Monster High: Ghoul Spirit (Nintendo Dsi)

This game is really fun my daughter got it last night and really hasn't stopped playing it. They have the real voices from the webisodes on there. There is reading involved, they talk here and there. She says its awesome. Id say for ages 9-15 would be great. If your into monster high than your going to want this game she loves it. Id wish it had better graphics on some of it, but it doesn't seem to be a big deal to her. Over all a good game for the monster high lovers out there.

Honestly I have nothing good to say about this game. Unless you're a super hardcore Monster High fan (and I am, but even I found this excruciating to play through) this game is a waste of time and money. The graphics look like they're from at least two console generations ago and the gameplay doesn't make up for it. The game is comprised of a lot of running around interspersed with ridiculously easy and completely uninspired minigames. The minigames are timed to give you a sense of challenge, but they're still too easy to be fun so the whole thing seems pointless. (The only one I had difficulty with was Clawculus, which gets a bit tricky in the later stages but still only takes a few minutes to get the hang of.) The map, while overly simple, still manages to be confusing and is incredibly inaccurately proportioned, and despite the small size of the school, it takes forever to get anywhere because you run so slowly. Overall, you spend a lot of time being both bored and frustrated. The ending to the game is obvious and anticlimactic so it's not even worth playing through for that. Take my advice and leave this one on the shelf and buy something else, because it really feels like something that was rushed out onto the market to cash in on the Halloween season.

Despite what other reviews say, not all of the voices sound like the original, for example Slo-Moe sounds totally different (I mean, really, how hard is it to do a zombie groan? There shouldn't be an obvious difference) which seems like a little thing but grated on my nerves every time I had to talk to him. Some of the dialogue is kind of awkward, for example Holt's lines read more like something Jackson would say. As for Jackson himself, as well as Spectra, Abbey, and Operetta, they have cameos in the game but you can't actually talk or interact with them at all. Instead, they're conveniently placed behind pieces of furniture so you can't reach them, yet you still have friend meters for them which is just confusing and pointless.

Things I personally think would have made this game better:

*Cel-shading rather than the awkward '3D' graphics. The graphics bothered me throughout the whole game, I think cel-shading would have been way cooler.
*The ability to make enemies. I get that this is a kids game, but even Toralei was your friend by the end of the game, and you didn't have a choice in the matter. I mean, really? At least allow me to piss people off and make frienemies. A more flexible friend meter in general would have been great.
*The ability to have a boyfriend, or at least a date for the dance at the end of the game. Even better, allowing me to steal someone else's date, because I totally would have snagged Deuce. Seriously, that's most of the reason why I wanted this game to begin with. Wishful thinking.
*More outfits. There's only two outfits in the game, and then the dress for the dance. For a girl's game, that's kind of sad. I was hoping I'd unlock more outfits, etc as I played, but never did which was annoying as I unlocked alternate outfits for the OTHER characters instead.
*Being able to turn people to stone. I played through as a Gorgon and didn't even get sunglasses, let alone get to turn people to stone. Total disappointment.
*Better minigames. In general.
*The ability to create a character that's not hideous. Seriously, I looked through the character creation and found that the options are both very limited and very ugly. Better graphics probably would have helped. Also being able to choose custom colors on a colorwheel or something would have rocked.
*Cutscenes. I think some video action would have improved the tone of the whole game.
*More replay value. Alternate endings, unlockables, and the ability to make my own decisions that would affect the storyline would have been awesome.
*More content in general. I beat this game in a few hours without even trying.
*A reason to not trade this game in immediately for something that isn't painful to play.

I am a huge monster high fan, dont get me wrong but I was totaly unimpressed with this game. There was not one good game disciption any where. Not evan the back of the game or their website. It was all planned out for you. You had no options as to what you could do or say while interacting with the other characters. You had to accept every text or you walk around the campus bored and with no one to talk to. There were no option's for your character's clothes eiher. You run all around the school for people when half the time its across the hall. And I only kept playing because I thought I would unlock more content but more never came. The game only took me 2 days to complete and you have to buy their merchandise to unlock codes for more content. They don't mention anything about the codes on the game cover or on their website! The game ended by going to a dance where you don't even spend more than 30 seconds to be crowned scream queen. Your outfit for the dance was disappointing. You don't even get a crown! I was torn as to whether or not to get the game, as you can see I did, but in my opinion don't waste your money.