Geist: Quick Review

I have been playing a lot of Geist over the past couple days. Two other games came out that I picked up, Sigma Star Saga and Darkwatch for Xbox, so I am trying to split my time evenly. I feel that I have spent more then enough time with Geist to be able to give my opinion on it.

Gameplay: This is where Geist truly shines the most. As you all know, in Geist, you play the part of a ghost. As this ghost you are presented with puzzles you have to solve. These puzzles usually consist of figuring out what to possess in order to scare a host subject enough so that you can take over their body and progress through the level. For instance there is a point in the game when you need to possess an engineer to move through a locked door. In order to possess the engineer you have to possess a mechanical arm. Once the arm scares him he runs towards a computer. When you use the computer to scare him he really starts to freak out. Then the mechanical arm comes into play again and it picks him up and shakes him. Now that he is fully frightened you are able to possess him. Its puzzles like this that make Geist really fun. The best part in my opinion is that when you possess some people, they already are afraid of some things, and you will not be able to do certain things or go to certain areas because of their fears. Using the engineer as an example again, if you wanted to walk down the hallway that has the mechanical arms, the engineer's body won't let you do it, because his mind remembers what happened and it is too scared to progress. These are puzzles in themselves and you must find ways to work around them if you want to keep moving foward. As far as the FPS aspect of the game, its definately adaquet, but not great. You can do all the things you normally do in an FPS, but it just isn't as finely tuned as most gamers are used to. Reaction times aren't that quick, weapons handle a little on the clunky side, and the guns and stuff you get to use just don't pack enough power when you shoot them. You may be shooting a machine gun but it feels like a pea shooter. While there definately is some shooting to be done, and its not horrible while your doing it, the real fun areas of the game are the possession puzzles. Thankfully the puzzles far outnumber the straight foward shooting areas.

Graphics: Geist is really a mixed bag. Sometimes I find myself saying, "Wow, this game looks really good!" Other times I'm left wondering if I am playing a beefed up N64 game. Backgrounds can tend to be muddy, just like the texture work. It all depends on the type of area you are in. Character and enemy models get the job done, and for the most part have decent animations. There really are times when Geist will wow you with its graphics. I would say its about 50/50 as far as when you will be wowed and when you will be questioning the game. As far as framerate goes, I really haven't had any bad stutters. The game has moved at a pretty consistent rate. I have seen it chug a little bit in some cut scenes, but I haven't hit an area in the game yet where the framerate at all hindered my gameplay.

Audio: The audio in Geist almost gets the job done. Sound effects are run of the mill stuff you would hear in any other game. In my opinion they didn't take time to make anything sound special or new...you have heard these sounds in games like Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. The voice acting is actually pretty decent, definately a higher quality then a handful of games out there. I think the music is the most dissapointing part. All of the music is midi stuff, and that is fine, as long as its done well. While not all the songs are bad, most come off sounding very cheesy when they are trying to be dramatic. Once again, it sounds like something you would hear back in the N64 days. When Nintendo makes first party games they still use midi a lot, but they make it sound good. I think if N-Space just went with some actual instruments instead of all midi, things would have turned out much better. Its worth nothing though that when you fly around as a ghost and haven't possessed anything, the ambient noise is great. Really gives a great feel to the flying around.

Replay: There are a ton of multiplayer options here for some 4 player fun, unfortunately I haven't had the chance to try it out. From what I can see there seems to be a lot here to keep you and your friends busy.

Overall: Geist is a fun, fresh new take on the FPS genre. Seems that Nintendo is really the only company out there trying to rejuvinate the state of the FPS. I would say Geist falls into the FPA (first person adventure) just like Metroid Prime 1 and 2 do. The puzzle/possession aspect of the game is great, and really tests your mind sometimes. The FPS sections get the job done, but they aren't anything to write home about. Luckily for Geist, the possession really is a key factor to the game, and that coupled with the story progression is more then enough to keep you interested. I would say if you had plans on buying Geist go for it, but if you were unsure of it, you should definately rent it.

Geist for GameCube - 7.8 out of 10

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