Trick Or Treat Beat

And I couldn't leave this blog off without a proper Halloween-themed review, so I'm gonna hit the biggest possible one, one in relation to Cartoon Network because I have it on the Brain.

This is one of many crossover CN games released in the early-2000s (ballparking to around 2003 when many of these shows aired.) What I didn't know until now was that this was a Codename: Kids Next Door game at some point, both were released for the record.

It shows its age, but aside from the different characters and level layouts, it's basically the same game down to the objectives and abilities. Our crop of characters in the crossover version include Dexter, Ed, Edd n' Eddy, Johnny Bravo and Sheep from Sheep in the Big City (ironically that show was made by the same studio behind KND.)

The gameplay goes the same for both versions, you play a nameless child as you hunt for coins, candy and a bonus super coin to complete each level. There're five neighborhoods with four areas each. That alone along with where each item lies can bring your total gameplay time to half an hour, also no save points, it has to be done in one shot.

The schtick behind this game is that you can switch between five different costumes. The skeleton, default, allows you to open locked gates (get it? Skeleton, skeleton key?), Frankenstein's monster (I'm woke to that), can smash through most rocks, and trash cans, the Creature from the Black Lagoon can swim in bodies of water, Dracula can fly over most trees, bushes and land elevations, and the witch can turn ghost trick-or-treaters into frogs, and I won't go into the implication on that.

Thankfully, none of these costumes are underutilized, they are integral to getting everything in each level. There is some strategy to the costumes, where you have to switch between the more useful ones at the right spots, otherwise face a great deal of backtracking to get one you need at the risk of running out of time.

To progress to the next level you need to get every coin, the candy and super coin exist for extra challenge and an earlier release, less you want to run the clock. While these are typically in the open, there's some problem solving to get more, like flying to certain enclaves between bushes as Dracula to get some stray pieces, stopping by the front of houses, breaking rocks or trash cans to expose either items, going to the aforementioned characters for either, or looking in wells and dog houses.

Oh, and the ghosts you change leave behind candy too, and can block your way if left untouched, plus them moving can be a challenge when you want to lay a good hit. With the distance between costume changes and lack of certainty where every item is, sometimes you'd be cutting it close, but there is some motivation to 100%ing.

The graphics look quite good for a Shockwave game, it could even pass as a GBA game, though the kid does look creepy with those soulless pure black eyes, but what do I know? If you want a challenge, hope your computer can run Shockwave.