Ghost Master Review

Written by: Tracy Bosworth Posted: 7th January 2008

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Strategy game review

Ghost Master Details:

	Strategy
	PC
	Sick Puppies
	Empire Interactive

Out Now

N/A

I like getting scared watching a good horror movie, but nothing beats scaring other people. In Ghost Master this is exactly what you get to do!

Each level of the game starts with a ‘planning’ screen and this is where you must organise your team of ghosts. There is the option of allowing the game to choose a team for you. However, this will lead you into a rather long and tedious tutorial.

Ghosts available to you are organised in classes from the weaker ‘sprites’ to the stronger, more frightening ‘horrors’. Naturally the stronger ghosts are more valuable so require more ‘plasma’ to operate. Plasma is collected by scaring humans and you will be awarded more plasma depending on how much terror you reign through your mere mortals. Spells also cost plasma so each time your ghosts use a power your plasma level will decrease, you will also lose plasma if the fear levels of your victims fall, so keeping them on their toes is essential.

The screen is organised similarly to The Sims in that you have a main screen where the action takes place and panel at the side enabling you to take control of what goes on in that main screen. In Ghost Master you have 2 panels. One shows you the human inhabitants, their personal information (such as what scares them and their current state of mood) and a few control options such as ‘go to’ and the ‘see through their eyes’ option. On your other panel you have your team of ghosts, their information, powers and controls.

The key to a successful haunt is to make proper use of your ghosts and their powers, for instance placing a ghost in a cellar where nobody ever goes does little more than waste your time however placing a gremlin inside a regularly used TV does wonders for scaring a bunch of couch potatoes, and more often than not you’ll scare more than one human by carefully organising your ghosts.

Some levels have specific tasks for you to complete, such as luring the human inhabitants into finding the corpses which are hidden around the house, this can only be done by balancing fear with curiosity adding more varied gameplay.

Upgrades can be achieved in the ghoul room where you are able to trade plasma for new powers for your existing team or completely new ghosts. You can also find new ghosts resident in the houses you are trying to haunt, and freeing them from their ‘fretta’ is a sub quest in itself.

Ghost Master features top notch graphics from character models to the environments surrounding them. The game allows players to look at the world through the eyes of the mere mortals. This literally puts you into there bodies and lets you watch from their viewpoint as they scurry around the house from room to room, with a very ‘Blair Witch’ style heavy breathing and racing heartbeat. Manoeuvring the camera is also done with smoothness and ease allowing players to follow and watch any mortal in the house quickly and easily.

Special effects are fantastic offering a dramatic scene when ghosts go about their work, the room flashes as the ghouls release their terror and creates a very supernatural effect. The audio in the game is excellent with voice acting being free of corny ‘horror’ talk and instead adapt a more humorous and light hearted approach which seems to fit the game nicely.

Ghost Master is certainly original and features excellent graphics, effects and audio. The gameplay is easy to master and there were no evident bugs in the game. The only thing we could’ve asked for is a little more variation to the overall game.