Not to be confused with the 1984 comedy starring Bill Murray and the SyFy Network series starring
a couple of plumbers and a cute brunette�wait, she�s not on the show anymore, then why
am I watching?�it�s Ghosthunter, singular, for the PlayStation 2.
Pfft. No Kris Williams? No Ghost Hunters.
Now, this probably won�t surprise you, but I was a GameCube guy. So I didn�t have a
PS2, and I didn�t really keep up with all 12 million of its games. There were almost
too many PS2 games�how�d you guys even manage that? We didn�t have that problem
with the GameCube. And we didn�t have Ghosthunter. This was a PS2 exclusive developed by one
of Sony�s internal teams and released in 2004.
With hype as big a hundred-foot marshmallow man.
Although, I�ve gotta tell you...this one�s a bit melty.
And speaking of Ghostbusters, that�s basically the entire premise of Ghosthunter. You play
as a newbie cop named Lazarus. He�s investigating this abandoned building when he stumbles across
a strange room with a strange...thing. And of course, he turns the thing on. Actually,
he turns off the protection grid, basically.
And, uh...well, you know what happens next.
Cue the Mick Smiley, �cause our prisoners have been released.
So Lazarus sets out to capture ghosts. With an energy gun and a trap. I�m not even kidding.
Although, to be fair, they are a bit different. Lazarus has an actual gun, not a beam. And
his trap is a so-called �grenade,� but all it really is is a Ghostbusters trap turned
into a boomerang. You throw it, it sticks on the ghosts and if you can drain enough
of their energy, the grenade sucks them up and it flies back to you.
And that�s awesome.
And that�s the thing. There�s so much about Ghosthunter that�s just...awesome.
The premise is fun, the graphics are spectacular for a PS2 game...even the voice acting is
great. Lazarus is actually voiced by Rob Paulsen, who you might remember as Pinky from the Animaniacs.
And more noticeably, Raphael from the original Ninja Turtles cartoon. So not only is Lazarus
cool, he�s also crude.
So listen, there�s a lot to like about Ghosthunter. I wanted to love this game. But the thing
is, all that good stuff? It�s hollow, because the game at the core of Ghosthunter isn�t
nearly as interesting or well done. In fact, the scariest thing in this game is the camera,
which really struggles to keep up with the action. Speaking of the action, though...that�s
probably where Ghosthunters disappoints the most.
There are basically two elements to the gameplay. Moving and shooting. You can run simply by
holding down the X button, and when it�s time to shoot, tap the circle button to bring
out your gun. That�s where things get clunky. Lazarus is really slow when his guns are out.
That�s understandable, but...a lot of the battles require movement. So you�re constantly
tapping buttons to switch between the run and combat modes.
It�s just way too slow and cumbersome of a system.
And you know, one thing that kind of bothered me is the game�s mood. It�s like it can�t
decide if it wants to be creepy and atmospheric...or funny, and light-hearted. You can do both�Ghostbusters
did it flawlessly. But when Ghosthunter tries it, it just comes across as confused and ineffective.
There�s no singular, coherent vibe here. Just disparate ideas that never really come
together.
Ghosthunter was released to some seriously mixed reviews, but what it really comes down
to is...great style, disappointing substance. This isn�t a bad game by any means, but
when the style is this good, you kind of expect gameplay to match. Ghosthunter never quite
gets there, stuck instead in a kind of hazy limbo.
Somewhere out in the fog, you can see a great game.
But with Ghosthunter, you never quite get to it.
Thanks to our friend Sean from Pacifica, CA, for sending it in.