"Who knew being dead could be so much fun!"

Ahaha!! I'll never forget when I first tried this game as a wee lad. I was… maybe a pre-teen? It's been some time so I don't remember. But I just know I never stopped laughing at this game's sick and twisted humor! It's great!

Story. Ok, going by memory here, so it may not be entirely accurate. Apparently a man by the name Vito Sardini runs a skateboarding factory, and issues the cheapest parts he can find to make these skateboards. Unfortunately, our anti-hero who goes by the name of Polterguy was mucking around with one the other day when it broke out underneath him, killing him. And now he's back from the dead as a ghost, ready to show Mr. Sardini and his family that they messed with the wrong customer – and oh how they did.
Story? 10/10

Graphics. They're good. Modest, but fulfilling. The rooms are typically square shaped like houses always are, and you can usually identify what and whose room you're in, be it a study room, kitchen, dining room, or even the garage. When frightems –as they're called- are activated, they look great. Funny as hell, sick as morbid humor can get, and the family members all have great reactions. Die laughing as the kids piss their pants in fear, or point and laugh when the parents drop their pants when scared. It's great! The animations overall are nice to look at, and I have nothing to complain over. The game was also the first to use a unique ¾ perspective, which basically looks like a camera hanging off the roof and tilting down slightly. The result is that rather than a typical side-scrolling affair, you can actually freely move about the room and go anywhere in it you please, greatly giving a dynamic feel to the rooms.
Graphics? 10/10

Sound. Simplicity is the word here. You have a typical set of quiet and spooky music, with different tracks that play back to back. The sound count is minimal, but again efficient. Everything has a nice touch to them, like a plane whirring, a maniac laughing or thumps in the wall. Chilling isn't it! The only complaint I have is that maybe the voices could have been a tad crisper. Don't get me wrong, they're full of life, just a bit muffled.
Sound? 9/10

Game play. What could be more fun than taking advantage of the house's ordinary everyday objects? You have things like dressers TVs and even walls at your disposal to frighten the Sardinis with. Here's what you do. Bring up the map to locate desired victim. Find this victim and when you do, start jumping into the objects to start spooking their pants off (or wet in some cases, heh.). Objects that shine a blue diamond sparkle means these items take time to load to take effect. The yellow shine indicates that the item is instant, and even if said victim is making a run for it, they'll stop and see what happens. Oh, and green shining frightems mean they're timed.

So how do we take advantage of them? Simple. Walk up to an item or wall and wait for it to start sparkling. When it does, hit the A button to dive in, then repeat to dive out. Rinse and repeat, and the fun takes off. When your victim is terrified, they run out the room (if you let them) leaving behind some ecto that pops up for you. Gobble it up, and your ecto bar is restored, though it depends on how much they leave – sometimes they leave one mere drop if they're that terrified and run right away. On top of that, sometimes a ghost head will get greedy and fight you over it, which you must kill if you don't want to go hungry.

Now, the goal of all this haunting is to pretty much drive them out of their cozy little nest, but you must be patient. Just because you just virtually traumatized them the first time doesn't mean they'll run straight to an exit door. You got to keep up until you notice them hiding out in a room with an exit from the house and eventually you'll drive them out. But beware, you must keep your ecto up to do this, or else….

Dungeons! Oh how I hate them! This is your punishment for running out of ecto, and so you depart to the dungeon to fill up on ecto again, which you also do in between houses. So here's how it works. You start at one side, picking up any gloopy ecto that drops from the ceiling, along with spells eventually, which we'll get to soon. Just make sure to avoid any fists, bats, vents and other things out to make your sentence in the dungeons miserable, as that's the official way to lose health and die – though you can recover from picking an item that partially recovers it, thank heavens. After all the drops are consumed, you go back to the house you're haunting, and resume.

Ah and the five spells. One to tank up your ecto if running low, another to distract that bastardly pooch of the family, one that makes a present to spook them with, a fireball throwing spell, and, my favorite, the spell that turns a sardine into a zombie for a short while. Great for if you're feeling cruel. So all on all, it's a long game, but scaring those evil Sardinis is one satisfying romp! Enjoy!
Gameplay? 10/10

Replay. Well, you won't finish it the first go, so you'll be at it for a while. After that though, the show's over. The animations get tiring to laugh at, and it gets easy once you play it several times over.
Replay? 7/10

Overall, we'll give it 9 out of 10. Brilliant Game…

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/10/06