it's a free kids game on the CN website. So don't go in expecting Super Mario Bros quality.
Overall, it's a decent game and a fun way to kill some time. It's main problem is that it's REALLY repetitive. The side missions are a nice distraction; but it's easy to get bored if you play it for more than 30 minutes at a time. Thankfully, it doesn't take more than 15 mins to solve the average mystery (even less if you invest in the power ups).
OVERALL
If you've ever wondered what this show would be like if only it didn't botch the romance angle, this game is for you! The only downside is that you'll feel sad that the actual show wasn't just as light-hearted and fun.
If you want to try it for yourself, here's a link to it!
The game adapts every episode into a "level" you get to play. But it has to change the story around for both time and gameplay reasons (think of this as a Cliff's Notes version of the show). For instance, since Shaggy and Scooby are the only characters you get to play, certain mysteries (mainly, the Renaissance Faire, Mystery Solvers State Finals, and Mermaid cases) play out differently. And since Velma is the character who provides all the tutorials and sends you off on mysteries, the game doesn't touch the Velma VS Scooby arc or Velma and Shaggy's post break-up animosity. So Velma and Scooby always act like buddies in the game (YAY!).
Some of the changes I liked...
1) The Pup Named Scooby Doo reference: One of the optional missions has Angel sending Shaggy out to collect script pages from a stage play her friend is staring in. Shaggy peeks at the pages, and it turns out the story is about a mystery in a town called "Coolsville". And the main suspect in the play is a person named Red Herring! I thought that was pretty cool! ^_^
2) The explanation the game invented for why Shaggy could fight while under Aphrodite's love spell:
-Pericles "Don't worry, Scooby Doo. The love spell didn't destroy Shaggy's sense of self-preservation. If something attacks him, he'll still defend himself."
-Shaggy "Like, of course! I can't feel the love if I'm dead! I'm gonna go find rose quartz for Velma! Tra la la!"
3) In the Dragon level, the Mai-Lee crush is played out with Mai-Lee flirting with a completely oblivious and uninterested Shaggy. Which is a FAR cry from the skeevy douchebag he was in the actual episode.
4) Velma gets to be SMART!! She actually gets to spend a majority of her time doing something other than futilely pursuing Shaggy's penis!! O_o
Velma is the go-to girl for analyzing clues and sending Shaggy where he needs to go. Basically, she acts like the Classic-Velma we know and love instead of the Bizarro-Bella-Swan-Velma the actual show gave us. And, since Shaggy runs to her for just about everything, their romance actually comes off as believable and sweet in the game.
5) Daphne and Fred: So far, their nutty behavior -both individually and as a couple- has also been toned down. Here's hoping the game doesn't touch the engagement nonsense when it catches up to that episode (the game is updated according to the American air dates)
GAMEPLAY
As for the actual gameplay...well, it's a free kids game on the CN website. So don't go in expecting Super Mario Bros quality.
Overall, it's a decent game and a fun way to kill some time. It's main problem is that it's REALLY repetitive. The side missions are a nice distraction; but it's easy to get bored if you play it for more than 30 minutes at a time. Thankfully, it doesn't take more than 15 mins to solve the average mystery (even less if you invest in the power ups).
OVERALL
If you've ever wondered what this show would be like if only it didn't botch the romance angle, this game is for you! The only downside is that you'll feel sad that the actual show wasn't just as light-hearted and fun.
If you want to try it for yourself, here's a link to it!
