portion
of the game consists of, strafing and
tossing the grenade, also in part because the grenade can also draw
in dropped plasma and life from ghosts. That description sounds oversimplified,
but there is just isn't much else to it. Due to their not being a lock-on targeting
system, aiming is really the only tricky thing. There is a first-person view that
requires Lazarus sit still, so it's only rarely useful, and binoculars are given
to spot poltergeists and far off enemies, but I never even needed them. There
is a bit of Metal Gear Solid flair, though less refined, of him having
the ability to sneak around with his back against walls, and being able to peak
around and take aimed shots at bad guys. But it isn't as involved as that or kill.switch,
since it is only occasional needed - mainly when the sniper ghosts come about.
So combat isn't particularly difficult, but it is definitely repetitive.
Aside from combat, Lazarus himself will have to solve a few puzzles;
but most of those involve navigating the surroundings and are less involved that
those Astral faces. While the game itself is linear, the level design isn't so.
During play, I kept imagining myself as the ball in a pinball game, getting knocked
around back and forth before finally ending up at the right spot. Progression
was made at a decent pace, but getting lost often meant complete confusion as
the helpful info found in notes that are kept in case folders and articles found
throughout would only point to the end solution, with no help on how to get there.
Even though the game isn't open-ended, it often appeared to be with some
pesky dead ends built in several spots. Further compounding confusion were hard-to-spot
ladders and climbable objects, along with a troublesome camera and twitchy hot
spots made traveling through the levels overly difficult. Whenever near a spot
that is special, the game will inform the player that they can hit the action
button to perform the necessary task. When this works, it keeps the game going
at a smooth pace; however, there were some spots that required a specific position
for it to be accessible, a slight half inch to any other side would bring a quick
flash and no response from the action key-it was like the console version of pixel
hunting. As Astral, the player is given handy clues when she is in first-person
mode, with useable items being highlighted for notice, Lazarus, however, doesn't
have such luck; so spotting that rotting ladder alongside the rotting shed wall
will often lead to backtracking and confusion as it could just as easily mean
a clue or cut-scene trigger was missed. Also, like other third-person titles,
especially Resident Evil, the camera has a nasty tendency to cause havoc:
pressing up to go into one room might make Lazarus go backwards to the previous
area because the view switched from behind him to in front; the view might also
move to a few feet in front of him, facing him, and only moveable to the sides,
not helping to see what is directly before him; or the camera may not be adjustable
at all.
There were some control designs that were made that were smart,
though. One is that the developers used a combat camera system similar to that
in Resident Evil 4: the player can run around in a navigation mode, but
once engaged, referred to as hunting mode, the camera pans to the right a little
and Lazarus walks slower so have a more accurate aim - this works very well and
I'm glad to see it implemented in other titles. A subtle action was also done,
one that makes it easier to see the whole screen, and that is that all display
icons (health, ammo, etc.) disappear when not in hunting mode; this actually helped
a great deal, and it also had the added bonus of letting more room to check out
the lovely surroundings.
The environments are definitely Ghosthunter's
strongest suit. With spectacular lighting and effects, a ghost town becomes a
hazy realm where a blurred sun constantly sets over reflective water and tattered
sheds. (Side note: If you play the game and start to get the notion that Louisiana
is a place where teeth and brick are a rare commodity. Stop. We have teeth and
actual houses, as well as bayous.) An abandoned house becomes lively with a lighted
kaleidoscope making star designs on a half-destroyed ceiling, while a giant doll
sits in a rocking chair overlooking a chasm walled with bloodied skulls. There
are a few downers, like an old military base and an abandoned ship, but a prison
filled with hallucinations of a past life in a high-rise apartment fills the quota
of freaky locations nicely-well, okay, this part is like The Suffering.
Although, on the two televisions I played the game on, horizontal black lines
would appear and flicker on the right side of the screen whenever there was a
lot on the screen, particularly when wading through water.
Even when
a level is a bit run-of-the-mill, its inhabitants tend to be unique. Although
the enemies are only a handful and used way too much, meeting scraggly prison
guards from a bygone era and British soldiers still on active duty from World
War II, complete with a captain whose head can never seem to stay attached to
his body, really give the game some charm. (Side note two: Okay, I guess the thick
British accents and typical slang evens out the Louisiana thing.) Quite a few
of the characters are genuinely funny as well, with the voice actors hitting their
quos and adding a real bit of charm to the game. With that in mind, it's a shame
that Lazarus can never rise above being annoying; now, I can overlook the fact
that I'm controlling someone who strongly resembles a host of a third-rate dating
show, but he is so obnoxious and unfunny that I found myself not wanting to be
him-with horrible dialogue and a voice too goofy sounding to evoke any true sense
of sarcasm, his serving as a wise-talking cop wasn't achieved in the sense of
it being entertaining.
Thankfully, Lazarus's voice is about the only
time the audio comes across as hokey. Much like the graphics, the audio is used
effectively, creating truly tense moments. Classics standbys like children singing
are used, and are still effective, as are a few other interesting atmospheric
touches, like hearing a preacher give a summon in an abandoned church. Most of
the actors deliver their lines on point, and the quality of the audio is very
good. The music is decent, if a bit untimely, with it changing to combat tunes
whenever fighting is over. There also a few cutscenes where the music drowned
out the voices.
The basic problem with Ghosthunter is that it
didn't go all out in either the action or the survival-horror direction, with
the result of it being great in neither genre, but merely decent. For an action
game, it just isn't visceral enough. Despite an earlier comment that guns don't
hurt the entities he is hunting, they do. Not only do they, but the shotgun is
overly powerful, able to take down the strongest monsters with just a few shots.
The other weapons, including a pistol with unlimited ammo and a chargeable rifle
and steady stream gun that run off plasma, just don't feel solid. In fact, the
guns don't even recoil, something I haven't seen in a first-person view since
1994. Selecting the weapons was done nicely by way of a radial menu, utilizing
a shoulder button and analog stick, keeping the menu trudging to a minimum and
combat fairly brisk. However, one thing really bugged me: what's up with no reload
button? Going into combat with a half-full shotgun isn't fun.
There were
some things done right, including some of the most entertaining environments I've
gone through in a game. The graphics were also spectacular, technical issues aside,
and the sounds where great. The way the radial menu worked, along with the clean
window of view and side-view camera angle all worked well. Clocking in at about
20 hours, 2 of which would account for wondering around, Ghosthunter is
long enough for what it is. But the fact that camera problems are still plaguing
third-person titles, and is an issue that doesn't seem to be going away anytime
soon, is enough to drive me insane. The lackluster combat and rough level design
didn't help, either. But how cool was that giant boss with the alligator biting
his arm?
Overall:
6.5/10
A good summary of the game would
be the final boss battle: The player is given a gun with unlimited ammo and can
get nearly unlimited health by taking the dropped health from the waves of enemies.
The whole ordeal took didn't take but a few minutes, and I only got below half
my health once. After defeating the cheesy boss and seeing the equally cheesy
ending, you're left thinking: "What the hell was all that for?" Ghosthunter
is set up to be either a really cool action title with monsters, or a genuinely
scary survival-horror title with enough action to please the gunfight junkies,
but, instead, it is neither. It does a decent job balancing the act of being a
little of both, but never exceeding its promise. A few days will be all that is
needed to get a fill (re: tired) of the combat and to complete it, so it's a rental
if anything. While not necessarily a bad game, it's just not a very fulfilling
one either.
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