Sound:  
The sounds are okay; you’ll notice that the music begins to get repetitive after a while. The Scooby-Doo theme song plays throughout the game’s entirety, but has different variations depending on which stage you’re currently playing. After a while you’ll probably get sick of it and have to turn the volume down. I’m surprised that Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase doesn’t contain any speech. In a game targeted towards kids, it would’ve been nice to hear the characters speak every so often. Not to go overboard like in Super Mario Advance, but perhaps hearing a “Zoiks” or “Jeepers” before each stage would have made the game feel even more like the cartoon.

Control:  
“Floaty” is a good way to describe the controls in Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase. I know that “floaty” isn’t a real word, but how else would you describe characters that control like the little stick things in “Pong”? And forget about the hit detection because it’s totally off, and that’s what makes the game totally cheap. My favorite example is when I was playing as Shaggy and some bird that’s halfway across the screen was able to knock me off a tree branch to my doom. Yeah, I think we need to work on that. As for the button set up, it’s as standard as they come. The A button Jumps, the B button throws an item at the enemy, and so on.

Gameplay:
Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase is a very short and easy game. There are a total of seven levels in the game and you can knock each one off in about 5-10 minutes. If you’re a beginner, or an inexperienced youngin’, you may have more difficulty trying to beat the game than your standard hardcore gamer.

The story line follows the movie pretty closely in which you must figure out who unleashed the Phantom Virus on the computers. You access each of the seven stages by searching for CDs that are hidden throughout the University. Keep in mind that “hidden” is a strong word since the University is composed of only four rooms and the CD’s are always in plain sight. Once you access the levels, your goal is to collect a set number of Scooby Snacks. Once you collect enough Scooby Snacks you must then find the empty box that contained the Scooby Snacks. Of course it’s not that easy. Each stage is filled with idiotic enemies that walk back and forth periodically throwing something at you if you get too close. You must try to sneak past these enemies in order to make your way to the end of the stage. You’re able to select any one of the five Scooby Gang members to play as before each stage, but if one of them dies then you’re down to four, then three, and so on. Scooby-Doo’s average gameplay won’t win it any awards in originality.

Multiplayer:
None.

OVERALL:
As is my philosophy, visuals alone do not make a good game. So despite Scooby-Doo’s impressive visuals, the gameplay falls far from being innovative or exciting. If you’re a hardcore gamer, you already know to stay away from this title because there’s nothing here for you. However, if you’re under the age of 10 and a fan of Scooby-Doo, then this game may be worth a look.

 

The Lowdown on  Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase Aesthetics: Awesome Control: Below Average Gameplay: Below Average Multiplayer: Sound: Average Innovation: 1/6 Lasting Appeal: 2/6 Rating Explanation Overall: Below Average! "Has Some Detrimental Problems"