Geist

Gritty and mature aren’t exactly the right words to describe a great deal of games designed exclusively for the GameCube, but that doesn’t mean our favorite cube isn’t without its collection of rare gems like Resident Evil Zero or Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. If anything these GameCube exclusives turned out to be excellent alternatives to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker or Luigi’s Mansion and give gamers hope that the system is still capable of bringing older gamers more mature games before Nintendo’s Revolution hits stores. Joining these mature games is Geist, a ghost story with guns and one of the reasons you’ll love your GameCube.

Geist’s story revolves around John Raimi, a specialist in biological and chemical threats, who leads a team of armed agents into the secret facilities of the Volks Corporation. Deep in this Southern France facility, you are sent to retrieve a viral sample the Center for Disease Control thinks might be a dangerous contagion that could threaten the world if misused. Yet during a standoff against Volks security, John Raimi and his team are killed. The story, though, doesn’t end here. Raimi wakes up to discover that he’s a floating specter that is taught (by the ghost of a little girl named Gigi) how to possess the bodies of living beings as well as certain objects. As a spirit you attempt to finish your mission and discover the truth behind the Volks Corporation’s experiments.

In the beginning of the game you’re introduced to the game’s weakest aspect - the first-person shooter element. The good news is that the shooting action isn’t complex. In fact, it’s pretty basic with strafe, duck, fire and jump moves that should make the game flow quickly. Instead, the controls feel awkward to the point that moving and aiming becomes a clumsy task. Sure you can change the control scheme but both settings just don’t make the shooting any easier or smoother like Metroid Prime. To make matters worse, the framerate drops during the more intense battles making the game stutter a bit. Thankfully this problem doesn’t get bad enough that it gets too annoying.

It is after your physical death that the game makes a complete 360 turn into a new and interesting territory. As an energy-based being you are shown how to take possession of a living being but you just can’t snatch a living body right away. First the person or creature in question has to go through an emotional change and, in this case, fright is your biggest ally. Scaring a subject of interest is one of the many puzzles in the game and what makes this game such a treat. A janitor mopping the floor of an area you want to get through so you take possession of a telephone and make it ring to the point that the janitor picks it up only to hear frightful cries. You see the janitor’s aura go from white to yellow to red. It is when a subject’s aura is red that you get to jump into the janitor’s body. The fun thing is that the game encourages you possess people, animals and objects because if you don’t your energy drains away.

Possession is what Raimi does best and that’s Ok because the Geist allows you to jump into the living breathing bodies of rats, for example, and you’ll not only get to move around like a rat but also get a peek at how a rat perceives the world around it. Snatch the body of a security guard and blast away at fellow co-workers if you want or simply use the body to perform a number of tasks such as convincing others to unlock that security door to the north. It’s far more entertaining than possessing dinner plates, of course, but you get the picture of what this game is trying to accomplish and what the game manages to pull off successfully. 

Then again the game runs into a few more faults along the way and one of them just happens to be the AI. Enemies don’t really respond to threats as quickly as they should; in fact, they tend to react once you start shooting at them. Had the controls been a lot better gamers would have easily zipped through each fight without much trouble at all. Even the boss fights don’t really add much. It’s also a bit frustrating that you can float right through a regular crate but not an explosive crate or a simple grate. Had these things been remedied, this game could have been something amazing. At least the game tosses in extras such as the multiplayer mode. Here you and up to four friends can take each another on in Possession Death Match, Capture the Host or Hunt. You can even play alone using bots in place of friends but the game plays far better when you’re attempting to capture a host body and use it to shoot down friends.

Visually, Geist is not a bad-looking GameCube game and there are times when the graphics do improve (especially once Raimi becomes a ghost). There are great lighting effects that give the rather drab environments some personality but it's the game’s great visual effects that steal the show. Float past a mirror and Raimi can check out his ghost form, his ghostly body crackling with energy. When possessing objects and people we’re treated to a quick cutscene of Raimi seizing control of said object or person. The other cool part is that not every creature looks at the world the same way. It’s neat stuff indeed and it will make you ignore the not-so-good character models.

The sound, on the other hand, doesn’t make the same impression as the visuals. Sure there’s a pretty decent soundtrack that plays throughout the game and the voice acting during cutscenes is even better. Strangely enough, the dialogue during the game is text with a few snippets of spoken words tossed in at the beginning of each conversation. Much like the visual effects in the game, the sound effects do a marvelous job of making you feel like you’re ghost. You’ll hear the soft giggles of Gigi, the little girl ghost, before you even see her. You’ll hear the crackling of energy as you drain the life from a plant.

Fun, original and edgy, Geist is an action-packed ghost story that attempts go well beyond the usual shoot-um-up fare. It’s a rare blend of bullet-fueled action and puzzle-solving that involves spiritual possessions of souls and objects. Sure it’s not perfect and the shooting elements can be a bit awkward, but this is still a fun game with a lot to offer gamers looking for a mature title overflowing with originality.

Gameplay: 8.2
Possessing objects and people as a ghost is one of the most rewarding and unique experiences that truly pushes the envelope gameplay-wise. The first-person shooter elements, though, are second-rate compared to other original shooters on the GameCube like Metroid Prime. Still, the game’s best elements overshadow the weak spots.

Graphics: 7.8
Geist might not show off some spectacular graphics when it comes to the characters and the environments but the visual ghost effects are dazzling and impressive. The cutscenes are nicely done, although when it comes to the framerate you’ll encounter the occasional stutter when the action gets fierce or the area becomes busy with activity.

Sound: 7.5
Sound-wise you can expect a pretty decent soundtrack and cutscenes with good dialogue. The in-game dialogue though is text with the exceptions of a few phrases that you’ll hear often during conversations. The shooting, explosions and ghostly sounds of Raimi possessing a body are done pretty well.

Difficulty: Medium
The enemy AI is able to respond to strange occurrences realistically enough but when it comes to fighting they’re as skilled at tactics as the Keystone Cops are (which is a bad thing, in case you don‘t know). Some don’t even respond until you open fire while others find cover behind chain link fences. Boss fights add some degree of difficulty but not by very much.

Concept: 8.5
There’s a lot to like about a game that first starts off as your usual first-person shooter game and ends up being a game where you’ll possess everything from a telephone to a top-level janitor. Best yet is the fact that Geist does all of this perfectly. The multiplayer component is also a great feature that can be played with a group of friends or against the computer. Either way this is a neat package that offers a lot interesting goodies.

Multiplayer: 8.0
With interesting twists in the usual multiplayer deathmatch mode, you’ll wish the GameCube had online capabilities. You can play this one with up to four friends or you can play against seven CPU-controlled bots, but either way you’re in for a good time whether you’re playing through Capture the Host Hunt.

Overall: 8.0
Flaws aside, Geist is one of those refreshingly original titles with a lot to offer gamers searching for something fun and unique for their GameCube. Sure it’s a first-person shooter but it’s also a game that strives to offer something different and different is what we get here. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up if you’re interested in a more mature-minded action game for your GameCube.