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Ghost Master - Hands On Preview
Derek dela Fuente
23/03/2004
The popular Pc title is heading to the consoles; take a peek as we enjoy an early look...
Empire Interactive is one of those publishers which is constantly striving to bring new and inventive gaming ideas to fruition and none more so than Ghost Master, a wonderful idea that sprung from the brain cells of Greg Barnett, who has a track record as impressive as anyoneās in the video gaming community (He was part of Teeny Weeny who brought us the Discworld games!) The console version has been passed on to a new development team, Spiral House, to rectify a couple of the minor flaws apparent in the PC offering, which was released last year to some great reviews and plaudits.
There are so few games that really offer up gameplay that is not only original but āmoreishā. Even the background story to the game has its own appeal.
As the title suggests it sees the player take control of a collection of outlandish Ghosts along with some wicked powers and you must master and harness them to the best effect! By devious manipulation of their powers, along with strategic cunning, your intended targets, mere āmortalā humans, will be scared senseless! Yes, it turns around a pretty basic set of every day values and looks at it from an alternative perspective. Instead of playing the Ghostbuster you now play the heartless baddy - Ghosts and ghouls, in dark moody scary locations and a whole host of shenanigans. Itās dastardly and well-designed settings result in a playful spectacular with unearthly occurrences that will have you on the edge of your seat!
Most console gamers would not have seen or played the PC version and so, as they say, we shall start from the beginning! Via the controller you can move and place the set of Ghosts around the desired location. Their powers - plasm is the resource ā“ the energy source, is expended when using a power, which will be executed when scaring the Mortals. The aim is to scare and win sole occupation, thus ridding the place of the Mortal residents! Who wants to live with slobs like Mortals?
If itās about the manipulation and placing of the Ghosts, it also goes hand in hand with a number of tasks and puzzles. The positive aspect is that the more effective you spook the Mortals the more plasm you will have to play havoc on their adrenaline reserves.
Itās certainly not all about floating around rooms, making silly noises, no, itās about clock watching, using the rights powers and using the mentality of the out of this world forms you control! Conversely, with a big contradiction, the word BOO and some shrieking and thunderclaps are employed by the Ghosts as their ammo but it is done with such style that any silliness never manifests itself.
It is also about understanding a set of parameters and onscreen meters that will aid a successful experience!
Ghost Master is hard to pigeonhole and although it may look a bit like The Sims, it is more of a mix of some deep strategy ideas and action. The action being, you doing it and the Mortals wetting themselves!
Ghost Master features an excellent tutorial that will help move you into the game with consummate ease and assist you to organize yourself for the challenges to come. The vagaries of a preview are more about the ideas and the general feel of the game as to being overly positive or damming about what is on offer.
Now being a Ghost is far from easy and scaring the **** out of humans isnāt straightforward. Some resourceful and well-crafted AI ensures that Mortals have a good repertoire of reactions from running away to standing on the spot and screaming their lungs out! As you would come to expect the scope for the team to create some wicked scenarios, together with a whole host of effects and audio ear piercing, body-chilling sounds, has been worked into the game delightfully!
There is a number of Ghost types, which have alternative names. A Chase Ghost will chase Mortals, scaring and lowering their health. The Tamper Ghosts, will mess with things, which in turn scares them, which will have a demoralising effect on the Mortals! An Attract Ghost, as it names implies, attracts Mortal to a particular Area and Mind Ghosts, youāve guessed, play with their minds and also lower Mortals health. The Resist Ghost lowers a Mortalās resistance. Ghosts also move in many and mysterious ways, from being able to teleport to moving through walls and floors but that is pretty standard ā“ eh! There is also a list of movements to guide the Ghosts around and also icons depicting the well being of the Ghosts and Mortals, plus other information panels.
Nothing is every that straight forward for a Ghost as Witches, Mediums, Priests and Shamans will make life complicated with a possible banishment into limbo for a set time ā“ so watch out, make sure you are not detected - plus other inconveniences!
We donāt want to spoil the party by giving away too much of the game but positioning is a very important aspect of haunting and hunting out the Mortals!
Success in Ghost Master depends a great deal on how well you combine all the available skills and abilities of your Ghosts. There is a great deal of parameters to mess with which include manipulating objects within the physical world, which radically influences the behaviour and conviction of humans. The only factor that remains pretty constant is that actions will require āloadsā of Plasm.
The 3D design and layout of the levels are impressive and inventive which add great diversity to Ghost Master. The camera modes and movements are as slick as you could ever wish for! Some intersting rooms and locations make you want to play and play just to find out what is offered next up and like the best designs, what is new, always managed to top what you have just experienced.
It is perhaps the detail, an over used terms in gamesā reviews and previews, that really impresses and shines through, along with some of the themes. All you film buffs may well spot similarities to some well-known movies!
The real topping to this game, apart from a superb tutorial, is the comfort feeling the game conveys which means you just canāt help but like it from the moment you load up! Itās fun, very very strategy focused but spiced with humour and appeal. It has the best old-fashioned 8 bit game values but the very latest in terms of look, feel and challenge.
