Goosebumps PC Games

The best-selling book franchise brought horror to CRT screens in the 90’s

The Goosebumps PC games in the 90’s brought two of the books to life for horror fans everywhere. Dreamworks Interactive worked on both Escape from Horrorland (1996) and Attack of the Mutant (1997).

By the late 90’s, especially 1997, things were winding down for the series. The original books run of books finished. Tales to give you Goosebumps finished. By 1998, the TV episodes stopped. Of course, there were plenty more Goosebumps books released in the ‘Goosebumps 2000’ line, but the hype was slowing down.

Goosebumps as a series always had a very consistent campy, B-Grade horror movie feel. The books always finished with a twist ending. The TV episodes were made on a low budget. The Goosebumps PC games took a very different approach to bring the series to life.

Escape from Horrorland

The Horrorland book made an amazing setting for both the TV programme and the first Goosebumps video game, released in 1996. Using real-action footage, miniatures, puppets and plenty of green screen, Escape from Horrorland is presented as a complete Full Motion Video game, or Interactive Story.

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The big difference here? It’s a really good FMV game. Escape from Horrorland captures the Goosebumps feel incredibly well. There’s so many different sections within the park that introduce characters from different books, like the Scarecrow that Walks at Midnight, as well as the Mummy, Vampires, Werewolves and of course, the Horrors themselves.

You start the game in Werewolf village, which is an incredibly sleepy European style village surrounded by dense woodland. The atmosphere here at the start of the game is fantastic. You won’t see a loose werewolf for a little while yet, but that won’t stop you from hearing them. Your goal is to get Lizzy’s brother and his friend free from the stocks.

Through the woods, you’ll discover Horrorland Plaza, and a little further again, Bat Barn. A barn surrounded by Jack-O-Lanterns where you’ll encounter the Scarecrow. Once you make it past Bat Barn, you’ll come to the Valley of the Kings. An Egyptian themed area where you need to enter (and survive) the giant temple and go toe-to-toe with the Mummy.

Horrorland Plaza is a great opportunity to catch up on a little backstory, visit the movie theatre and ride the Doom Slides. The museum at the Horrorland Plaza holds the items needed to free the boys back in Werewolf Village but beware. You’ll need to find Lizzy afterwards, and she’s got company.

Once you’ve helped Lizzy survive a Werewolf attack, make it past the Scarecrow at Bat Barn and saved Luke from the Mummy in the Valley of the Kings, you’ll be able to ride the number 10 Doom Slide all the way to Vampire Village.

Vampire Village feels a lot larger than Werewolf Village, but the population here is just as blood hungry. The main area of Vampire Village is the Vampire’s castle where a large celebration is happening. Lizzy and Luke need to save Clay from being the main course and of course, make a fast retreat.

The best way to travel, except the Doom Slide of course, is the Coffin ride. Lizzy, Luke and Clay each find a coffin that takes them downstream. As you travel, you get to squish the buys crawling all over you. The good news is your trip doesn’t take long.

Finally, you find yourself at the Monster Zoo, filled with terrible creatures and animals. Once you manage to fish the key out of the octopus tank, you’ve reached the final strange challenge in Horrorland. An arena filled with all the monsters you’ve had to encounter, surrounding you, waiting for you to die. Now is your chance to face the main villain and the creator of Horrorland, Madison Storm.

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Being an FMV game, you spend a lot of time exploring the park, discovering the items you need and solving puzzles. Hidden below the park, we also have a secret mini-game with a voracious tunnel monster. On top of trying to survive Horrorland, solving the puzzles and progressing, you can also collect a series of Goosebumps cards.

The park itself is filled with strange people, Horrors that leave you hints and tips not to mention the creatures that want you to fail. A couple of the rides from the story have made it into the game, the Doom Slide and the Coffin Ride, but Dreamworks still managed to add mini games and hidden areas.

If you are after a Horrorland game filled with rides and prizes to win, the third title released in the video game line in 2008, Goosebumps Horrorland, has the player competing in numerous rides and sideshow games around the entire park. It does a fantastic job of merging the Goosebumps atmosphere and the desire to actually play some of these spooky mini-games, instead of playing an interactive story.

Attack of the Mutant

Attack of the Mutant was the second Goosebumps PC game to be released by Dreamworks Interactive and follows a similar ‘problem-solving’ approach to gameplay. This time however, it uses a first-person style perspective similar to Doom or Wolfenstein 3D.

Where Escape from Horrorland opened up the entire park and made each area feel vastly different, Attack of the Mutant gives us a very quirky super-villain headquarters. It’s bright, flamboyant and doubles as a printing press for the Masked Mutant comic book series. This loosely ties the video game into the book as well as the Attack of the Mutant TV episode.

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Attack of the Mutant starts off as you get off the bus and follow a park path right to the front door of the super secret headquarters. During the open cinematics, we get to meet both the League of Good Guys and the villains. All of them. There’s a lot of characters rendered in typical 90’s CGI.

Despite all the super heroes we get introduced to, you’re the one who needs to save the day. Just your typical kid, armed with a masked mutant comic book. Your mission will take you deep in the headquarters and beyond, you’ll have to fight the Masked Mutants minions in the swamp, in the icy Tundra and the gardens surrounding the castle. Once you defeat the Masked Mutants minions, freed the League of Good Guy heroes trapped within the castle and recover your comic book, you can finally go toe-to-toe with the Masked Mutant himself.

The gameplay here for the Attack of the Mutant feels a lot less polished than Escape from Horrorland. The CGI cutscenes don’t feel smooth, all the acting is over the top and the whole premise, taking you from the mansion through portals and into different worlds, isn’t consistent. The game does however, pack a lot more gameplay than Escape from Horrorland. You’re in control of your character, there’s platforming sections, blasting sections and plenty of enemies to neutralise.

While it didn’t capture that fantastic Goosebumps atmosphere, Attack of the Mutant does give fans a chance to play a Goosebumps PC game based off one of their favourite books. The superhero themes are strong and the cut-scenes are a really good laugh. This is not a predictable game.

Goosebumps PC Games – Escape from Horrorland & Attack of the Mutant