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Ghosthunter Review
Derek dela Fuente
03/12/2003
From the guys who gave us 'Primal' comes a new action/adventure with the typically lavish presentation values...
The final few months of a games development are often said to be the most crucial, itâs where the final balancing issues are addressed, itâs where the little nuances and bugs are picked up â“ essentially itâs where the overall game is tinkered and tailored to perfection, or as near to it as they can get.
âGhostHunterâ is a classic example of this; our previous look at the title revealed a weak game, that was chock full of critical bugs, camera annoyances and glitches that just didnât hold up. Thankfully the team at SCEE Cambridge have eased all of our fears with the latest final build of âGhostHunterâ; it may not be the best action/adventure title youâll find on the Playstation2, but itâs certainly strong and with its own merits.
Assuming the role of Lazarus Jones, a young, idealistic Detroit Cop whose first patrol is about to go completely wrong. Whilst examining the local school, Lazarus mistakenly uncovers a secret supernatural research centre and inadvertently unleashes the ghosts stored in the facility upon the world. Lazurusâs partner, Anna Steel, is abducted by one of the fleeing ghosts, leaving him to clean up the mess left behind by the swarm of supernatural spirits and monsters enjoying their new found freedom and running amok on earth.
What this essentially boils down to is a traditional third-person action/adventure title, which places equal emphasis on combat and puzzles. The combat is largely more interesting then other titles of this type, simply because catching ghosts is quite a new prospect. Lazurus has access to a wide variety of standard and supernatural weapons that become available as you progress through the game; however these are not enough to put the Ghost down for good, in order to do that youâll have to chuck your grenade out when the Ghosts energy is low and confine him back to the array.
Within the first few moments youâll come across a âfriendlyâ spirit named Astral; Lazarus bonds with Astral, allowing the player to taking control of the spirit and any special abilities that she discovers. This aspect lends the traditional duo puzzle mechanics such as Astral being able to get to areas that Lazarus canât, but thankfully the system isnât as cumbersome as that featured in âPrimalâ.
Thankfully the control system and camera do an adequate job of keeping up with the action, although youâll find yourself frantically twitching the controls at times due to the high tempo of the action areas. Itâs a massive improvement upon the stilted controls seen in Team Cambridgeâ last PS2 title âPrimalâ, and thankfully the overall increase in action and tempo results in a much more exciting experience.
Without doubt the games strongest allure is the fantastic visuals and presentation, however youâd expect no different from the guys who gave us âPrimalâ. Utilising the engine that powered their previous Playstation2 game, âGhostHunterâ looks absolutely fantastic with crisp, sharp, detailed textures and a fantastic lighting system to truly enhance the suspense and tension. Whilst the human character models are massively impressive, itâs the ghosts that steal the show thanks to a fantastic artistic style and the depraved minds at Team Cambridge. The environments that youâll come across benefit from the developers being able to stretch their minds; as such youâll find yourself scouring the swamps of Louisiana to being onboard a sunken ship.
If there were one aspect that the development teams at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) certainly know inside out, then it would have to be in the presentation stakes. The likes of âThe Getawayâ, âPrimalâ and now âGhostHunterâ all feature fantastic cut-scenes that immerse the player through its high-production values and excellent use of technology; progressing to see what the story entails is the largest pull of the game and certainly one that keeps you glued to the seat until you finish the game.
