Game: Ghosthunter Publisher: Namco Developer: SCEE Systems: PS2 N.A. Release Date: August 17, 2004 Score: 7.8 (Out of 10)

Ghosthunter Review

G HOSTHUNTER is a very odd game, and not very easy to define. One moment you will be laughing out loud at some of the intentionally funny dialogue and a few minutes later you will be squirming at some disconcertingly creepy sight. The gameplay itself unfortunately displays this same level of contrast; you will find yourself periodically amazed by the graphics, the clever boss battles, and the game’s undeniably high production values, while at the same time you will be grumbling in frustration about the bone-headed puzzles, some underdeveloped gameplay portions, and holes in the plot. In the end though, the impression you should be left with should be exceedingly positive. The game is gorgeous, clever, and endearing, with characters that you actually care about.

The setup for the game is admittedly goofy: rookie police detective Lazarus Jones and his partner Anna Steele are investigating a derelict school, which was scheduled to be torn down before the demolition crew was scared away by menacing noises and disembodied voices. Jones and Steele separate to give the school a cursory examination before they give the place an “all clear” for demolition. As naïve country boy Lazarus, you soon find a poorly hidden laboratory attached to the school’s sewer system. In it is a large machine with a weird looking interface that looks kind of like a 1950’s jukebox with a big, red, shiny button attached. Needless to say, Lazarus pushes the button, releasing a horde of spectral beasties from the machine, one of which, a pleasant and attractive mute blond lady called Astral, merges with Lazarus, giving him the ability to see ghosts. Another, far less pleasant ghost, a rotting spectral knight called Hawksmoor, kidnaps Steele and drags her away for as-yet-unspecified but undoubtedly nefarious purposes. Lazarus must now strap on the high-tech ghost hunting gear he finds in the lab start hunting the spirits he unleashed, find the Professor who made all of the equipment, and eventually save Steele before Hawksmoor can hatch his plan to rip down the barrier between the mortal world and that of the dead.

To do all of this, Lazarus must capture ghosts; not only does the energy of the lesser spirits power his new weapons, but he also released certain large and powerful ghosts (read: boss-monsters), whose energy is needed to power The Array, the ghost containment machine back at the lab. Lazarus can find various weapons, some of which are “normal” such as his handgun and shotgun, and some of which run off of ghost power, such as the Pulse Rifle and the Spectral Lasso. Almost all the enemies can be hurt by any of the weapons, but certain weapons work best on certain enemies. For example, the huge, lumbering Revenants take more damage from “physical” weapons, such as the Glock or the shotgun, while the floating, ghostly Spooks and their ilk take more damage from “spectral” weapons like the Pulse Rifle. Certain other enemies require trickery to capture, such as the invisible Poltergeists, which can only be seen when passing through smoke or falling water, or the Howler, which you must sneak up on and capture while it’s resting. Once you have damaged a ghost sufficiently, you capture it by throwing the boomerang-like Capture Grenade, which lodges itself in the enemy and sucks them up when their energy has been depleted, with a spectacular visual effect that never seems to get old. As fun as ghosthunting can be, the process is slowed down by the fact that you have to enter a “hunting mode” in order to battle the spooks, which is far slower than the normal exploring mode. One can assume they did this to keep the game from being too easy, but it feels a little artificial and can be frustrating when trying to track multiple spirits who are flying circles around you. But once you have gotten used to it, ghosthunting is fun and addictive.

Exploration, on the other hand, can be a bit of a chore, despite the fact that the levels are diverse and consistently interesting to look at. The problem is that certain tasks slow Lazarus way down, such as climbing stairs and especially wading through water, which is a painfully tedious process. Additionally, there are really not many items to find, other than occasional files to move the story along and oddly placed boxes of ammunition for your regular weapons. Another strange design choice was to have a context sensitive universal button for all actions, such as jumping, climbing, and clambering, which only functions in specific areas. Thus you can find your progress impeded by a waist high table you can’t climb over, forcing you to find an alternate route, while later on you can jump up and grab a ledge above your head to pull yourself up to the next level. The game is thus forced to be extremely linear, allowing very little deviation or exploration.

There is a similar problem with Astral’s part of the game. Astral can only be summoned at “spectral rifts” found in each level and used to open a path for Lazarus to continue. Strangely, Astral can fly, but not pass through objects or open doors. As Lazarus collects enough of a certain types of ghosts, Astral can learn those ghost’s special abilities, such as the Revenant’s ability to affect the physical world or the Poltergeist’s ability to throw items around. It is a very neat idea, but it is poorly executed. Only a couple are actually useful, and can only be used in very specific situations. For example, late in the game you learn to possess other ghosts, but only the ghosts they want you to use to solve the puzzles and move forward. In other cases, you will only use the ability once, right after you learn it, and then never again. Obviously, it was an idea that they had high aspirations for, but were unable to do anything with it.

Other than these couple of elements, everything else was top notch. The visuals are some of the best on the PS2, with neat special effects, great aesthetics, and diverse level design. The game alternates between wacky tongue-in cheek levels, such as the extremely funny ghost ship, to downright disturbing, like the island prison. At one point in the game you will be chatting up a British WWI Officer whose head is tucked under his arm, one of the most amusing characters I’ve seen in a game. But in another level you will face off against a twisted-looking little girl with a tattered teddy bear, who then transforms into a giant, decaying teddy-monster… who uses the corpse of the little girl as a club. The game seesaws between goofy and unsettling, but never feels lost or uneven. The game also does some amazing things with camera angles and visual tricks. At one point, when possessed by a murderer reliving his last moments, Lazarus shuffles down a hallway lit by flickering fluorescents. As the light flickers, so does reality; it flickers once, and we are looking at Lazarus, then as it flickers again it is the murderer, then Lazarus once again, all the way down the long hall as long-dead voices echo in his head. In another scene, Lazarus replaces the pieces of a torn painting, then steps through the frame into the twisted alternate world the picture portrays. The game is full of amazing, memorable moments like these. The dialogue and voice acting are similarly excellent, with veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen leading the cast as Lazarus. He infuses the character with so much sarcastic humor and goofy charm that he is truly likeable, seeming like the kind of guy you’d want to go out and get a beer with. Other cast highlights include movie actor Joe Morton as the genius Professor Richmond and Sir Michael frickin’ Gambon giving the game a touch of class as the imposing Hawksmoor.

In the end, it is GHOSTHUNTER’s personality and goofy charm that sets it apart from the pack. Though the game is creepy it is never really scary, but this doesn’t stop it from being one of the most fun, original, and memorable horror-related games in recent years. The game isn’t very long, and once you’ve beat it, there is little incentive to play it through again, but you may find yourself wanting to… just because. Though the game is not without its flaws, it is truly funny when it is supposed to be funny, creepy when it is supposed to be creepy, and endearing throughout. Here’s hoping that we haven’t seen the last of Lazarus Jones and his uniquely strange universe.