Geist (GameCube) Review

John Raimi is part of a troop of soldiers ready to infiltrate a high security scientific laboratory, by the name of Volks Corporation, in the attempt to uncover their dastardly experiments and put cease to them. However, upon gathering the relevant information necessary to halt further progress, something goes terribly wrong and Raimi ends up being captured and his spirit torn from his body. Before he knows it he is floating around and being taught how to possess other beings, as well as objects! Can you guide him to safety and expose the group?

Playing early builds of Geist really were not too impressive, leaving players with a feeling that n-Space really could not take advantage of the hardware to present a level of graphical finesse found in the likes of Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. In fact, right up until the Post E3 Tour things were not looking too rosy, with the graphics appearing rather blurry, making it hard to read text. Yet playing the final version proves to be quite enlightening, as the visuals are nowhere near as bad as they originally looked like they could have been! Whilst perhaps not the most extravagant in terms of appearance, the character models are more than solid, environments are better than the usual average FPS locations, the video sequences are very nice to watch and the frame-rate is just about acceptable, apart from when TOO much action is happening on-screen. Better than expected, anyway!

The use of speech throughout the game is something that could, unfortunately, not be heard in previous try-outs with Geist. But thankfully the final product boasts some satisfying results, with characters showing the right amount of emotion and avoiding sounding too wooden, which is always a plus point! Music, on the other hand, is rather forgettable, just basically fitting the bill as opposed to causing the gamer to be totally absorbed into the experience like has come to be expected with this particular genre. Luckily, the sound effects for weapon-fire is more than adequate, or else this would have been completely lacking in feeling.

The idea behind Geist is certainly an intriguing one, with some drawing comparisons between this and a certain PC title that will remain nameless. The challenge for n-Space was to turn what could be a contrived concept into something that proves to be unique and a wholly gripping title. The action starts out as a pretty standard First Person Shooter, with you controlling Raimi as you wander around the secret facility, first of all downloading the scientists' data and then attempting to escape with the rest of your team before reinforcements track you down and blast you into a million pieces. Therefore, the usual strafing, crouching, weapons fire and aiming controls are all present and correct.

However, things do take a turn toward the abnormal once you are about to break loose with the data. Raimi's spirit is sucked from his body and you are then transported to a serene locale, complete with pretty flowers, lush grass and large, overhanging trees. You then notice that rather than the normal health bar in the bottom corner, you instead have a heartbeat, which constantly wears down as you float (yes, float, no longer walking) around. A distant voice explains how absorbing plants will boost your energy to ensure death is not as imminent as it could be, which is quickly followed by the introduction of possessing things in order to sustain your life force in a more efficient manner. Queue fluffy rabbit scene and crazy hopping around as said rabbit.

At this point the game just seems too weird for its own good, but perseverance is the key. After hearing the soothing voice turn into a wicked, evil one that menacingly tells you to basically 'kill them all', you are warped back into the facility in which you were supposedly killed earlier. There you meet a young ghost who teaches you how to possess anything around you. In order to do this you must first check the aura of whatever you want to take over and, if necessary, use scare tactics to weaken their resolve. This is especially necessary when it comes to humans, as they are far stronger than say animals or, erm, paint pots! So to wear them down slightly you have to use your brain a little, jumping into things such as telephones, machines and bins. An example from the start of the game involves blowing up a contraption to get the attention of a guard, then quickly jump out and possess the bin next to it, causing flames to spew forth and scaring the be-jebus out of him so you can take over his body!

It is not all as simple as that, though, as for instance you are now in control of a guard, if you run around like a crazy man with your gun flying around you will attract suspicion, particularly in the lab facility as they actually are aware of a spirit on the loose. So all the way through you are not only trying to use the usual FPS skills that are required, but having to try and think how best to make progress and outwit the enemies around you. And hey, should you get bored, you can always have fun taking over various crazy items – like at the start going into paint pots purely to make them explode their innards all over the wall! If it were not for some creaky First Person Shooter controls, with aiming being awkward at times, this would have hit scaling heights.

As stated already, a lot of thought will have to go into playing this, rather than just barging into rooms willy-nilly throwing gun-fire at anything that moves. The enemy AI is not stupid by any means and if something out of the ordinary is detected then you really are in for it, with torrents of bullets your way a-cometh. But the one-player experience is not the only side to keep gamers happy as there is a rudimentary multiplayer aspect that can prove to be quite time consuming with three other friends joining you in the fray. You can even throw in four computer bots to battle against with your friends, or simply go it against eight AI-bots for the ultimate challenge! Not spectacularly long, but more than enough value for money for those that dip their toes in as you can open up new multiplayer maps, characters and items for use in multiplayer whilst playing through the one-player game.