Ghosthunter

""It took you two shots. I need a partner that can do it in one.""

I enjoy all horror games, and when this first came out the ‘T' rating stopped me from purchasing it on its release date. I need my horror games to be ‘M' rated. But I was wrong with this game, and I'm not afraid to admit it. This game is actually good. It's only good once though, since the replay value is next to none. But if you love horror games, or games with ghosts, you should give this game a rental.

Presentation
The story behind the game is unique, and if a sequel could be made I'd like to play it. The ending for this game seemed a bit rushed, but it still worked into the storyline. For a ghost game, they didn't go the “Fatal Frame” route, which is good. I didn't want to use a camera to capture ghosts, I want to use weapons. I was worried that the ‘T' rating would make this game only for the kids, but the story and action in this title seemed to be aimed for kids, teens, and even adults.

Since ghosts don't have blood, or gore when you kill/capture them, I guess this is why they avoided an ‘M' rating. The ghosts seem to act like ghosts would in the real world, or at least they would if I was to imagine seeing them. The plot twists in the story are great to watch. Some moments in the story I wasn't expecting to see. I enjoy playing a game that isn't too obvious to the player as to what is going to happen next. 9/10

Graphics
To me, the graphics are awesome in the game. The videos that move the story along are also excellent to watch. The characters and levels have plenty of detail to them. The one moment in the game where I was stunned by the look of the game was when you fought this Alligator. I won't ruin the game, but this boss battle killed me several times just because I was admiring how the creature looked. I can't think of any complaints here. 10/10

Sound
Again, nothing to talk about here in the way of complaints. The music is very moody, and sets the scenes up very well. The voice acting is top notch. Each character sounds very convincing to their role. Your character that you use in the game was by far the best. Funny, serious, and sarcastic all at the right moments. 10/10

Gameplay
For a ghost hunting game, there is plenty of action here. You have a selection of weapons, from the normal (handgun, shotgun, grenade launcher) to the spirit variety (rifle, sniper's rifle). You use the weapons to weaken the ghosts and then trap them (like in the movie “Ghostbusters”) with a ghost grenade. After the level is done, you return to your base of operations and dump the ghosts into a holding tank. You can now view these ghosts, which is fun. Except that towards the end of the game, the last few levels skip this part, and you can't look at the captured ghosts anymore.

There isn't a map for the game, but most of the time it's clear as to which way you need to go. The problem that comes up, is when you need to do something to clear an area and you don't have any type of clue as to what needs to be done. You can spend several minutes trying to guess what needs to be done. I was only stuck on a few parts, but these parts had me trying a dozen of wrong possibilities, and then finding the right one.

Defeating the ghosts is fun, and some of them can be tricky. Some ghosts you can't see, or some of them are very fast. The boss battles are not that hard, but can be if you don't understand the pattern that they have. The final boss wasn't hard, as it was annoying. Having to kill several groups of ghosts, one after the other, and then finally being able to take out the main villain was a tiresome way to end the game. 8/10

Lasting Appeal
The game comes up short here. There is basically no replay value to the game. No new game with all guns, or infinite ammo. No videos, or extra costumes. Nothing. The game is sort of long, but after you've played it once, your second time will be much faster. The story is enough to maybe come back to in a year, but unless you really love this game, the replay value is zero. 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/20/05