Ghost Rider (PS2) Review
Posted by Chris McCarver on 03.14.2007
This game falls flatter than a flaming tire.
Ghost Rider
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Climax
Platform: Playstation 2 (also available for PSP and Game Boy Advance)
ESRB Rating: T (alcohol reference, blood and gore, mild suggestive themes, violence)
Release Date: Feb. 20, 2007
Review by CHRIS McCARVER
A bit of quantification to start off: I am a huge Ghost Rider fan. Seriously. I was around for the Rise of the Midnight Sons, I've read enough of the book to consider Dan Ketch my favorite character (that's right, I said it) and Mark Texeira my favorite GR artist... I've got some foreknowledge of this stuff. Imagine my surprise to learn that they were doing a Ghost Rider film and my horror to learn that Nicolas Cage was cast as Johnny Blaze. Astonishingly, despite my initial intention to sit in the back of the theater on opening night with a placard reading "DAN KETCH LIVES," I actually kinda liked the film despite some of the cheesy dialogue or the direction of Mark Steven Johnson, who last directed my least-favorite Marvel Comics-adaptation movie, Daredevil (which I reviewed back in my days in the Movies Zone). So that gave me hope that 2K Games (ATV Offroad Fury) couldn't possibly screw up the game based on the film.
I need to learn not to hope.
Ghost Rider. Taco Bell's Spicy Chicken Burrito. Not a good mix.
Graphics
Ghost Rider's visuals are probably the game's only saving grace, and even they're laughable on occasion. Much of the game is played in largely non-interactive environments nearly devoid of life apart from Ghost Rider and the enemy characters. The gamescape is rife with invisible walls and places you ought to be able to climb or jump to if the game would actually allow you to. The Ghost Rider character himself is rendered and animated rather nicely, as are the enemy characters you'll find yourself up against (even if the variety of said enemies is on the lacking side, see below).
The game's graphics suffer greatly from two major flaws. First off, those of you who read my review of X-Men: The Official Game remember my tirade against its approach to cutscenes, namely barely animated still paintings of the characters with lip-synch-less voiceovers. I don't know if Marvel has some kind of mandate for their movie tie-in games, but the same thing appears here, and it's no less an eyesore to watch between levels.
And now for the really bad news. This game suffers from the worst examples of bad camera angles I've seen since any Resident Evil game preceding RE4. Many will be the time when you will find yourself being attacked from enemies completely out-of-frame, so much so that you'll find yourself running around blind looking for whoever's chucking fireballs at you, which can be frustrating considering how many enemies you can find yourself surrounded by.
"Um... little help? This hand isn't gonna get out of this gopher hole on its own..."
Gameplay
In a story co-written by acclaimed comics writers Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti, which concerns me a bit since the plot of the title's pretty threadbare, you take control of former stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze, who got screwed making a deal with the Devil (No! Really?) and is cursed to spend his nights as a demonic spirit of vengeance bearing the appearance of a biker with a flaming skull for a head. The Devil, referred to as Mephisto in accordance with Marvel's interpretation of the character, has forced Johnny into a rock-meets-hard-place dilemma. A bunch of Hell's worst demons, led by Mephisto's estranged son Blackheart, are trying to engineer Armageddon, which will destroy everything, Earth, Heaven, and Hell alike. And as an added motivator, Mephisto threatens to yank Johnny's girlfriend into the land of fire and brimstone if he doesn't toe the line.
The biggest detriment of this game came early for me. You know all that exposition I just gave you? You don't find out any of that until you've ground your way through six levels of this game, which has to have some of the worst examples of lather-rinse-repeat gameplay I've ever seen. If the fact that this game is little more than a shallow third-person beat-'em-up won't infuriate gamers, the fact that that this game is the biggest rip-off of God of War will.
Not kidding here, swap out Kratos' Blades of Chaos with Ghost Rider's flaming chain and yank out anything epic-level and interesting and you pretty much have the crux of this game's biscuit. The developers even blatantly swiped the button icons that appear over groggy enemies that allow you to pull off a bone-crunching coup de grace, as well as the element of collecting orbs (sorry, "demon souls") for the purpose of upgrading your repertoire of moves. And speaking of demons, your enemies are pretty much the same four or five demons and monsters over and over again, and taking them out lacks any kind of strategy, despite the fact that Ghost Rider has a decent array of upgradeable combat moves. Mash them buttons hard enough and off you go to the next level for more of the same.
Even when you lance a boil off a guy's knee, some people just can't get happy...
The only manner in which the game mixes things up are in levels in which Ghost Rider hops on his flaming-wheeled motorcycle and tears off through a strip of highway rife with obstacles and those same-old-same-old baddies you tackled in the on-foot levels. The bike levels are like equal parts Roadblasters and Road Rash, since the bike can fire blasts of demonic fire and Ghost Rider can smack nearby enemies with his chain. They are admittedly a bit of fun, but a small comfort when the remainder of this game is so poorly composed. One glaring problem with the bike levels is the vast number of ways you can accidentally wipe your bike either on an obstacle or the bike's less-than-deft control, which adds an unfortunate trial-and-error element to the levels, since the game basically throws you back behind the handlebars over and over until you clear the level.
Sound
The game's music unfortunately is a laughable soundtrack rife with forgettable guitar-crunch that makes a half-baked attempt at sounding eerie and edgy. The voice-acting accompanying the game's excuse for cutscenes isn't much better, largely populated with VAs attempting, not very well, to mimic the voices of the likes of Peter Fonda and Sam Elliott, with Ghost Rider's voice pretty much the same overmodulated spook-vox they mixed Cage's voice into in the movie. The game's audio isn't entirely bad, but it doesn't add anything to what's already a very abysmal gameplay experience.
I wanted to come up with some quip regarding ol' Flamehead doing rhythmic gymnastics, but the thought made me die a little inside...
Lasting Appeal
Ghost Rider does have one bit of redemption to it, namely the ability to trade in orbs ("demon souls," sorry, sorry) for not just character upgrades, but unlockable pages from the various Ghost Rider comics, as well as concept art and videos detailing the production process. The problem is that the unlockables of any color are all too easily attainable; it's possible to upgrade all of Ghost Rider's movelist and inherent abilities way early in the game's play length. Online or multiplayer options would appear to be superfluous for a game of this type, and in all honesty, this game doesn't need more reasons to be dreadful.
Fun Factor
Ghost Rider has unfortunately fallen in the inevitable trap most movie or comic book (or in this case, both) tie-ins fall into. The game is an endless grind of mindless button mashing, uninteresting production values, and sheer lack of anything enjoyable. Its blatant swiping of nearly every gameplay element that made God of War unique and fun is a further detriment to a game that should have really looked beyond trying to make a quick merch buck off the hype surrounding the movie.
The 411
Forgettable doesn't begin to describe this game. A game based on Ghost Rider deserves more than slapping together a derivative beat-'em-up with a flaming-skulled biker as its key character. This game is Ghost Rider in name only and stands as the grossest example of wasted potential. While Ghost Rider may avenge the blood of the innocent, the only thing I can offer to avenge the loss of cash from even renting this disc-full-of-boredom is the advice to avoid it at all costs.
Graphics
5.5
Above-average character renderings, environments largely empty of life, lots of invisible walls
Gameplay
4.0
Mostly mindless button mashing, variety of enemies is lacking, bike levels are fun but overly repetitive, game engine is a blatant swipe of God of War
Sound
3.0
Forgettable music score, voice acting less than memorable
Lasting Appeal
4.5
Nice amount of unlockable comicbook content, unlockables are all too easy to fully stock up on, no online or multiplayer options
Fun Factor
5.0
Horribly below-average movie tie-in, swipes from other better games are all too noticeable
