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| .............CONTENT
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Req.: P3 450 MHz Processor, 128 MB RAM, SB, DirectX 8.1, Nvidia TNT2 3D Card,
750mb hd. Reviewed On: P4 2.66ghz, ATI Radeon 9000 (64 MB VRAM), 256 MB Ram, Win XP Pro | |||
Intro  So,
here stands a title in front of me offering a "free Ghostbusters DVD
for $3.95 Shipping and Handling on the cover. God, that can't be good, I think
to myself. "Ghost Master", I read aloud. Hrm. That dude on the cover
looks eerily like Corey Haim ("The Lost Boys"), I muse as I open
the box and install on my rig. Nah, that's not Corey as I read portions of the
box: "Snap, Crackle, Pop - Mortals Can't Handle This Sparkling Personality".
Jeez, this is going to be a long night. And it was. Except it was a good thing.Gameplay: 9/10 The premise here is that you are the Ghost Master (Master of Ghosts, for those of you in the right lane) and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to scare the heck out of everyone to get out of the police department, or cruise ship, or house or whatever the environment de jour might be. Scare them so much, in fact, that they run screaming out of the house and never come back. Sounds like fun? It is. You are given (limited to start, naturally) a choice of haunters to begin your first mission, "Haunting 101", and you can pick them yourself or have the program determine what it thinks are your best options (over the course of the game you'll have over 40 ghosts, ghouls, elementals and more to choose from). Your haunters are tied to specific objects, people, places or areas which are called "Fetters" and are placed in various areas throughout the house. You might have a ghost which is electrical in nature, for example, and can only be attached to objects such as a microwave, TV, or radio. Other creatures are tied to specific areas (Indoors, Outdoors, or Entranceways) or perhaps elements, such as water. You have to strategically place these throughout the environment in which you are haunting. Perhaps a house has 3 or 4 floors and 4 or 5 rooms per floor (or more) and you have to determine where you think your bevy of ghouls will do the most terrifying. Of course, you can relocate on the fly throughout the scenario and can even place him on the "bench", if you so desire. Plasma is your energy and you'll need lots of it to have all of your team haunting at full capacity. This is generated by scaring the occupants, of course, and the more you have the more creatures you can employ and the more powerful their prowess becomes. Initially, you are somewhat limited in what commands you can give to your crew. As you progress through the game and your ghosts become better trained, you can be more specific in nature. For example, the ghosts can be commanded to use their powers only when a mortal is present or to focus on a particular mortal entirely. You can not use powers at all, use specific powers, or even to roam (if applicable). Time isn't critical to finishing an area - it is, however, important to generate additional Gold Plasm which can be used to upgrade specific ghosts, at your choosing, throughout the game at the end of a completed level. The faster that you finish and the more screams that you generate, the more Gold Plasm that you'll accumulate. Naturally, some mortals (people) are easier to scare than others. Some have weaknesses that you can exploit by using a ghost that excels in that particular area (ie... perhaps the mortal will be spooked by the kinetics of moving objects) and this will help you achieve your goals of driving them from the area faster. Also, as you meander about your surroundings, you'll notice that there are usually one or more ghosts that are "trapped" in their particular nightmare. If you figure out how to free them they will ally themselves with you. Some of these can be relatively simple or more complex multiple steps will be required. You might have to knock some old bones down a chimney, for example or perhaps figure out how to move a brick in a hastily constructed wall in your efforts to gain a new friend. At
first, you'll find that many of the scenarios that you encounter will take much
longer than you might have anticipated. Not to worry, you can visit them again
later (at your leisure) to try to improve on your score. The environments are
cleverly named spoofs of well known films, such as "Poultrygeist" or
"Deadfellas", for example. The continuing stories are fun to listen
to and, more importantly, a blast to play. Graphics: 8/10 Sound:
8/10 Overall: 9/10
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