| I Spy Spooky Mansion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Black Hammer Productions |
| Publisher(s) | Scholastic |
| Series | I Spy |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X, iPhone OS, Wii |
| Release | Windows September 7, 1999 (original)[1] September 12, 2004 (Deluxe) Mac OS September 7, 1999 iPhone OS September 3, 2009 Wii October 2010 |
| Genre(s) | Puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
I Spy Spooky Mansion is a point-and-click puzzle game developed by Black Hammer Productions and published by Scholastic in 1999 based on the I Spy children's books.
Gameplay and Plot
Windows version
Original version
In the game, the player starts at the entrance of a haunted mansion, where the front gates open. The "Guide", a skeleton known as Skelly (Voiced by Amy Birnbaum), invites them in. They enter and are locked inside. Skelly informs the player that they must earn puzzle pieces to escape the house. They search various areas in the mansion for hidden objects or words specified at the bottom of the screen and play two games to earn them. Once all of the items in an area have been found, Skelly appears and awards the player with a puzzle piece. When the player has collected all 15 puzzle pieces, they must combine them inside a picture frame near the front door to obtain instructions that tell the player to play Creepy Collections again to earn a key to unlock a drawer under the Mystery Bins game and play another matching game to get the ingredients needed to make a ghost called "Get-Out" using Skelly's ghost machine, with Skelly himself serves as one of them. Get-Out is actually Skelly in ghost form, who carries the player out through the chimney and then returns to normal as the front gates close. Skelly then rewards the player with a certificate and they are then allowed back in to do whatever they wish.
Deluxe version
Like the original version, the player starts at the entrance of a haunted mansion, where the front gates open. Skelly then invites them in. They enter and are locked inside. Skelly informs the player that they must earn puzzle pieces to escape the house. They search various areas in the mansion for hidden objects or words specified at the bottom of the screen. Once all of the items in an area have been found, Skelly appears and awards the player with a puzzle piece. When the player has collected all 15 puzzle pieces, they must combine them inside a picture frame near the front door to obtain instructions leading to Skelly's secret study in the library. Following Skelly's instructions, the player pulls on three books on a bookshelf in the order of blue, green, then red. This causes the head on the bookshelf to move, unlocking the secret entrance to Skelly's study. The player can then escape through the window by climbing down a rope with Skelly, taking them back to the front entrance of the mansion. The player is then invited back into the house for more I Spy riddles. From there, the player must find the ingredients to Skelly's favorite recipe: Shrinking Soup. Once the player fetches all of the ingredients via I Spy riddles and games, they must then use six of them to make the soup and then eat it to escape the mansion through a mousehole by the front door. This hole takes the player back to the front entrance of the mansion, where they return to normal size and Skelly invites the player into the house again for a final game of riddles. To escape for a third time, the player must collect all of the parts to fix Skelly's ghost machine, once again playing I Spy riddles and games to earn the parts. Once the machine is repaired, the player creates ghosts from various objects hidden inside the mansion; the previous six ghosts must be made first before the player can make the seventh one. After creating six ghosts, the seventh and final ghost is revealed to be Get Out, who can help them escape. Once the player finds the original six ghosts, Skelly crawls into the machine to turn into Get-Out. Get-Out propels the player out of the mansion through the chimney and then turns back to normal (although it is unknown what became of the six ghosts). Having finally escaped, Skelly congratulates the player and says goodbye as the night is ending. The gates then close as Skelly returns to his study and the game ends.
Wii version
Very much like the Windows version, the player starts at the entrance of a haunted mansion. Skelly then invites them in. They enter and are locked inside. Skelly informs the player that they must earn puzzle pieces to escape the house. They search various areas in the mansion for hidden objects or words specified at the bottom of the screen. Once all of the items in an area have been found, Skelly appears and awards the player with a puzzle piece. When the player has collected all 11 puzzle pieces, they must then combine them inside a picture frame near the front door to obtain instructions that lead to other clues hidden around the house, eventually leading to a secret vault in the painting gallery. Here, Skelly has the player go to the kitchen where they must redo the same I Spy riddles again to earn the tiny toadstools needed to make Shrinking Soup. Once they are all obtained, the player returns to the kitchen and mixes them into the pot, but it does not taste good. Skelly discovers additional ingredients that they need. Once the player finds all five of them, they use them to make the soup and they and Skelly then drink it, shrinking them to the size of a mouse. They recover a "Go" button for Skelly's ghost machine, which had earlier been stolen by a mouse. Heading to Skelly's secret lab, they reattach the button, but when attempting to activate it, one of the circuit boards explodes, prompting the player to play the I Spy riddles again to earn new nodes needed to fix the machine. Once the circuit board is fixed, the player then turns it on, creating a ghost that then runs off; it is hiding somewhere in the house. Skelly gives the player a ghost detector to help the find the ghost, who is disguised as various objects. After finding the ghost five times, it turns into a key and unlocks the front door. Skelly and the ghost wave goodbye as the player leaves, ending the game.
Re-releases
Scholastic re-released a "Deluxe" version on September 12, 2004, re-released another version on the iPhone on September 3, 2009, and re-released it on the Wii[2] in October 2010. The re-releases expand on the original game in many ways, by adding an additional story after the secret message is uncovered, and adding additional rooms. They boast over 30 I Spy riddles, however many of these riddles have the player revisiting previous stages multiple times.
References
- ↑ "Video game culture owes a lot to hidden object games". Polygon. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
- ↑ "I Spy: Spooky Mansion". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 November 2021.