Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex E3 2004 Impressions

At Bandai's E3 2004 booth, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, the upcoming third-person action game based on the Ghost in the Shell anime, was on display. We spent some time checking out the two playable levels that were being demoed.

Each of the two levels featured one of the three main characters in the game. The burlier character of the bunch, sporting a blonde ponytail and military-themed garb, was playable in the first level. Our primary weapon in this mode was an assault rifle, though we were able to access grenades and a grenade launcher as well. As we moved through, we encountered some resistance from anonymously and ominously suited bad guys with similar weaponry to us. Here, we discovered our ability to duck and roll past enemy fire, using a nifty dodge move, and to hack specific downed enemies. Enemies that were hackable displayed a triangular icon over their corpses, and by standing over them and pressing a button, we were able to hack them. As we moved around, we were able to use the right analog stick to move and shift the camera around to better positions to avoid enemy fire. Unfortunately, the camera did seem to require a bit of babysitting, so hopefully some improvements will be made to it before the game launches.

The other playable level in the demo involved a sleek female character who was able to jump great distances and bounce off walls. Here, we picked up a sniper rifle, and by pressing in the R3 button, we were able to zoom in and pick off various enemies that came onscreen. Unfortunately, to use the sniper rifle, we had to drop our previous weapon, and once the enemies had caught on to us, we had to scramble back to get our old gun, since trying to fend off multiple enemies with a sniper rifle proved useless.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex will also feature a multiplayer mode, containing additional characters, costumes, and weapons. Unfortunately, this mode was not on display at E3, but it is said to function similarly to the single-player mode, and it will include team deathmatch and battle royal modes. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex will be released this November exclusively on the PlayStation 2.