Ghost Master – PC – Review

Here at GameZone.com, we
like to relate to Ray Parker Jr. by proudly stating “we ain’t ‘fraid of no
ghosts”. That’s why I was happy to sit down and review the new game by Empire
Interactive called Ghost Master for the PC. While most supernatural themed games
have you combating evil spirits like Silent Hill or the old 80’s movie
“Ghostbusters”, or running like heck from them in games like Fatal Frame, Ghost
Master instead takes a similar plot twist theme along the lines of the old Sega
Genesis title The Haunting : Starring Polterguy or even the more recent Dungeon
Keeper. Basically, you are the “bad guy” in command of the creepy critters in
this game, and your goal is to become the Ghost Master.

The game is a single player
only experience in which you play as the apprentice Ghost Master in environments
that reminded me of games like The Sims and played out in RTS fashion. One of
your higher ups narrates and also gives you direction on what your objectives
are in any of the 15 different levels to play in, a lot of which usually revolve
around scaring everyone in the area that you are in or maybe only one person in
particular, and both turned out to be quite challenging and fun. Many missions
provide even more of a fun challenge by actually causing you to balance scaring
mortals with keeping them around to use them to your advantage, which causes you
to learn how to play one ghosts power off of another. These missions can be
things like helping mortals find a book to resurrect a demon or having them help
find the remains of a restless spirit (a ghost which is tethered to the mortal
realms and cannot enter the land of the dead) who will join your team once the
body is discovered. 

In order for you to scare
the pants off of someone or cause a dim witted human to be lured into an area
that they normally wouldn’t visit, you’re going to need an army of creepy
critters, or “haunters”. In order for haunters to be bound into the material
world or use their powers, you need plasma. By scaring people, your plasma meter
will fill up which allows you to perform these functions, and the higher it goes
the more spirits you can have roaming around at once or the more powerful their
scaring tactics will become. For example, even with low plasma you might be able
to put out a creepy, convulsing, straightjacketed character named Shivers. Since
plasma is low, he may only be able to use a lower scaring power like Fear, which
causes a person walking by him to get frightened all of the sudden. As he and
his dead pals keep scaring people, your meter may eventually fill up enough for
him to perform a stronger technique that will actually make him appear to
someone which of course scares the heck out of them. Honestly, it probably would
me too. Mortals have three areas to watch … Terror, Madness, and Belief. People
with low belief don’t scare too easily and are more challenging, but either way
once the terror meter has filled up they will usually flee the scene screaming
the whole way down the street. Madness of course makes them go crazy once it has
filled up, but can also prove useful in making the voices in their heads tell
them to do weird things.

There are actually six
different types of haunters that you can use in Ghost Master, each with certain
abilities that make them unique and useful to certain situations. Sprites
provide disturbance type scares and are low cost, Disturbances offer more
interesting tactics, like chasing people or making creaking footsteps,
Elementals use nature powers to create things like rain, thunder, tremors or
fire, Vapors have influence over emotions and madness, Frighteners are high in
plasma cost but have really powerful abilities like exposing the fears of
mortals (Shivers is a Frightener), and Horrors … or “shock haunters”, which use
more gory or brutal tactics and are used for the really tough jobs like
appearing and ripping themselves in half to really freak someone out. Each has a
certain area that they can be bound too (called “fetters”), like appliances,
beds, carpets, or even some to children, which makes it important to pick your
scare team wisely prior to going into a mission. As you use the haunters more,
they will also get better trained which will allow you to issue them orders like
“Don’t use your powers unless a mortal is nearby” and issue multiple different
commands. In addition, each mission will reward you with gold plasma for mission
time, screams, scares, and things like that which can be used to upgrade your
current haunters and give them better powers to use.

Ghost Master isn’t all about
just scaring the heck out of people though, and the strategy aspect using the
ghosts themselves in the game is what really impressed me the most. For example
(this is not an actual one since I don’t want to spoil anything), let’s say that
a Restless Spirit is trapped in a locked closet with stacked boxes in front of
it, and the only way she can get out is to possess someone through the keyhole.
Well, you can use a haunter that can perform a tremor to knock the boxes down,
then bench him and bind a haunter close to the closet door that can use an
“Obsess” ability (this will lure mortals to the area that the ghost is bound
to). Once the affected mortal comes by the closet door and stops to check out
what they were obsessed in, you can tell the Restless Spirit to perform their
“Possess” ability to not only get out of the closet, but to break their bind to
the mortal world and become part of your team. These kinds of things are found
all throughout the game, and many are a lot more challenging than that example.

Another great feature of
this game is the mission varieties to mix up the action and the open-ended style
of gameplay throughout a few Acts. The majority of the locations have
recognizable horror movie themes that they are based on, like Evil Dead or
Amityville Horror, and each act will usually begin with two or three of these
locations that you can pick from up front. Beating one will open up another one
or two, and you select how you want to go about playing them. If one mission
seems to be a little difficult, try another one. One of the ghosts that you need
to be more effective in the stage that you are having some issues with may be
the one that needs freeing in the other stage and so on.

Really, the only thing that
I had a complaint about in Ghost Master is the fact that you can’t save the game
in the middle of a mission. Some of these are pretty long due to a large group
of people that need scaring or may have a few missions that you have to go
through, so if you have to stop playing while in the middle of a haunting then
you will have to go in and do the whole stage over again. This wasn’t a major
annoyance for me though, but did cause some “later than expected” evenings of
staying up for me.

Graphically, Ghost master
looked really good. The stages are colorful, creative and were populated with
more than enough fetters to be found in each creepy locale to make for some
effective haunting strategies. The ghost models themselves ranged from sort of
silly, like an organ grinder monkey, to more disturbing things like spirits with
half of their face missing or strapped into electric chairs. Either way, they
were all done well, and each one had its own distinct look and actions even if
it was from the same haunter class. One of the most impressive features to me
though was the ability to use a “point of view” feature on your unsuspecting
victims which would place you into an FPS viewpoint from their eyes so you could
actually see your ghosts pop out of the darkness, materialize from a shallow
grave, or watch things fly around the room as they would actually see it. You
can also POV with your haunters too, which can help you time your power usage
and whatnot to make sure that you were being more effective.

The sound to Ghost Master
was also really good, with some really corny and goofy voices and accents being
used for the ghosts and some creepy but somewhat comical music tracks as well.
The effects used in things like the shrieking of the spirits or dark laughter
coming from a disturbance sounded like the things you would hear in a horror
movie, and the screams of your victims as they ran out of the area were
satisfying.

Overall, Ghost Master was
definitely a creative and addicting game for me personally. While it sounds in
parts of this review like it’s a terrifying and gory experience, it’s actually
presented in more of a comical fashion like the movie Ghostbusters was. While
some of the images may frighten younger gamers, the redneck or whiny ghost
voices and comical looking nature of some of them balance it out so it’s not too
bad in that fashion. While there may not be a need for some players to go back
and play it a second time, except to unlock restless spirits you may have missed
or try to get a better haunt time, it provides a good amount of up front gaming
time and enough enjoyment that I can definitely see myself going back to do it
again. Without a doubt, this is one heck of a creative and fun game that can
provide a great addition to your PC library.  

Gameplay: 8.9
Easy camera
control, good mix of objectives, and an open ended play style make this an easy
game to get into. The big number of haunters, unique powers, and overall
strategy elements really made this a lot of fun and it probably won’t be beaten
in a weekend either. Missions can be replayed if needed to unlock ghosts you may
have missed, and there are a lot of solutions to each stage depending on your
haunting style that allows you more control over which haunters you want to use.

Graphics: 9.0
The environments
were very well detailed and usually contained areas with multiple floors and
levels, and the inhabitants of those areas moved around going about their daily
routines of watching TV or working or whatever. You can go into an FPS viewpoint
of both your ghosts and your victims, which made it fun to watch as one of your
haunters would leap out and scare someone or you got to watch an entire room
ignite on fire from out of nowhere. There were also some great lighting effects
and multicolored lightning style plasma powers that emanated from the ghosts as
they used their powers.

Sound: 8.9
Excellent effects
like the shrieking and moaning of the various haunters that you could use, and
some pretty funny voiceovers for the ghosts themselves which helped to tone down
even some of the creepier looking ones. The music also wasn’t bad, and had a
“Munsters” kind of appeal to it to set the tone for a creepy, but lighter style
kind of ghost game.

Difficulty: Medium
It can be
difficult at times to solve the riddles being given to you by the various ghosts
that need you to free them or to avoid mortals that can banish ghosts, but with
a little creativity, or maybe by trying a different level, goals were usually
accomplished while some spirits were freed on a second or third try. The ease of
gameplay helps in this too though, since you can focus on trying to accomplish
objectives vs. trying to figure out game mechanics.

Concept: 9.2
While it reminded
me of other similar titles that I have played in the past, Ghost Master
definitely provides it’s own style and flare to set it apart from not only some
predecessors … but also from most of the games that are out nowadays with
similar styles. I really didn’t have anything to complain about, and was pretty
surprised at how addictive it turned out to be for me personally.

Overall: 9.0
Yes, I am
awarding a coveted 9.0 GZ score to Ghost Master for a couple of reasons. First
off, it was extremely simple to get into and play. Secondly, it was very
innovative, and third, it was a heck of a lot of fun to play. While it doesn’t
have a multiplayer mode to it, it has a lot of good initial gameplay to make you
feel that it was a warranted purchase, and it’s one of those games that I can
see myself going back and playing again even after being beat. Ghost Master may
not have gotten as much hype as games like Everquest or a new Warcraft
expansion, but it’s worth every bit as much recognition as those titles in my
opinion. RTS fans or gamers who enjoyed titles like The Haunting on Sega or
Dungeon Keeper should definitely look at picking this up, and it’s a fun and
entertaining addition to a PC game library.