Haunting Starring Polterguy

"Good-quality haunted house fun. Go on - spook your foes ;)"

FOREWORD

The Haunting was yet another title for the Megadrive that I just happened upon whilst browsing through the shelves at my local second-hand video games store. I decided to buy it because it looked a bit unusual, and sometimes it's nice to plump for games that are outside your normal playing comfort-zone. Was it worth it ? Read on ...

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

You play Polterguy - a young lad who's life took a sharp downturn with the arrival of a very negative and influential family called the Sardini's - to the extent that it ultimately wound up costing you your life ! You have now come back as a Poltergeist - able to move objects with your supernatural powers - and you have decided to make it your mission in (the after)life to make the lives of the Sardini Family ... hellish ... :)

The Sardini's own a large number of houses, and so you decide to move into each new house with the family, and keep scaring the CR@P out of them until they decide to flee, at which point you win the level, and move on !

Simple eh ?

GRAPHICS - 7/10

Definitely Megadrive graphics these, by which I mean they look dated by today's standards, but I can clearly recall being REALLY impressed by them when first I played the game. Polterguy as a character moves around like he's on roller-skates (very slick and very fluid), and whilst this can sometimes mean he bounces into items, the clipping is actually, if anything, over-the-top, insofar as you'll clip an item before you hit the sprite for it ? Which can make it interesting trying to move around the houses at high-speeds.

The animations when you have possessed an item and left it are nothing short of HILARIOUS at times, from the body in the washing machine in the garage to the martial artists that kick through the television in the lounge, there are HUNDREDS of individual animations that will keep you pleasantly entertained in this game for hours.

SOUND - 6/10

The music is really enjoyable, but the sound-effects do seem a bit muffled in places. They are decent quality for the Megadrive, but still, compared with how clear and enjoyable the music is on the ear, there are times when they (the sound effects) seem a bit lacklustre in comparison.

Having said that there is no shortage of them - in any room you enter there are sounds like you breaking glass, knives being thrown around, mechanical whirrings, people screaming, people wetting themselves, and so on.

So to sum these little beauties up, the sounds are plentiful and varied, but not of the highest quality.

CONTROLS - 8/10

Very simple and easy to work with - you just move Polterguy around, find an object you want to inhabit, click the appropriate button and in he jumps. Then click the button again to activate/leave the object and, depending on the colour of the aura around it, watch the magic unfold !

There are additional controls, such as when Polterguy "dies" in the main world and you leg it around a dungeon collecting ectoplasm-enough to resurrect yourself, or when he has to batter the doodoo out of ghouls that want to gobble-up his ectoplasm, but generally the controls are very simple to use, and quick to pick up.

PLOT - 8/10

I must give it credit for being innovative. I had never played a game like this before and, whilst the game's plot has been loosely borrowed for a much later-released title for the PC - Ghostmaster - it still stands out as a good example of how innovative video games plots' can be :)

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

Very enjoyable - I have never been one for practical jokes it must be said, but EVEN I really enjoyed making the lives of the Sardini family hell. They thoroughly deserve it for being such a bunch of punks, and Polterguy is a really likeable character when all's said and done.

The best parts of the game take place when you are at full-power and randomly running around, mass-infecting objects in a single room. This shows the game at its BEST. The worst points of the game come when you are rushing around, desperately trying to put together enough ectoplasm to last another 30 seconds or so - however it is a very simple title to get stuck into, and a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience to get out of it once you have.

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

Again, for its innovative plot and striking execution, I think this title's replay value will remain pretty high as time progresses. It will drop off a point or two in the fullness of time, but if you're anything like me, you'll come back to it from time to time just to have another splurge at making the Sardini family's lives that little bit darker.

VALUE FOR MONEY - 9/10

Given that you should be able to get it on the cheap these days, I think it's great value for money - it's simple to play, easy to get into, and as I said earlier, the animations are pure QUALITY - you can play it for hours and still get to no where NEAR infecting everything in the game.

OVERALL - 7/10 (This is NOT an average)

A good, solid, fun and enjoyable game to play. Who said being a ghost was boring ? Bring it on !! :)

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* Innovative plot
* Simple interface
* High-quality animations
* Should be cheap to pick up

MAIN BAD POINTS

* Clipping can sometimes be a bit of a bummer

SO SHOULD YOU GET IT ?

Yeah, no reason not to - it's a good quality game that boasts hours of gameplay and some absolutely hilarious little animations, not to mention fuelling your sense of retribution in helping Polterguy against the odious Sardini family :)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/07