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In terms of story, Muppet fans might be a little disappointed. In a gloriously 90\u2019s-looking CGI intro, we find out the Muppets have gone on holiday to a spooky castle to hear the last will and testament of Baron Petri von Honeydew, Dr Honeydew\u2019s uncle. Little Robin the frog faints In terror as the castle door opens and awakens to find himself in a lab with Honeydew Beaker and Pepe the frog. It turns out the evil energy permeating the place has turned Kermit and the gang into monsters themed around Universal\u2019s classic brood, and it\u2019s up to Robin to don a wrist based zapper, hoover up the evil energy permeating the local village and turn Robin\u2019s fellow Muppets back to normal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What this means in practice is that the game is centred almost entirely around Robin and guide Pepe (\u201cOkay?\u201d) with Beaker turning up occasionally to be used as puzzle solution, with Kermit, Fozzy and co cameoing as bosses (such as Gonzo\u2019s \u2018Noseferatu\u2019) Not only is Robin probably not everyone\u2019s first choice as favourite Muppet, the world itself is only really sort-of Muppet adjacent. Borrowing from the Rare school of of \u201cObject + googly eyes = character\u201d, Robin doesn\u2019t exactly look out of place, but I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if you told me the game started off as something completely different and had all of the Muppet-related elements added later in the project. Aside from the chickens you encounter early on, few of the characters and environments feel very Muppet-ey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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From a gameplay perspective, things are a lot more successful. Robin\u2019s controls are tight and intuitive with a camera that generally gives you the view of the action you require. Robin\u2019s dual attacks make for combat which is simple but satisfying, with some enemies being zappable but resistant to his spin attack, and others spinnable but resistant to zapping. Each level is small and relatively tight, with routes which are generally rewarding to follow and which are frequently broken up by mini games \u2013 be they Simon-style reaction games, foot races, time challenges or simple puzzles. At the time, it was given 7\/10s across the board and this feels about right: if you\u2019ve played the likes of Croc, Spyro or Banjo then Muppets Haunted House Adventure does absolutely nothing you haven\u2019t seen multiple times before \u2013 it just does it all really well. If you\u2019re looking for a fun, light, comedy-horror themed game that doesn\u2019t require much brain power, Muppets Haunted House Adventure is well worth checking out…with one all-important reservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, looking back from the 2020s, it does feel like Muppets suffers from some disastrous self-sabotage that wasn’t noticed at the time – it was considered a standard gameplay feature at the time. Though the levels are tight and a joy to simply traverse from beginning to end, the game locks a lot of your progress behind irritating collectibles. Not only do players need to unlock each subsequent stage by collecting a certain amount of dark energy in the current level (effectively placed like coins in Mario or Rings in Sonic), but the climatic boss fight in each section can only be accessed after the player has gathered the majority of that section\u2019s Muppet medallions as well. Limited to 5 per stage, only one in each level is generally linked to beating an obvious puzzle or mini game \u2013 the rest have to be sought out in hard to reach places which aren\u2019t always logical or intuitive. If that wasn\u2019t enough collecting, Robin can also gain the use of his Muppet family\u2019s monster powers \u2013 such as Noseferatu\u2019s glide and Wakka-Wakka-Ware Bear\u2019s ability to claw his way up certain surfaces, but these are only unlocked after collecting tokens with the respective monster\u2019s image on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Though it seems crazy today, we have to remember that this sort of mechanic was widespread even beyond platform games. You\u2019d expect a Turok game to focus almost exclusively on the characters reptilian opponents and his ingenious blend of both extremely low and extremely high tech weaponry, but in both the original Turok and its sequel our character spends much of his time running round the jungle, frantically searching like a man who’s forgotten where he’s left his car keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall then, the reasons you might have given it a miss in the year 2000 are reasons you shouldn\u2019t give it a miss today. By attempting to do nothing that was particularly new but executing everything else perfectly, Muppets Haunted House arguably stands as a more perfect testament to the philosophies underpinning late \u201890s game design than the titles that attempted to break the mould. Though we are thoroughly charmed by the depth of the Saturn\u2019s gorgeous 2d library today, this is after we’ve had almost thirty years to tire of the complexities of three dimensional game worlds, and most of us were in a very different headspace at the time. On its own, \u201cYou had to be there\u201d might be a gigantic copout, but if you\u2019re a person who only started playing in the recent era then Muppets Haunted House Adventure can act as testament to how willing we were to let talented developers tarnish otherwise enjoyable games by turning them into pointless busywork collectathons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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