Geist (GameCube)

Edge magazine, the only publication I trust, gave this 40%. That just isn't fair. Then on the other hand the highest rating it's received is 88%. There's something very wrong here, and for all of you who are confused, I'll try and give a heads up by listing fors and againsts below (hopefully an analytical approach like this will help clear up confusion):

Against:
- Some of the dialogue is poor ... _really_ poor.
- The graphics are too N64-ish.
- The story doesn't really make sense (I'm a ghost, but I can't go through walls?

For:
- I couldn't stop playing this, it's addictive.
- I actually like the N64-ish graphics. Nostalgia? N.B. Don't get me wrong, the graphics aren't that bad anyway.
- The story, though nonsensicle (see above), is involving and fun.
- Dark _and_ funny.
- The possession power isn't a gimmick, it adds a great deal to the gameplay. For one thing you don't get bored with your characters abilities (since you keep possessing people and things).
- Solid non-license gaming. Old school gamers know what I mean ;)

Overall, I loved it, and rate it the best game since Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. No reservations about recommending this game.


Playable, but forgettable   February 6, 2006
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I received Geist as a Christmas present and I was looking forward to playing it. However, I soon found it to be not quite to be what I was expecting.
The storyline is that whilst investigating Volks Corp, you are captured and submitted to an experiment that separates your soul from your body in order to train you as a Spec Ops - a special spirit operative than can possess world leaders and bend them to the will of the shadowy CEO of Volks Corp. However, during the training process the machinery malfunctions, and you are freed, and thus are able to explore Volks Corp by possessing those humans, animals or objects you find along the way, in order to find out what is happening and find your body and regain it.
In principle it sounds excellent but turns out to be rather too formulaic. You are not free to explore as you will but must progress along a certain route - hence, you can only possess certain things and certain people. If you possess someone and you allow him/her/it to die, then often you have to restart the level as you require that host to complete the stage.
What is quite entertaining is the fact that in order to possess someone, you have to scare them - hence, you spend a lot of time finding the "scare sequences" you need, which you do by possessing objects near to your planned host and making them do weird things - fire extinguishers fire off, mirrors crack, weird displays appear on computer screens, sinks start choking out blood. These can be quite entertaining but the formulaic nature slightly ruins it; it is simply a case of finding the object you need to possess and hitting the button to make it perform the preprepared action.
The first person fighting is rather dull; you spend much of your time possessing soldiers with fairly basic assault rifles. The controls aren't fantastic with none of the realism you get in other games - aiming is simply a case of lining up the crosshairs which will then stay in position and firing off a few rounds. Each host can preform a "special action" but often this is boring or pointless; animal hosts make a noise, some soldiers duck, some special hosts like scientists jump.
Ultimately, the game becomes an attempt to get from one place to the next by following the preprepared route. The puzzles are generally fairly basic and there are plenty of clues for how to solve them. The fighting aspect of the game could have been done better and although possessing is fun, you can only possess certain hosts when really you would like to possess anyone you see.
However, the graphics are pretty good, the sound is good and the storyline is long enough to keep you diverted for a while. It is worth playing, but it isn't going to stick in your mind for long afterwards.


Same old same old   November 19, 2005
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I was really looking forward to this game, especially after seeing advertising on the TV. After all the hype, it is just another Silicon Valley (itself flawed but a much better game),on the N64, but with the first person shooter element added. Shame, it could have been excellent.


Nice ideas but flawed.   October 19, 2005
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Geist has been in development over at N-SPACE almost as long as video games them selves and it has always been a game i was looking foward to because of the unique posessing elements, essentialy Geist is a mix between a FPS,FPA(first person shooter/adventure)and survival horror game you play as john ramai a sientist who has been captured in a militry opperation experimented on and his soul ripped from his body and now you wander the corridors as a ghost scaring the hell out of every one in site.Ok so the game sounds quite cool right? well geist is like watching pulp fiction on a black and white T.V with bad reception as in it has great ideas some good moments but the game is seriously flawed, at first the posession element seems outstanding you blow up a computer to get the attention of the guard by this time he is a little nervious you then fly in to the rubbish bin next to him and set the contents on fire, this really scares his and now you can posess him and control his body but with in a few levels it starts getting boring because after you have scared a few people they are all exactly the same and it feels very repetative.For me the shooting sections were the best but they wern't great, the enemi AI is terrible you can kill a soldier but his mate 10 foot away wont even realise and allowes you to easly shoot him strait in the head, energy packs are found on every corner making it very hard to die aswell as your unlimited ammo and some of the boss fights are so boring you will want to turn off your Gamecube(although a few boss fights are also good), Also when you posess a soldier you can only use the wepon he was holding when you posessed him even though guns should be lying every where since you just shot down a few hundered people.

The multi-player although having some really cool ideas like human vs ghost(the human trys to kill a ghost by shooting and ghost trys to posess human, once posessed you can take controll of the human and lead him to his death)matches are also flawed because it is almost impossible for the human to win.

The graphics are top notch looks very realistic there is some slowdown though every now and then

Like i sayed earlier Geist showed massive potential but dosent deliver, how about a revolution sequal made by retro studios Nintendo?