Gritty and
mature aren’t exactly the right words to describe a great deal of games designed
exclusively for the GameCube, but that doesn’t mean our favorite cube isn’t
without its collection of rare gems like Resident Evil Zero or Eternal
Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. If anything these GameCube exclusives turned out
to be excellent alternatives to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
or Luigi’s Mansion and give gamers hope that the system is still
capable of bringing older gamers more mature games before Nintendo’s Revolution
hits stores. Joining these mature games is Geist, a ghost story with guns
and one of the reasons you’ll love your GameCube.
Geist’s
story revolves around John Raimi, a specialist in biological and chemical
threats, who leads a team of armed agents into the secret facilities of the
Volks Corporation. Deep in this Southern France facility, you are sent to
retrieve a viral sample the Center for Disease Control thinks might be a
dangerous contagion that could threaten the world if misused. Yet during a
standoff against Volks security, John Raimi and his team are killed. The story,
though, doesn’t end here. Raimi wakes up to discover that he’s a floating
specter that is taught (by the ghost of a little girl named Gigi) how to possess
the bodies of living beings as well as certain objects. As a spirit you attempt
to finish your mission and discover the truth behind the Volks Corporation’s
experiments.
In the beginning
of the game you’re introduced to the game’s weakest aspect – the first-person
shooter element. The good news is that the shooting action isn’t complex. In
fact, it’s pretty basic with strafe, duck, fire and jump moves that should make
the game flow quickly. Instead, the controls feel awkward to the point that
moving and aiming becomes a clumsy task. Sure you can change the control scheme
but both settings just don’t make the shooting any easier or smoother like
Metroid Prime. To make matters worse, the framerate drops during the more
intense battles making the game stutter a bit. Thankfully this problem doesn’t
get bad enough that it gets too annoying.
It is after your
physical death that the game makes a complete 360 turn into a new and
interesting territory. As an energy-based being you are shown how to take
possession of a living being but you just can’t snatch a living body right away.
First the person or creature in question has to go through an emotional change
and, in this case, fright is your biggest ally. Scaring a subject of interest is
one of the many puzzles in the game and what makes this game such a treat. A
janitor mopping the floor of an area you want to get through so you take
possession of a telephone and make it ring to the point that the janitor picks
it up only to hear frightful cries. You see the janitor’s aura go from white to
yellow to red. It is when a subject’s aura is red that you get to jump into the
janitor’s body. The fun thing is that the game encourages you possess people,
animals and objects because if you don’t your energy drains away.
Possession is
what Raimi does best and that’s Ok because the Geist allows you to jump
into the living breathing bodies of rats, for example, and you’ll not only get
to move around like a rat but also get a peek at how a rat perceives the world
around it. Snatch the body of a security guard and blast away at fellow
co-workers if you want or simply use the body to perform a number of tasks such
as convincing others to unlock that security door to the north. It’s far more
entertaining than possessing dinner plates, of course, but you get the picture
of what this game is trying to accomplish and what the game manages to pull off
successfully.
Then again the
game runs into a few more faults along the way and one of them just happens to
be the AI. Enemies don’t really respond to threats as quickly as they should; in
fact, they tend to react once you start shooting at them. Had the controls been
a lot better gamers would have easily zipped through each fight without much
trouble at all. Even the boss fights don’t really add much. It’s also a bit
frustrating that you can float right through a regular crate but not an
explosive crate or a simple grate. Had these things been remedied, this game
could have been something amazing. At least the game tosses in extras such as
the multiplayer mode. Here you and up to four friends can take each another on
in Possession Death Match, Capture the Host or Hunt. You can even play alone
using bots in place of friends but the game plays far better when you’re
attempting to capture a host body and use it to shoot down friends.
Visually,
Geist is not a bad-looking GameCube game and there are times when the
graphics do improve (especially once Raimi becomes a ghost). There are great
lighting effects that give the rather drab environments some personality but
it’s the game’s great visual effects that steal the show. Float past a mirror
and Raimi can check out his ghost form, his ghostly body crackling with energy.
When possessing objects and people we’re treated to a quick cutscene of Raimi
seizing control of said object or person. The other cool part is that not every
creature looks at the world the same way. It’s neat stuff indeed and it will
make you ignore the not-so-good character models.
The sound, on
the other hand, doesn’t make the same impression as the visuals. Sure there’s a
pretty decent soundtrack that plays throughout the game and the voice acting
during cutscenes is even better. Strangely enough, the dialogue during the game
is text with a few snippets of spoken words tossed in at the beginning of each
conversation. Much like the visual effects in the game, the sound effects do a
marvelous job of making you feel like you’re ghost. You’ll hear the soft
giggles of Gigi, the little girl ghost, before you even see her. You’ll hear the
crackling of energy as you drain the life from a plant.
Fun, original
and edgy, Geist is an action-packed ghost story that attempts go well
beyond the usual shoot-um-up fare. It’s a rare blend of bullet-fueled action and
puzzle-solving that involves spiritual possessions of souls and objects. Sure
it’s not perfect and the shooting elements can be a bit awkward, but this is
still a fun game with a lot to offer gamers looking for a mature title
overflowing with originality.
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Gameplay: 8.2
Possessing
objects and people as a ghost is one of the most rewarding and unique
experiences that truly pushes the envelope gameplay-wise. The first-person
shooter elements, though, are second-rate compared to other original shooters on
the GameCube like Metroid Prime. Still, the game’s best elements
overshadow the weak spots.
Graphics: 7.8
Geist
might not show off some spectacular graphics when it comes to the characters and
the environments but the visual ghost effects are dazzling and impressive. The
cutscenes are nicely done, although when it comes to the framerate you’ll
encounter the occasional stutter when the action gets fierce or the area becomes
busy with activity.
Sound: 7.5
Sound-wise you
can expect a pretty decent soundtrack and cutscenes with good dialogue. The
in-game dialogue though is text with the exceptions of a few phrases that you’ll
hear often during conversations. The shooting, explosions and ghostly sounds of
Raimi possessing a body are done pretty well.
Difficulty:
Medium
The enemy AI
is able to respond to strange occurrences realistically enough but when it comes
to fighting they’re as skilled at tactics as the Keystone Cops are (which is a
bad thing, in case you don‘t know). Some don’t even respond until you open fire
while others find cover behind chain link fences. Boss fights add some degree of
difficulty but not by very much.
Concept: 8.5
There’s a lot
to like about a game that first starts off as your usual first-person shooter
game and ends up being a game where you’ll possess everything from a telephone
to a top-level janitor. Best yet is the fact that Geist does all of this
perfectly. The multiplayer component is also a great feature that can be played
with a group of friends or against the computer. Either way this is a neat
package that offers a lot interesting goodies.
Multiplayer:
8.0
With
interesting twists in the usual multiplayer deathmatch mode, you’ll wish the
GameCube had online capabilities. You can play this one with up to four friends
or you can play against seven CPU-controlled bots, but either way you’re in for
a good time whether you’re playing through Capture the Host Hunt.
Overall: 8.0
Flaws aside,
Geist is one of those refreshingly original titles with a lot to offer
gamers searching for something fun and unique for their GameCube. Sure it’s a
first-person shooter but it’s also a game that strives to offer something
different and different is what we get here. Do yourself a favor and pick this
one up if you’re interested in a more mature-minded action game for your
GameCube.
