The house is alive! The house is alive! And it's awesome.

By now you've seen the trailers, commercials, and numerous other ads for the animated film Monster House. The story takes places on just another typical day until – uh-oh – the neighborhood's creepiest house starts eating people. It's unusually creepy for a film that could otherwise be written off as a children's flick. That theme translates quite well to the game world, where the monstrous complex truly comes alive.

Players are taken on a journey that is akin to a survival/horror game, minus blood, guts, and anything else that would hike the game's rating. This isn't what I would call a kid-friendly title as it's not for everyone in the family. But the average 10-year-old will be enthused, amused, and frequently intrigued by the Resident Evil and Silent Hill-style gameplay. Controls are stiff. Characters move at a slower pace than in most action games, again going back to the idea that is a survival/horror game for younger players.

Aiming is a one-way street. You may lock-on to enemies, a feature not found in other horror games. However, keeping with the tradition of the original Resident Evil, you cannot aim precisely where you want to. The lock-on feature is almost immediately vital to your survival, and thankfully is very easy to use.

The interior environments are amazing. You're not just trapped inside a house that's supposed to be a monster – you actually feel like you're trapped inside a monster. Chairs, lighting fixtures, the floor that you walk on, etc., all come to life. Any part of the home, at any time, could turn out to be a living, breathing element that has to be avoided or destroyed. You never can be 100% that you're safe or take a breather. Even Resident Evil had its peaceful moments via save rooms. Not Monster House. It wants to keep you on edge, and it does that very effectively.

As players look for a way out of the house, they'll take control of three unfortunate friends armed with squirt guns. The squirt gun will ultimately become their best friend, as it is the only thing standing in between them and the house's many traps and attacks.

Each child has a different squirt gun with varying degrees of water power. DJ, the curious boy who absolutely had to know what was going on with this house, fires steady streams of monster-stopping H2O. Jenny's quick-shooter squirts even faster. Hits are less potent, so you'll need to strategize and prioritize your targets. Chowder's water gun fires the biggest blasts of water, and should remind players of what it's like to fire a shotgun in other, more graphic survival/horror games.

All three shooters are upgradeable, and each is equipped with unlimited ammo. You'll have to cock the toy frequently to re-fill its tank, but you'll never have to worry about finding pick-ups because you just fired your last round.

Taking another cue from the survival/horror champ, Monster House has several instances where you must press the face button shown on screen to perform a specific action. This typically involves the pushing and pulling of a box, or the retrieval of an item. However, it can also involve a near-death experience where the house will take a stab at finishing off one the children. In this case you may have to press a button immediately when it comes on screen, or press the same button repeatedly until the child is set free. Those of you who have played Resident Evil 4 should have fond memories of escaping scenarios like this. It's clear that the Monster House development team were big fans of the title, consistently paying tribute to Capcom's masterpiece in their own horror game.

While exploring the monster's intestines, you're bound notice light coming from the window. Don't go near, it's a trap! Get caught walking through the light and the house will be alerted of your presence. Now he'll be angry and awaken his monster helpers. Enemies, such as the not-too-scary, but all-too-evil "chair" come to life whenever the house gets angry, feels threatened, or just feels like causing some trouble.

Monster House is another success story from the world of animated films. This game is a wonderful conversion of the movie, and is an interesting (and sneaky) way to get pre-teens interested in survival/horror. Players both young and old will be intrigued and delighted by the creepy house they must explore, fight off, and escape from to survive. Environments are big (yet claustrophobic), clever, and have a collection of deadly enemies you won’t see anywhere else.

Gameplay: 8.0
Exciting, immersive, and at time intense, Monster House is the first real survival/horror game designed for nearly everyone. It’s not bloody or particularly violent, yet there is still a sense of urgency that validates the genre being called “survival/horror.” My eyes widened as the house slowly revealed itself. At the same time my thumbs scrambled to get the kids out of there.

Graphics: 7.9
Not spectacular or award-winning, but clever, eye-catching, and worth more than a second look. The developers made excellent use of old technology, bringing the monster to life in ways you won’t see on the big screen.

Sound: 8.0
Quality voice-overs and an eerie, ghoul-filled soundtrack make the monster come to life.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
A little on the easy side. Monster House has surprises, as well as a number of things that’ll put most players (especially kids) on edge. But when you figure out how to deal with a situation, it doesn’t take much effort to repeat your actions when necessary.

Concept: 8.0
Monster House borrows most of its gameplay mechanics from Resident Evil and Silent Hill. However, it also has the unique element of a living, breathing house. The environments come to life in ways you’ve never seen before (outside of the Monster House film, which is not interactive).

Overall: 8.0
A must-play for anyone who loves the movie. The Resident Evil-style gameplay – where everything is slower and stiffer – is likely to feel weird and clunky at first. But give it time and you’ll see that this control style only adds to what is already a creepy experience. It makes every move you make that much more important. In Monster House, you are not able to react as fast as you can when playing as Link, Mario, or Lara Croft.