• ID = PS0320
• STYLE = Survival Horror
• DEV. = Namco Ltd.
• PUB. = Namco Hometek, Inc.
• R-DATE = Aug-17-2004
• ESRB = T / For Teen
• PLAYERS = 1 Player
• LIST PRICE = $49.99
  

From the Manufacturer
History is alive with tales of ghosts, specters and phantoms whose anguished cries rarely escape to the mortal plane. And rarely are the living able to commune with the dead.

A late-night disturbance call leads Lazarus Jones of the Detroit Police Department to an abandoned school, the site of a gruesome multiple murder some 10 years past. What should have been a routine visit becomes a disaster of supernatural proportions when hordes of malevolent, demonic spiritsÑtortured souls imprisoned for eons and lusting for vengeanceÑare accidentally unleashed. Man-made weapons will barely keep the demons at bay; only through mastery of the paranormal will Jones be able to hunt down and capture the howling fiends before they destroy the world of the living.

Features:

• Nightmarish, suspenseful storyline and cinematic visuals unite with intense 1st and 3rd-person shooter combat for an action-horror experience of the highest caliber.
• Chilling Òhaunted and huntingÓ gameplayÑ-stalk, battle and capture the vengeful spirits of the undead.
• Roam freely across a vast and sinister phantasmagorical landscape. Explore macabre locales like a clandestine research lab, a sunken ship and a demon-infested swamp.
• Arm yourself with a vast array of both earthly and paranormal weapons and items, from pistols and combat shotguns to ghost lassos, spirit capture grenades and spectral goggles.
• Feed off the power of your captured phantomsÑ-acquire supernatural abilities and summon helpful spirits to assist you in your quest.
• Innovative, player-guided puzzles and tense stealth sequences extend gameplay.

The obvious problem is that ghosts are incorporeal by nature and it takes one of the insubstantial blighters being fused to Lazarus before he can really take them on. At this point he gains not just the ability to see the evil dead, but also shoot them with his gun and capture them in a special ghost trap/grenade. When in "weapon mode" the game has a rather nice dual control system that allows you to move and fire in another direction at the same time (as long as the rather unhelpful camera system isn't getting in the way)--but thankfully this is more than just another mindless shoot-'em-up. Most of the important ghosts are actually rather difficult to attack directly and you must solve various puzzles, such as getting them to come out of a possessed TV or tricking them into turning on the power in a dilapidated building, before you can start blasting. Like the same team's Primal this is not going to appeal to adrenaline junkies, but for most others this offers a fairly intelligent and atmospheric adventure in ghostbusting. -- David Jenkins