If the story had been a little better, I would have given it a 10/10!
Lets begin with the story, the story sounds like a first rate horror movie! I'm not joking, nor am I exaggerating! You know when you just start watching a horror movie and right at the beginning you get a little freaked out but also interested in what happens next? Well that's how this game starts! You play as officer Jones, who goes investigating a murder in some school with his partner! Apparently, a few teachers had gone missing and no bodies were ever found if I remember correctly! While investigating the school he accidentally releases a bunch of ghosts that had been trapped in a machine in the basement. Feeling guilty, he collects the gear that was conveniently placed near and starts hunting the ghosts back! His partner also gets kidnapped by one of them! I only wish the story had progressed that way as well...
I don't want to include any spoilers so I won't write about the story any further.
Throughout the game you will be sent to catch ghosts on a few locations by the computer in the school basement!
Catching ghosts is just amazing! It's fun, it's unique and it's intense! Firstly, you throw a disk shaped mechanism at a ghost. Once the ghost has a disk attached to it, you shoot the ghost with some plasma beam until it weakens and then the disk absorbs the ghost and returns back to you like a boomerang. It never gets old and you always feel a sense of accomplishment whenever you catch even a weak ghost!
You will have a bunch of weapons to chose from, like the ghost beam gun, the ghost sniper, the regular shotgun and other things. To put it simply, you will mostly be using the ghost beam gun, because it is the most useful! Now, the ghost sniper gun doesn't actually capture ghosts, it KILLS THEM! It's kinda ridiculous since ghosts are already dead and you end up killing them with a head shot, but it works! It's also funny to note that those ghosts that can get killed by the ghost sniper can also die from a regular gun! Ummm... Now I am kinda wondering if the things I killed were actually ghosts? Oh well...
Also, one of the ghosts at the beginning of the game enters officer Jone's body. You get to use her (Astral) throughout the game to pass various obstacles, and I have to admit that I did not enjoy those parts because they were either too hard to figure out or simply pointless, but these instances don't last for long so It doesn't really hurt the game.
The levels are very creative! You will travel at all cliche places mostly used when you think of ghosts. There is the haunted house, the haunted ship and even the haunted swamp.
Each level usually ends with a boss fight that are creative, but it never feels like you defeated a tough ghost, but a tough creature because most of the bosses act more like monsters then the undead, mainly because you cant see through them and because they can actually hurt you physically, but who am I to question ghosts :).
The graphics are great for it's time, the music and the atmosphere are creepy and they set the perfect mood for such a game.
The Voice acting is great as well.
The controls work perfectly. You move officer Jones with the left analog stick, you aim with the right and you fire with the R buttons. Classic!
The only real problem I had with this game is the story,... ok not the story but with the ending mostly. The first part of the game is fantastic but after about half the game it starts getting bad and really stupid. I don't think that there is a single person in the world who beat this game and was satisfied with the ending. Not to give away anything so I'll keep it simple. The game is too short and as the game progresses the story gets worse, and in the end it barely feels like a game about catching ghosts! I really don't understand it myself...
It's like the makers of the game decided that they had to end the game as quickly as possible. While the ending does make sense somewhat, it still leaves you feeling a bit disappointed !
To sum up, this is a great game! Definitely worth buying! You probably won't enjoy the story (ending) as much, but catching ghosts in this game makes everything worth it.