Ghost Master

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.