Ghosthunter

When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Ghosthunter! That?s right, I said, ?Ghosthunter.? Got a problem with that?

Ghosthunter is a Teen-rated take on the Silent Hill and Resident Evil series, incorporating aspects of horror, action, and stealth, but ending up being Ghostbusters-like with a cheesy cop-caper flair. Though it overtly deals with the supernatural, the scariest thing about Ghosthunter is that the main character, Lazarus Jones, sports Luke Perry's eyebrows and Ethan Hawke's goatee along with Brad Pitt?s attitude. Every time he's on screen, you feel like punching him. Nevertheless, you must help Lazarus solve murders and capture wayward poltergeists.

Are You the Gatekeeper?
Ghosthunter?s main flaw is that it fails to develop a cohesive and believable internal logic; abilities like astral projection are accessible only at specific locations and only useful in highly contrived situations. This leads to an excessively linear game experience, while some poorly designed levels leave the player without a sense of direction or focus. At times, you?re required to explore areas with no idea what you?re looking for. You must content yourself with wandering around and sticking your nose in every corner till you arbitrarily trip the next cinematic or find the ladder to the next area. Instead of good level design, Ghosthunter relies on cheap tricks like making all the rooms in an area look similar so it becomes difficult to develop a sense of direction. As there?s no map, it?s helpful to use spent shell casings as breadcrumbs.

Ectoplasmic Reticulum
One thing that Ghosthunter gets right most of the time is combat, which livens up levels where the puzzle, stealth, or plot elements lag. The controls are tight in third- and first-person modes, though the camera occasionally flips out in tight places and you cannot move when first-person view is on. Some of the ghosts are pretty awesome, especially a crocodile that attacks with a ?ghost chainsaw.? Ghosthunter?s soundtrack is sufficiently spooky, but the voice acting is a bit corny and the sound effects are generic. In places, the sound levels are unbalanced, making for dialogue that is too quiet or effects that are too loud.

If you?re too young for Silent Hill, Ghosthunter is a good Teen-rated alternative. It won?t instill mortal terror or keep you up all night.

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