Scooby Doo & Looney Tunes Cartoon Universe: Adventure game review

Scooby-Doo is a lovable, legendary Warner Bros. character. But there’s hasn’t been a game featuring the awesome dog in nearly four years. He must’ve felt neglected!

SCOOBY DOO & LOONEY TUNES CARTOON UNIVERSE: ADVENTURE Gameplay: 8.1 Graphics: 7.8 Sound: 7.3 Replay: 7.3 Overall: 7.4Pros: Scooby meets Bugs, Daffy and more; zany weapons; custom outfits.Cons: Looney Tunes characters aren’t playable; not enough weapon variety; repetitive music can be annoying.

But in Cartoon Universe: Adventure, he’s back and guided by the stories of many of the Looney Tunes superstars.

All About Story

Good games begin with good story, and this one starts off choppy. The game opens with Bugs and Daffy arguing over defective juicer made by a creepy new corporation called MOCME, as opposed to the traditional ACME.

Suddenly, there’s a quick comment about a new friend coming over to their house. They’re talking about your character. You expect him to be Scooby, but it’s not. It’s a Scooby-look-a-like that you can customize with a colorful skin. I chose a light blue because it made him a little like a creature from another planet.

While it’s cool to play as an animated dog that flops through the game with goofy joy, the character is no Scooby.

Where Is Everyone?

The larger problem is that none of the Looney Tunes characters are playable! Bugs, Daffy and the other Looney Tunes characters only show up to move the story along at the end of a level.

It’s a hoot to see Foghorn Leghorn and Speedy Gonzales talking and telling tales of a possible alien invasion. But they should be controllable in the game, too!

The power ups you find along the way are kooky. You get to use a big anvil, for instance, which falls from the sky on enemies. But how cool would it have been to be able to switch to Looney Tunes characters when you need different abilities to progress in Cartoon Universe: Adventure?

Replay-wise, the possibilities are there, but they’re limited. You can go back to a level and bash through a few doors with a special punching glove power up. And, yes, those power ups are wacky (like the umbrella that lets you float over electrified panels), but there just aren’t enough of them.

A Second Game

There’s actually a second game here. It features Scooby’s Mystery Machine gang, like Shaggy and Velma, in a ghost pirate adventure. But, still, you can’t play as Scooby!

And while the second game is a nice addition, the two together don’t make for a super amazing Scooby-Doo experience, either.

As I played, I kept thinking of what these games could have been if the game developers had a bigger budget. As it stands, they’re amusing enough. But they don’t seem have the challenges of even basic Nintendo or Lego games. Even though the game is just $20, I really wish there was more there. Scooby-Doo deserves better.