After an unusually large glut of horror-themed games this fall season, only a few will still be played late into the night once the last autumn leaf has fallen. Grabbed by the Ghoulies is one of those games, which is not surprising considering the pedigree of its developers. Developed by U.K. based Rare – and if you had any doubts as to their nationality, at one point the hero exclaims that he can’t wait to get home and watch soccer on television - Ghoulies is a horror funhouse with a few genuine good-hearted scares thrown in to keep you on your toes. While Rare is known for their Nintendo classics Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie, they are now exclusively developing console games for the Microsoft Xbox and it seems that not one whit of talent or creativity was lost in the transfer.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies is a cliché filled - and I mean that in the best way possible – romp through a haunted mansion. Though Ghoulies is an action/adventure console game, it strongly follows the format of past adventures like Rocky Horror Picture Interactive Show as a young couple – Cooper and Amber – find themselves trapped in Ghoulhaven Hall, an enormous mansion with over fifty rooms and outdoor areas to explore. Add the humor of the console cult classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors, update the graphics to a Disneyesque 3D and you’re ready to take on the forces of the night.

Only the undead in Ghoulies aren’t always shuffling mummies or rickety skeletons as chairs, doors and even televisions will come to life to do battle. But the biggest obstacle to your freedom is the man behind all of this mayhem, the sinister Baron Von Ghoul, who is the spitting image of Snidely J. Whiplash. The Baron’s cackling laughter greets you at the beginning each level as he steals your hard-earned health points

Ghoulies is a game that is meant to be enjoyed to completion rather than fretting over your every move - which usually increases the challenge but distracts from the enjoyment. There are no save points, wherever you quit playing is where you will continue next time. Player lives are unlimited and you are always restored in the area where you perished. Ease of play has been streamlined for maximum enjoyment.

Keeping in mind the family friendly atmosphere of Ghoulies, Rare has also been very careful to contain the violence and mayhem to a cartoon level. There are no heads splattering or twenty different types of available weaponry and ammunition. Instead, your surrounding environment provides plenty of ‘natural’ weapons. Chairs, shovels, cue sticks – everything imaginable can be utilized and, in a nice touch of realism, most of these objects will break or shatter after three or four strikes. The only permanent weapons are objects like candles – what better to set a rotting mummy aflame – or a water blaster loaded with holy water.

The controls are simple to master – which for me is always an important component as I especially despise complicated submenus and moves requiring multiple button pressing. The left analog stick moves Cooper and the right analog is simply twirled or pushed directionally to battle. It is important to have the location of the four controller buttons memorized as they occasionally will have to be pressed quickly in order when faced with a Super Scary Shock. Some levels have challenges that must be completed within a set time period – or else a really cool Grim Reaper will enter the mayhem – and the action can at times get overly frantic. Much of the in-game music consists of the required “spooky sounding” tones, but a harpsichord adds a nice touch. The theme song does deserve special mention. It is only a spectral-sounding repetition of the game title – Grabbed by the Ghoulies – over and over again and though I at first snickered at such a cheesy theme song, now I’m driving everyone crazy with my repeated – and off-key – singing.

The only drawbacks to Ghoulies are minor. For reasons I never understood, the voices in the game consist for the most part of gargled mumblings, grunts and so on – the rationale for this is never clear, though it may have something to do with how the cut-scenes are presented as the pages of an animated comic book. There are also some who will find the no-save feature a negative, but saving is unnecessary as rooms cannot be exited until they are completed and there is no reason to needlessly backtrack. Unlike previous Rare efforts, there are no really memorable characters like Banjo or Kazooie. While Crivens the butler, Dr. Krackpot and Baron Von Ghoul all add greatly to the atmosphere, their characterizations are too broad-based to be effective in anything outside of a Ghoulie sequel and Cooper, the main character, well, he’s too bland to cornerstone a franchise. His blandness, in a large part, is responsible for some levels beginning to feel repetitive. It does not bode well when the best aspects of a character are his ‘idle animations’ that feature him picking both his butt and nose. But Ghoulhaven Hall is meant to be the real star of the game and if the nefarious Baron is willing to lower his mansion’s real estate value with the addition of a few more traps and rotting corpses, then there’s little doubt we’ll open that creaking door to Ghoulhaven Hall again next year.

Final Grade: B

There’s lots of Ghoulie goodies – trailers, wallpaper & contests - to be had at the official Grabbed by the Ghoulies website!