Monster House is an American action-adventure game developed by Artificial Mind and Movement and published by THQ. The game is based on the film of the same name and it's a tie-in to the film as well.
The game was generally higher-quality than many other games based on children's films, and it received high ratings from numerous prominent gaming magazines and websites, including Play magazine and GameZone.
As a bonus feature, the full version of Thou Art Dead, the arcade game played in the film by Skull.
The game was released on the Nintendo GameCube, Gameboy Advance, and the Nintendo DS. A Xbox version was also planned, but it was later cancelled due to the poor sales of the system.
The PlayStation 2 version was released as well and, despite being on a different home video game console, it shares the same gameplay engine with the Nintendo GameCube version.
Gameplay:[]
The game follows the plot of the movie, except it introduces many rooms in the house that were not shown in the film. The 3 main characters DJ, Jenny, and Chowder must navigate through the house to reunite with each other and destroy the house. The enemies in the house are living furniture that may also serve as bosses in some areas. Obstacles include pipes that can block doors or pathways to keep the player on track, tentacle-like pipes that can harm the player, trees that can try to grab the player, objects that can fly at the player, spotlights that can summon monsters to attack the player if they're caught, and giant pipes that can suck up the player. The game has about nine chapters that each tell the story from each of the characters' perspective. Bathrooms serve as save points throughout the game and are the safest parts of the house. Players can attack enemies and bosses using their water guns or by counterattacking. Each character also has a special ability that they can use to combat monsters: DJ can stun enemies with his camera, Jenny can attack enemies and destroy padlocks with her slingshot, and Chowder can attack enemies with water balloons. Boxes containing ammo for the secondary attacks can also be used for refill. Additionally, food found around the house can restore health and tokens allow the player to play the game "Thou Art Dead".
Plot:[]
PlayStation 2 and Gamecube[]
At the beginning, DJ, Chowder and Jenny are pulled into the home, in the police car. After that, they give a jump to avoid being eaten by the house while the police car is thrown down into the stomach.
However, Chowder and Jenny are pulled away from DJ shortly after, by two giant pipes. DJ finds a key in a chest beneath the stairs and uses it to unlock the door to the kitchen. He sees a burning toaster and quickly puts out the fire. After stepping into the house's spotlight, he fights a living chair and enters a hallway where he sees some living chairs go into a nearby room. After finding a key to the bathroom at the end of the hallway, he fights floor crawlers along the way and a living TV passes from behind him after he walks through a door. He dodges some incoming flying books and goes through the bathroom that leads him back to the foyer where he fights another living chair. Meanwhile, Jenny finds herself in the attic and after jumping across a stack of crates that swift away, she tries to get back by going through the air vents, but she gets trapped by a blockade of pipes.
Chowder finds himself in the greenhouse and after exiting the greenhouse and finding a spare light bulb for his water gun, he fights living chairs and wall lamps before arriving in the kitchen and after defeating numerous floor crawlers, he is attacked by a giant pipe, he narrowly escapes the pipe by falling down a dumbwaiter shaft. DJ meanwhile, enters the family room where the phonograph in the room begins playing music and awakens flying books. He manages to fight them off until the phonograph stops playing, unblocking a door to a hallway that leads him to a room with a player piano in it. The piano suddenly begins to play by itself, awakening two living chairs, one normal and one red that is constantly revived by the piano's music. DJ disables the piano, which strips the red chair of its invincibility and allows DJ to finish it off. He retrieves a key inside the piano and makes it back to the family room where he uses the key to unlock the door to the library. DJ then searches for a dusty book and uses it to open a secret passageway and enters an air duct that leads him to the basement where he finds a crashed police car (possibly the same one that got thrown down into the house's stomach). He contacts Skull and he tells DJ that in order to get out, they have to kill the house by taking out its heart, which is the furnace. DJ goes into the next room and when he tries to open a door, the knob falls off and lands on the ceiling. He turns on two washing machines to knock a large crate down from a shelf and while he moves it over to a wardrobe to climb up it to reach the doorknob, living chairs and gas tank monsters attack him. He is able to fight them off and retrieve the doorknob. DJ then comes across a door with a unseen fiery field behind it. He find a key inside a jar and uses it to unlock a crest and finds a hook inside it. He enters a large room where blockade of pipes prevent him from going any farther. After moving a crate to an open area of the blockade to block off a section of pipes, he was able to get inside the blocked area and moves another crate under a ladder and uses the hook to bring down the ladder and uses it to get to the second floor. Finding himself back in the foyer on the second floor, DJ tries to open an unblocked door that leads to a bedroom, which suddenly throws him inside and closes. He find a key in a jar and uses it to unlock a nearby door to a sideways bedroom where he finds the missing grate handle to a fireplace. He opens the fireplace and puts out the fire, revealing a secret passage that takes him to the attic. While avoiding the house's spotlight, he moves the same pile of crate that Jenny jumped across earlier back to the middle, uncovering an air duct. He moves another large crate under the vent to reach it. He goes through the vent which takes him to a hallway where he finds a key in a nearby room and uses it to open the door to another room at the end of the hallway and finds Jenny still stuck in the vents.
The room where he finds her turns 180° (upside down) as DJ goes forward and after defeating numerous monsters, He goes over to Jenny, but can't free her. Finding another way, Jenny enters the master bedroom and after hearing a telephone suddenly ring, it stops when she approaches it and while looking at some pictures, a floor crawler comes by, getting her attention as a TV comes to life. Jenny defeats the living TV and encounters the first boss in the next room, a large mannequin that resembles Constance, Nebbercracker's late wife, which comes to life when the chandelier above falls on it. She fights it by destroying the light bulbs on it and finishes it off by shooting the beam holding it up and grabbing the chandelier chain while open firing her water at it. Following her fight against the mannequin, she finds a way back to the attic.
In the attic, Jenny finds what appears to be a painting of her and a lamp suddenly comes to life. She defeats the lamp and finds a key in the next room and fights a living stove in another room and uses the key to unlock the door there. A blockade of pipes appear and she sees DJ on the floor below. DJ comes after her, but is eaten by a canopy bed in the master bedroom after defeating many monsters and finding a key on it. Up in the attic, Jenny find a train set powered by a bicycle. Monsters ambush her while she moves the model train, which eventually comes off the track and disappears into a poster, where she find a small tunnel behind it, leading into another room. After defeating two living stoves and three living lamps and after recovering the missing gear to the dumbwaiter, she uses it to get to the basement.
Meanwhile, having woken up in the bowels of the house after falling down the dumbwaiter, Chowder fights a living TV and enters a flooded room. He climbs up to a platform where he moves a crate to a nearby pipe with a valve and turns the valve to drain out the water. Chowder then fights off many monsters consisting of gas tanks, floor crawlers, and lamps and encounters the second boss, a large killer pipe. After defeating them all, he moves another crate to a high up platform and finds a key to the nearby door behind some furnaces. After using it to unlock the door, he enters an underground bathroom where a TV passes from behind while he goes through a door. Making his way through the labyrinth, Chowder fights two more living TVs and encounters the third boss, again the giant pipe, but has to defeat it three times before he can make his way to the actual basement.
Having made her way to the basement, Jenny fights two living TVs and another living stove and reunites with DJ. Meanwhile, Chowder must make his way through a maze of toys in another part of the basement.
At the end of the maze, Chowder finds his lost basketball but also finds the fourth boss, this time, two large pipes instead of one. Chowder enters a circus-themed area where he plays shooting games to find the missing eye and nose of the clown on a merry-go-around to move forward, all while fighting off chairs, floor crawlers, gas tanks, and a TV (which will only come alive if Chowder fails at one of the games) before reuniting with DJ and Jenny.
They discover that the house is possessed by Constance after finding her corpse and learning of her backstory. They try to destroy the furnace (the heart of the house), but fail and are separated again by three giant pipes.
The children then fight to escape the house by making their way through the maze of corridors, encountering more enemies along the way. They all then reunite again in the main entrance and narrowly escape the house thanks to Jenny, who pulls down on the house's uvula (chandelier).
After escaping, the house chases them to an abandoned construction site. Along the way, the house causes a manhole to pop out of the ground and throws a car at them. Chowder fights off the house, the final boss, with a backhoe.
Then DJ, while hanging from a construction crane, throws an active dynamite down the house`s chimney, destroying the furnace and the house itself. DJ then says one last monologue, then the game's credits roll.
Gameboy Advance[]
The game begins with DJ, Jenny, and Chowder preparing to destroy the house, but it grabs them with its tongue and pulls them inside. They lose most of their equipment after being trapped inside the house. Skull provides them with outside help through their walkie-talkies and tells them to find blueprints to help navigate the house and take shelter in bathrooms, which are the safest parts of the house as it will refuses to do any damage to the bathrooms because the water will flood it. He also tells them to destroy the heart (the furnace) to kill the house. As they slowly recover their equipment, they encounter living chairs, giant bugs, living TVs, living lamps, and living floorboards. While trying to find a way into the basement, Chowder is captured and taken to the attic. DJ and Jenny find a slingshot that helps them reach the attic. After they rescue Chowder from living chairs, Skull tells them to find the elevator to reach the basement, but a gear is missing. After finding it, they encounter a living mannequin that resembles Constance, which comes alive and attacks them. They defeat it and use the elevator to get to the basement, but the door to the furnace requires a heart-shaped emblem to open. During their search, they encounter living bookshelves, living candles, living trees, and a carpet monster (presumed to be the house's tongue). They find the first piece of the heart emblem and locate a fuse for a water pump needed to drain the water out of the third floor in the basement. After fighting the Constance mannequin a second time, they find the second piece of the heart emblem. The three eventually discover Constance's corpse and learn the truth about her through a diary that they have found. The Constance mannequin appears again. After they defeat it one last time, they find the last piece of the heart emblem and use it to open the door to the furnace, but Skull warns them to get a stronger weapon first. Having known that Nebbercracker used to be in the military, he advices them to get some dynamite. They come across Nebbercracker and after explaining their discoveries. Nebbercracker shares her backstory and is convinced to let Constance go, but this angers the house. While Nebbercracker tries to stall it, the kids find the dynamite and battle the furnace. After destroying it, the house is on the verge of falling apart. They meet up with Nebbercracker at the front door, but it is locked. They shoot the uvula to force the house to let them out. After escaping, the house is destroyed. A dialogue reveals that Constance is now at rest, Nebbercracker is at last free of his torment, and he and the kids help return the toys that he took from the other kids.
DS[]
After being eaten by the house, DJ, Jenny, and Chowder sought to find a way out and destroy the house. They battle a variety of living furniture along the way and also rescue Landers, Lister, Bones, and Kevin the dog, who were also eaten by the house. The kids also find toys that the house has also eaten, including Bones' kite, Jenny's candy-filled wagon, and Chowder's basketball. Eventually, they manage to destroy the furnace, but this is not enough to defeat the house. They escape and fight the house from the outside, eventually killing it and ending its reign of terror.
Characters:[]
(Note: some characters appeared and did not appear, but only mentioned in different versions of the game, while others appeared only in the video game versions and not the movie version at all.)
DJ
Chowder
Jenny
Nebbercracker
Officer Landers and Lister
Kevin the dog
Bones
Book Shelves monster

Furnace[]

Clock monster[]

Radiator monster[]

Record Disk Player monster[]

Refrigerator monster[]

Dressers monster[]

Cast:[]
- Mitchel Musso - DJ Walters
- Sam Lerner - Chowder
- Spencer Locke - Jenny Bennett
- Keith Ferguson - Skull
Reception:[]
Gamespot noted that the Game Boy Advance version felt like reminiscent of a bird's-eye view that the legend of Zelda for the Game Boy Advance had and gave it a high score but However, both the Nintendo GameCube and the Nintendo DS versions had mixed reviews and didn't receive as much praise.
Trivia:[]
- The game came out 3 days before the movie come out.
- Despite the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 being different video game systems, they both are actually have the same gameplay engine.
- The Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance versions were the only 2 monster house video game(s) that where Constance and Mr Nebbercracker appears in.
- The Game Boy Advance version gameplay style is similar to Nintendo Entertainment System game version of sweet home.
- The Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube and Nintendo DS have a English and French Dubs in the game’s languages option on the main menu.
- The Nintendo DS version of is the only monster house video game to be dubbed in Japanese and not to have Thou Art Dead mini game.
Differences between both the movie and the video games:[]
Nintendo GameCube version:[]
- The first and last part of the story are told through a narration by DJ and some pictures in a photo album.
- The house grabs the police car with its tongue instead of making the trees do it. It also simply throws it down to its stomach without chomping it in half.
- The kids get separated in the game.
- In the movie, the giant pipe is the only monster to appear inside the house while In the game, there are many living furniture. The trees also serve as obstacles.
- There were a lot of rooms that were not seen in the movie.
- The toy room is arranged as a maze.
- In the game, the kids actually reach the furnace, but get separated again after failing to put it out.
- DJ, Jenny, and Chowder are the only visible characters in the game. Horace Nebbercracker and Constance are either mentioned or appear in photographs. Skull is heard through DJ's radio, which he can use to contact Skull anytime.
- When Chowder finds his basketball, he gets attacked by two giant pipes rather than being captured by slinkys.
- DJ didn't need a key to unlock Constance's wagon.
- When DJ falls on Constance's corpse, the cement doesn't fully break off nor does it wake up the house.
- In the movie, Nebbercracker tells the kids his wife's story while in the game, they figure this out themselves.
- When the house vomits the kids out, there was no saliva, water guns, and vacuum cleaner dummy.
- The chase seen is longer in the game and Nebbercracker doesn't take part in it.
- The house was able to enter the construction site safely without falling down in the pit and did not fall apart. Instead, it fell apart after Chowder defeats it before reemerging in its deformed state.
- Chowder does not use the excavator until they reach the construction site. The house also doesn't devour it or rip its shovel off.
- Jenny fight a mannequin that comes to life after a chandelier hanging over it falls down into it.
Game Boy Advance version:[]
- This game ends differently from the Nintendo GameCube version and the movie, Instead of dropping the dynamite down the chimney at the construction site, they succeed to put the fire in the furnace out to destroy the heart, which destroys the entire house after DJ, Chowder, Jenny and Horace Nebbercracker escape.
- Instead of grabbing the kids while they were in the police car like in the Nintendo GameCube version and the movie, the house just grabs them while standing on the front path with its tongue (carpet), but doesn't drop them down into its stomach.
- The mannequin spins and moves around while throwing candles at the kids and Jenny was not alone when fighting with the mannequin instead of coming to life after a chandelier hanging over it falls onto it like in the Nintendo GameCube version. It is also fought three times.
- Jenny is the only one small enough to fit through small spaces but in the Nintendo GameCube version, all the three kids could fit through them.
- The kids do not get separated from each other like in the Nintendo GameCube version.
- Thou Art Dead can be found behind the ruby door after the ruby key is found. When finding it, the kids decide to play the game and try to beat Skull's score (which causes players to start playing the game themselves). After winning the game, a door to a secret passage way opens and the kids find the Doom Bringer 3000 Water Gun, a water gun that had to stop its production because kids get injured by its almighty stream. With this kind of firepower, DJ can throw away all the other gun upgrades.
- Skull helps the kids more in this version.
- The house has an elevator in this version.
- There is also a living carpet that can optionally be fought.
- Nebbercracker does appear in this version. He is encountered inside the house instead of outside after the kids learned the truth.
- The final confrontation takes place completely inside the house rather than at the construction site. The kids also had to escape the house after destroying the furnace.
- New kinds of monsters appear in this version.
- When the kids find Constance's body, her skeleton is already visible. DJ also does not fall on her.
- Somehow, Skull knew about Nebbercracker's past.
- The house's uvula was shot at rather than being pulled down.
- The giant pipes do not appear in this version
Nintendo DS version:[]
- Officer Lister, Officer Landers, Bones, and Kevin the dog appeared in the Nintendo DS version, while in the Nintendo GameCube and Gameboy Advance versions, they did not appeared in at all (aside from few mentions and references). The kids find them after being eaten while in the movie, they didn't find them at all.
- On one screen, players see the playable character they're playing as on the other screen, they see a map of the inside of the house on each floor.
- Constance and Mr Nebbercracker does not appear in the Nintendo DS version despite being main characters in both the movie, Nintendo GameCube and game boy advance versions.
- The mannequin does not appear in the Nintendo DS version.
- Different monsters appear in this version.
- Besides having to destroy the furnace, the kids also have to recover toys and rescue Landers, Lister, Bones, and Kevin.
- The beginning is different. The kids just end up in the house after being eaten and they were not in the police car.
- Even after destroying the furnace, it was not enough to kill the house.
- Although the kids escape, they also have to fight the house while outside in the yard. Therefore, they never go to the construction site.
- The house never takes its deformed state.
- The story ends with the house's defeat and the kids heading to tackle another mystery.
Gallery:[]
Nintendo GameCube/PlayStation 2[]
Gameboy Advance[]
Nintendo DS[]