Ghost Rider should burn in Hell

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter INQUIRER.net

WHY is it that every game that is loosely based on a movie, which was also loosely based on a comic book character, almost always fails miserably? There must be a curse of sorts that makes a comic book-to-video-game movie tie-in such a commercial failure (think Superman Returns and Fantastic Four, also for the PlayStation S2). Not even the great writers of the original material could save the game from becoming video game trash. The latest comic book character whose good name has been tarnished by bad development is Ghost Rider, which is based on the latest Nicolas Cage starrer of the same name. Ghost Rider fans have always longed for a movie based on the character. Unfortunately, it was a terrible bomb that did not do that much justice to the Vengeful Flames of Justice. The game doesn’t help the movie, either. Just as in many other video game-movie tie-ins, the developers of Ghost Rider have done a haphazard job of coming up with a video game in the hopes of whetting the appetites of the character’s fans. But then, poor game reviewers like myself have to suffer through the game and write an article, and so to give justice to the game, I have to finish the entire thing. Thank goodness it only took a mere seven hours to get through levels that ended almost as quickly as they began. The game revolves around the life of bike stuntman Johnny Blaze, who has sold his soul to the Devil in the hopes of saving his father from death. Unfortunately, his father dies and the younger Blaze is left to do the Devil's bidding, in the form of a vengeful bike-riding demon with a flaming skull for a head. In the video game, Blaze becomes Ghost Rider and he goes from one adventure after another but his main goal is to hunt down and kill the armies of Blackheart, the traitorous son of the Devil. Ghost Rider must stop Blackheart from fast-forwarding the end of the world. The Devil, Mephisto, wants to maintain the balance of power between him and Heaven. If Blackheart takes over, complete chaos would reign. So you as Johnny Blaze burst into flames and into action. Oddly, Ghost Rider mixes the hack-and-slash attacks of both God of War and Devil May Cry, also for the PS2. Ghost Rider uses a chain that stretches out to kill different types of demons, and the combos are surprisingly similar to Kratos’ chain attack in God of War. Likewise, Blaze, as Ghost Rider, can collect the souls of the demons that he kills and as such, increases his Life Gauge and Spirit Gauge. The Life Gauge is obvious enough as it’s already used in many games but the Spirit Guage is unique. If it is filled up, Ghost Rider would go into Retribution mode and he becomes faster and his hits are more powerful. He can also do his special Penance Stare, which is fancy to look at but becomes too boring to do after a while. The Spirit Gauge is reminiscent of a similar gauge used by Dante Sparda in the Devil May Cry video game series. Some special missions in the game would also have the player ride on the Hellcycle, Ghost Rider’s hellish motorcycle. While riding, Ghost Rider can shoot down other demons in both the ground and those that are also in vehicles. The developers tried to make this part of the game challenging by having Ghost Rider jump over obstacles or slide under fallen walls or pipes. But there is nothing fun in here because the player can almost always finish a bike-riding level without even dying. Where’s the challenge in there? Visually, Ghost Rider is a letdown. It tries to mix the styles of both DMC and GOW but fails in both aspects, especially with the ugly camera movement and lack of environmental damage. Ghost Rider’s flaming head and chains are often a distraction. Even the monsters do not look as fearsome as they should be. Playing the game requires knowing certain attack combinations and defense but once you know two or three types of combo attacks, you wouldn’t find any more reason to use the block (which is a weird blue-and-white kind of light that extends out from Ghost Rider’s arm). In the six or seven hours needed to finish game, a player would be glad to just get it over with. But then, the developers tried again to spice up the game by adding hidden playable characters, in particular, Blade, his partner in the nocturnal Marvel team called Midnight Sons. Blade’s attacks are shorter but faster than Ghost Rider and are less fancy to look at. Nevertheless, he shouldn’t have a place in the game, even if he is Ghost Rider’s partner from the comic book. It’s a deliberate attempt by developer 2K Games to give the impression that Ghost Rider does not ride alone. Overall, Ghost Rider for the PS2 fails in all aspects of gaming, from the visuals, to the gameplay, to the storyline (take note that the story was written by Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti, two of the most well-known Marvel writers). It would be a total waste to buy this game and play it till the end. In fact, you may want to exact vengeance on the shop where you bought it, even by accident. It may be the end of Ghost Rider’s life in the movies and hopefully, he will never rise again in a video game. Ghost Rider has already used his Penance Stare on this one -- and his victim is himself. Ghost Rider Genre: Action Adventure Developer: Climax Group Publisher: 2K Games ESRB Rating: Teen (T)