We are so excited to see Scooby Doo and the gang in their element – in an all-new mystery adventure format. Two CD-ROMs have been released this fall, with another one slated for release in the New Year. In Phantom of the Knight, kids join Scooby and friends at Joust for Fun, a medieval-themed restaurant and family fun center situated in a castle, where there is trouble brewing. Not only has the star princess disappeared, to top it off, there’s a fire-breathing dragon roaming the grounds! Though it appears that the ghost of the castle’s original owner, the Black Knight, has returned to reclaim his castle, could it be some sinister plan to see Joust for Fun fail?
After signing in, children are prompted to select a difficulty level – Spooky (Easy), Spookier (Medium), or Spooktacular (Hard). Then, after a charming cartoon intro, it’s off to explore the castle -- searching for clues, playing activities, and ultimately unmasking the Black Knight.
This title plays much like the adventures that Humongous made so popular. Kids scour the castle looking for items to collect, and each can be stored in the inventory in the program’s toolbar. Part of the fun is the fact that every so often clicking on an object prompts the Black Knight to appear, scaring the gang away. They’ll then have to find their way back to that area. It’s always a surprise where he’ll pop up next!
True to form, Scooby and Shaggy are easily spooked in this program, so players will have to coax them to enter some "scary" areas with Scooby Snacks. But these snacks are not free for the taking – players will have to earn them. Fortunately, doing so is great fun. Two activities – Wizard Anziani Says and Knights of the Snack Table – help players earn these coveted snacks.
Along the way, there are five suspects to meet, with a puzzle to solve attached to each. Players will have to help them out before the suspect offers them an all-important clue to who is the mastermind behind the castle’s "haunting". Kids run into Sir Lacksalot, for example, only to discover that he’s buried under pieces of armor. Helping him up is harder than it looks – kids need to carefully choose the sequence of armor pieces to pick up. Other suspects test kids’ observation skills with a quiz about the castle and grounds, challenge them to look for lost juggling balls, and more.
Once these 5 clues are collected (and one or two of them are red herrings), a final clue needs to be uncovered before the unmasking of the Black Knight begins.
Be sure to check out the Groovy Goodies area accessible from the start screen. A couple of downloads for printing a Scooby Doo movie poster and for sending virtual post cards of favorite characters is here, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the making of this new mystery adventure series. This latter offering gives kids a taste of all of the effort that goes into creating a CD-ROM such as this one.
This title is not entirely easy, even on the lowest difficulty level. Kids will need to poke around and explore a lot before they gain all the clues necessary to solve the mystery. Still, it’s fun and compelling enough for kids to want to persevere, and kid testers doggedly worked toward unmasking the phantom.
This adventure finds Scooby Doo and the gang doing what they do best – solving a mystery together. It captures the spirit of fun and teamwork that last year’s Scooby Mystery of the Fun Park Phantom was lacking. It contains just enough opportunities for kids to use their brains to please parents when their kids inevitably spend hours with the game.
