Geist (Hands On) (GameCube) Preview

Like all Nintendo involved titles (this being developed by n-Space) there is a fair bit of ambiguity as to where this game falls. At first glance it is a clever twist on the soot-'em-up genre, but after playing it for a while it doesn't seem to carry the same feel as a all out firing range, but more of an intelligent exploration title. From what we played there were no massive shooting sections, you move about, explore, work out what to do and continue. The controls are fluid and simple, we managed to pick them up in a matter of minutes. The A, B, and Y buttons are shown in the top right hand corner of the screen, and there functionality changes depending on your situation.

There are various enigmas or puzzles that you have to solve in order to progress in the game. Everything is quite sinister and disturbing; with the character you play having a mysterious past. You take control of a man who has been subjected to massive amount of military testing, as a result of which your spirit is no longer attached to your body, and moves about freely. One puzzle involves having to posses a dog bowl (don't laugh), by shaking the bowl, you scare the dog and can then posses the dog. Whilst they may sound a little odd at first, it is a very interesting addition and one that passes off very well indeed.

The game still seems to be far off completion, there are various glitches and problems in the code, but we are sure they will be ironed out long before the title hits the shelves. The shooting sections work very nicely indeed, and whilst you don't go about shooting everything you see there is ample opportunity to let off some steam, and this also acts as a nice break from the exploring and puzzle solving. There have been people walking about saying Geistis merely a poor man's Metroid, but we feel this is a very harsh criticism.

This is a game of many unknowns, it plays great, there is loads of fun to be had but even after playing it for some time we are unsure of what the final game will be like. Still, walking away from the session we are even more excited now than we were before. The thought of going about possessing anything that moves and being all mysterious and cunning, is a very nice one indeed.