Monsters, Inc. Scream Team

Monsters, Inc. Scream Team is based off of Disney PIXAR Monsters, Inc. which was scheduled to hit theaters just three days after the game was released in North America. The game was developed by A2M and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and acts as a prequel (naturally) to the events we would later see in the film. Knowing this, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anybody that the game opening would basically be a movie trailer before coming to the title screen.

Monsters, Inc. Scream Team is based off of Disney PIXAR Monsters, Inc. which was scheduled to hit theaters just three days after the game was released in North America. The game was developed by A2M and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and acts as a prequel (naturally) to the events we would later see in the film. Knowing this, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anybody that the game opening would basically be a movie trailer before coming to the title screen.

Now unfortunately, with the exception of three actors, none of the cast members from the movie reprise their roles for the game, but the voice actors they get for Sulley and Mike aren't all that bad and in some cases Carlos Alazraqui does sound a little like John Goodman. The story is simple enough, Mike and Sulley want to become top scarers at Monsters, Inc. so they go to Scare Island in order to learn. The scene before the training level is pretty hilarious, but once you get to the actual training you may come to find it's a bit tedious. This is at a time where games just assumed you knew nothing and explained everything to you even if it's something simple, which older games would have taught you by just playing it. Instead, they stop you, show you, and tell you during, and after a while hearing Roz speak just gets tiring.

The main objective is to scare robot children called Nerves. Each robot child is color coded, and you have to stock up on ooze in order to charge up your Fright Meter. How making faces and poking your eye counts as scary is beyond me.

But beware of... TOYS!

In Scream Team you'll fight with various different toys in each stage. An attack by a toy cost one health point, but don't worry there are plenty of ways available to defend yourself.

In each stage you'll be looking for three medals that you need at least one of in order to pass. These medals, depending on your performance, can either be bronze, silver, or the beautiful, beautiful gold medal. To get a gold medal, you must get all eight Nerves that are in that stage, the silver medal can be earned by collecting all ten Monster Tokens, and the Bronze can be awarded with scaring a total of five Nerves.

One unlockable includes actual scenes from the film. At the time for those eagerly awaiting the movie and got the game first, this is a pretty nice extra, but now? You can just watch the movie so it's not an award that has carried on well with time.

Whether or not you like this game will depend on a few factors, one being age. Now I obviously can't speak for every gamer of all ages, and I won't even try, but this as you can imagine is a game aimed at kids and not something I can see many adults, especially old-time gamers, enjoying all that much both for it repetitiveness (though some kids probably won't like that either), and assuming you're an idiot.

Scream Team offers a fun experience for kids and fans of the movie, and if you're a parent with a child who wants to keep that kid distracted with something they can do with their fingers which doesn't involve collateral damage to your house, I'd recommend it.

Try it