Haunting Starring Polterguy

"A Great Game, at first..."

I'm very divided on this game.
On one hand, it's one of the most innovative Genesis games ever, and has a great style of graphics(if not great graphics in and of themselves). Even the gameplay in fun, in a crazy cant-die kinda way. A story would have been nice, but instead we're stuck with some lame-o tripe about some punker's ghost is enacting revenge on some selfish family. Whatever. At least it doesnt get in the way of the gameplay.

Gameplay is this game's strong point, after innovation. Basically, the point of the game is to scare a family out of their house, by posessing pieces of furniture, wall hangings, etc. Then, when someone walks near it, something weird happens(a fish tank fills with blood, a ninja comes off a poster and attacks with a sword, etc.), and the person emits a cute little scream. This is easily one of the coolest things you can do in any game. Literally ANYTHING can be ''set'', since these things are essentially ''traps''.
That said, my gripe lies in the iffy control, and the length of the game.

Now, I realize that you are controlling a ghost, but the controls are a little too slippery for my taste. However, it's very easy to posses something, as when you are close enough to something, it emits a little green glow thats hard to explain.

There's a strange quality of randomness in the game, but not the good kind that would boost replay value. Noooo! The thing is, there's no way to control WHERE the people run to when you scare them. You are trying to make them run out the door, and I nearly went insane with rage when one ran deep inside the house, and I was nearly out of slime. AAAAHHHHH!

Also, the game has only about three levels, not counting the psuedo-dungeon you have to go to when you run out of slime(slime being used to set traps), but those are too short to bother with. I reached the final boss within three hours, and that's just not a great value.

In short, this is a very fun, if slightly flawed and rather short game, that I recommend to anyone, if you can pick it up for a couple bucks. I personally played the game for only one day, but it was fun while it lasted.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/24/02, Updated 01/24/02