Haunt the House: Terrortown

 PlayStation Vita
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Eurogamer
    Jan 24, 2013
    80
    Emotional cruelty, suicide, haunted euphoniums - there's a surprisingly dark heart beating away inside this cheery little Halloween special. There's a genuine sense of mischief, too, conveyed by the bug-eyed howls of your prey and the looping, lilting tones of the jazz-club soundtrack.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
  1. xxAcesHighxx
    Jan 29, 2013
    5
    Upon booting Haunt the House up for the first time and hitting start, the first thing you'll be greeted with are some achingly prettyUpon booting Haunt the House up for the first time and hitting start, the first thing you'll be greeted with are some achingly pretty aesthetics. To the credit of developer SFB, the adorable artwork and toontastic animation in this oddball Playstation Mobile adventure are unquestionably befitting of a far more expensive, mainstream title. Regrettably however, once you start to look beyond the visuals and concentrate on core gameplay, this is where the gushing praise starts to run a little dry. After the huge potential hinted at by those stellar visuals, I have to admit to feeling more than just a tinge of disappointment. Once the novelty of possessing mirrors, chandeliers and endless other household brick-a-brack wheres off (and it soon does), repetition and monotony soon begin to set in. As does a distinct lack of direction. Five or ten minutes later, and you've seen more or less everything that Haunt the House has to offer. At which stage, finishing off the remainder of the tiny campaign's four levels - which I'd done so inside of forty minutes - starts to feel more of a chore than a pleasure. In summary, while the glorious art direction that SFB have instilled into Haunt the House undoubtedly serves as it's standout feature, quite conversely however, it also contributes to it's undoing. With gameplay that simply cannot live up to the promise of it's visual package, disappointment is inevitable. Perhaps I'll revisit Terrortown at some point in the not too distant future, and give Haunt the House another crack. You never know, with more realistic expectations second time around, I may even end getting a little more out of it after all?!… Full Review »
  2. FriedConsole
    Jan 23, 2013
    6
    This is an interesting toy that is beautiful to behold but the gameplay of it makes it more of a toy. There is a score but it never explainsThis is an interesting toy that is beautiful to behold but the gameplay of it makes it more of a toy. There is a score but it never explains how you get a better score. It is fun to figure out to scare people and watch the cute characters run away but once you figured it out there isn't much else to do. Probably the best looking Playstation mobile game by far. Too bad there isn't much to do after playing through the levels a couple of times in a couple of hours. Still worth the $3 to play with.… Full Review »
  3. gregthreet
    Feb 18, 2013
    7
    Enter Haunt the House's world and you'll be greeted with its excellent cartoon like visuals. You are tasked to scare everyone in the town byEnter Haunt the House's world and you'll be greeted with its excellent cartoon like visuals. You are tasked to scare everyone in the town by exploring it and reaching the maximum level of terror for each area. You can freely go through the town at your own pace. What really struck me about this game though was gameplay. Possessing objects to scare people is fun, and as the terror level rises the more things you can do with the objects also increase. With the maximum amount of terror you can cause a accident like murder on certain characters, then you can play as them. Its the experimenting with what scares the most that gives Haunt the House its personality. My main issue here though is the accessibility of the "things to do". At the top of the screen is a bunch of stuff to do, and its not clear what all of them are. This takes away from the main experience. But overall the great level design, gameplay and graphics are trumping the length and inaccessibility.… Full Review »
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