ravynwolfe's Full Review: Ghost Master for Windows, Mac
Ghost Master is probably the most unique and imaginative game I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. It’s innovative, fun, and loads of laughs. Years ago, I went to GameStop just to browse the shelves, and this game caught my eye. It was the only copy in the store, and I ALMOST didn’t buy it. I’m glad I’ve got this insatiable impulse-buying issue though, because this game is incredible! (At the time of this posting, Epinions had the wrong graphic for the game.)
INSTALLATION:
Easy install, the CD takes care of it all for you. Click past the prompts and depending on your processor speed, you’ll be scaring the be-geebus outta mortals in no time. The specs are very low compared to the most current games out there.
Minimum
Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
Pentium III 450 or equivalent
128 MB RAM
Video Card: NVIDIA TNT2 3D card or higher
750MB free hard disk space
DirectX 8.1
Mouse and keyboard
Recommended
Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
Pentium 4 1.5 Ghz
ATI Radeon 7500/NVIDIA GeForce2 3D card
256MB RAM
WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT:
You have just been recruited by the Haunter Committee. You begin your haunting career in tutorial mode, Haunting 101 as the scenario is called. You’ll be taught all the basics of haunting (the how and why), controlling your haunters, how to use fetters, how to best scare mortals as a whole and individually, and how to use your plasm wisely.
There are 14 scenarios, each with multiple solutions and hours of hilarious scares. You’re treated to more than 40 types of spirits to command such as: Tricksters, Hordes, Elementals, Apparitions, Sandmen, Specters, Wraiths, Manes, Wights, Headless Horsemen, etc etc etc. Each type has it’s own set of unique basic powers and a full list of special powers you can train later on.
LEARNING CURVE and GAME PLAY:
Thanks to the fun tutorial, you jump right into the game and learn to play AS you play. It’s very forgiving, easy to follow, and even lets you replay the tutorial until you’ve got it right. You can even skip the tutorial if you want, and still get to play that scenario without the teacher watching over you.
The controls are intuitive and many of them have shortcuts. You have several levels and angles in each scene, and some of the later ones have a frustrating and challenging amount of rooms to keep watch over! Zoom, rotate, change levels from roof to basement and everything in between, you name it, you can do it.
You’ve got the freedom to choose which haunters you want to use, or use the ones the game suggests. The combos are nearly endless as you move through the scenarios and unlock more ghosts. The one thing that really bothers me is the inability to use certain super high level haunters in the very earliest scenarios (using the Revisit menu.) I understand WHY they did it, but I still don’t like it. I’d LOVE to blow the minds of the Haunting 101 girls with the coolest ghost in the game, The Headless Horseman.
The more you use certain haunters, the better trained they become. The better trained they are, the more complex orders they can understand. For example, my all-time favorite haunter is named Shivers. I use him in nearly every scenario. Because I use him so much, he can have up to 5 orders at a time and I don’t have to constantly watch to make sure he’s behaving. He can do things like follow a particular mortal (or TYPE of mortal, like men only, or children only)and only use his powers if a certain person comes in the room, or bench himself if danger is approaching. Levels of training are: Wild (one basic order at a time), Untrained (2 basic orders), House Broken (3 orders, some a little more complex) Domesticated (4 complex orders), and Trained (5 complex orders).
You can revisit scenarios you’ve already completed, to try and beat your own high scores. You earn Gold Plasm by beating high scores and accomplishing certain tasks in each scenario, and then get to spend it in the Ghoul Room (for teaching your haunters new powers!)
GRAPHICS:
Even for an older game, the graphics are really good. You get nice details on your haunters if you scroll in close, and the cut-scenes are well animated. The game doesn’t get choppy or ugly, doesn’t pixelize (fall apart piece by piece) and doesn’t skip. It isn’t ground-breaking, but it’s really good.
SOUNDS and MUSIC:
Listen to the puny mortals scream as you send your haunters after them. Hear the music on the boombox in the living room, the running water in the shower, the sounds of your haunters moaning and wailing or sending a deafening cacophony to pierce the mortals’ souls. The sound effects are great, no shortcuts there! The music is fun, nonintrusive, and changes as gameplay advances. The voice-overs are great. I love the guide’s voice, he sounds all creepy and ghostly, just like he should!
REPLAY VALUE:
I’ve had this game for four years and have never taken it off my computer. I pick it up and replay it for months on end even though I’ve beaten it countless times. I’d say this game has one of the BEST replay values of any game I”ve ever played. I keep trying to beat my own high scores, work on the best solutions and fastest times, and getting the most condensed and useful team of haunters ever.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
You’ll love the sense of humor in Empire Interactive’s highly underrated game, and the tribute to great movies such as Evil Dead, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and the Goodfellas. Jokes aplenty in the voice-overs and even the names and bios of the ghosts and the mortals you’ll be scaring. It’s challenging without being too hard, and a blast no matter how much time you have to play. Heck, sometimes I log in for ten minutes just to scare the life out of a few sorority girls before I go to bed.
RECOMMENDED FOR:
The box says Teen, but I think kids of about 11 could easily enjoy this game. They may not get all the jokes and movie references that adults would, but they’ll have a blast scaring people. It’s not gory or violent and it isn’t scary since YOU’RE in control. Buy this. Now.
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