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I didn't know whether game maker THQ could pull of the frights in the movie. That's because its last movie-into-game, Cars, was bland at best. Yet I was pleasantly surprised when I played Monster House. Not only do you feel as though you're moving through an amusement park fun house where lamps try to grab you and trees break through windows to squeeze the life from you, you'll get scared, too. That's right: adults will be frightened. So, while this is a game for kids, adults will enjoy playing it with their sons and daughters, too.

Within the bowels of the house, you'll play each of the three characters in the game, the occasionally bold hero, DJ, can-do smartie Jenny, and Cowardly Lion-like Chowder. Each character is armed with a water blaster gun to destroy, say, evil chairs that come to life and attack you. You'll be traipsing through a house that's full of the detritus of the years, even a greenhouse that, says the grossed-out Chowder, "smells like my grandfather's trailer." It's this kind of humor (voiced by the movie's three child actors), interspersed with the action-horror aspects, that makes the game (and movie) a winner.

image: Courtesy of EA

Madden 07: All the right moves

Details

Madden 07
Publisher: EA
Devloper: EA
Format: All (Including mobile version)

Check out reviews of all the latest and greatest games (updated every week), along with past faves in NYC Guide.

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More About

• Robert Louis Stevenson
• Johnny Depp
• Microsoft Xbox 360
• Sony PSP
• Video Games

That's not to say Monster House is one of the year's best games. At certain points, the monsters in the house repeat: you'll be fighting against a lot of chairs, and that can be boring. While the game has been assailed elsewhere for its unstable targeting, I didn't find this to be that much of a big deal. What the game lacks in camera angle stability and targeting, it makes up for with ease of play and imaginative action that makes you want to continue on in the game. You can finish the Monster House fairly quickly, in about 10 or 12 hours—which is a consideration if you expect more game play for your buck. However, there's a fun unlockable once you collect a bunch of toy monkeys along the way. You'll get to play an old school, 2D side scroller game called Thou Art Dead.

But what did bother me constantly was the lack of the ability to save the game whenever you want to. As an obsessive 'saver,' I didn't like the fact that you must move to save points in bathrooms to reclaim your progress should you decide to quit. Saving things at a bathroom checkpoint should have been flushed before the release of Monster House. It's a waste of time.

In the Nintendo DS version of the game, you'll have 54 rooms to explore and shoot up. What I was most enthused about was the amount of monsters that ends up on the screen at the same time. They've really squeezed a lot out of the tiny DS' processing power. You won't get the same audio as you do in the console versions, however. Instead, you'll have to read lines of dialog. But there's nothing wrong with reading. Unless it's James Frey you're looking at.

Prey
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Venom Games
Platform: PC, Xbox 360

Turn on, tune in, shoot 'em up. If Timothy Leary and HR Giger spawned a video game, they surely would have come up with something like Prey. That's because Prey is like one long night with various entheogens courtesy of the Mazatecs of Mexico—with a dash of Alien to add some horror-rich paranoia.

Certainly, first person shooters can be more boring than watching reruns of The Simple Life. But when it comes to Prey, the creepy, long-delayed game from developer Venom Games, the action comes fast and furious.

And like your mother's fanciest birthday cake, the level of detail and care here is impressive. In fact, in the first hours of the game, you'll be awed. You'll even get a War of the Worlds panic attack as you listen to real-life radio talk show loon Art Bell as he takes calls from freaked-out Americans.

The premise? Everyone has been sucked up into a mammoth, living spacecraft, the blue whale of UFOs, bigger than anything you've ever seen.

That's not so different. So, why was Prey worth the decade-long wait? For me, it was the promise of a complex story. Yes, Prey conjures up thoughts of the Alien movie series since it takes place in a spaceship filled with monsters. But there's a spiritual tale here, too. Tommy, the Native American garage mechanic you play, is an anti-hero with a mystical side. As Tommy, you'll be armed with a Hunter Rifle, the first weapon you'll use. The rifle has long range ability and, with your sniper scope, you'll aim with the precision of Jesse James. Other weapons are, well, alive. Grenades are actually crabs, for instance. Strange, but the idea works.

Tommy has a Spirit Walk mode which allows him to separate from his body and move along the environs in a way that enemies won't notice. But stay away too long and your flesh and blood body will be attacked. At times, you'll need the help of Tommy's grandfather, a wise teacher named Enisi. You'll have to give up the ways of the new and be open to the ways of the ancients in order to learn from Enisi.