Acid Rounds: Ghost Master (PC)

Acid rounds is a semi regular, irregular spot on TGAM for games we have beasted from start to finish.

Cunzy1 1: So your game this week is Ghost Master another game I have never heard of. I assume it's an espionage military shooter who is a dominatrix at the weekend?

Richie: Oh Man, dude, this was a Randy_McSporran classic, I'm surprised you don't remember, maybe it was all that weed you were smoking at the time... And no this ain't no Call of Tom Clancy: Gear Solid Cell generic shooty game. No sir. Ghost Master rips of an entirely different genre. Ghost Master is, upon first look, a rip off of the sims, and has its place in a genre that has somewhat lost it's way to microtransactions nowadays, the "God" game. But you don't do building or character creation. Instead the locations are premade populated characters with different quirks floating about in them, but the twist is you have to unlock and use ghosts to drive insane/scare off the residents of the locations. The game gives you a host of ghosts (what is the collective noun for ghosts?) to select for each "mission" each with different "fetters" and powers. The fetters are areas or items the ghosts can haunt as the have an affinity to them, such as electrical ones that died from the electric chair etc, can be connected to light switches, TVs, toasters etc. You use these Ghosts in conjunction with each other to create combos to eventually drive the people insane, or coerce them into completing tasks for you. 

Cunzy1 1: Have you ever seen a ghost in real life?

Richie: No. Well once... I was quite young, and I had been taken out on a day trip to one of these national heritage castles. In this one there was a bit where kids could go through this sort of secret passage way, it was crude and dark and ended up leading you through from one fireplace to the other. As I was going through I found a nook, which led a small dimly lit room, I'm guessing a hiding space of some sort? When I was in there I saw a figure sort of floating there, I couldn't make out features and they seemed to shift all the time, I remember thinking I should be really scared! But instead I grabbed my camera it was one of these disposable ones, made out of cardboard, I started taking pictures, but something was wrong, the flash was taking ages to charge up in between snaps, I took maybe 3-4 pics before the figure just seemed to fade away. I RAN out screaming, with my heart pounding in my chest... I told my family who of course didn't believe me! But I had proof! The figure had stuck around long enough for me to get some photos (almost like it was wanting to be photographed). As soon as I could, I got the photo's developed. But to my dismay, all of the images came out black and underexposed turns out...

...The spirit was willing but the flash was weak...

...Badum Ch! Thanks guys, you have been a lovely audience, I'm here all week.

Cunzy1 1: I thought Ghost Dog was about a ghost dog but apparently it was about a sniper. Is there sniping in this game?

Richie: It is about a ghost dog! Forest Whitaker just does a very elaborate portrayal. 

Cunzy1 1: I'm sort of impressed you played this one at all let alone all the way through, I wouldn't have had this down as your type of game at all. What hooked you and made you stick with it? 

Richie: Not my type of game?! I assume that is because you assume I play nothing but games with big breasted Japanese schoolgirls with special powers, most of which involve them losing clothes?  The game is a relaxed strategy game, 99% of the time the game chooses the correct ghosts for you to go into the mission with, there is fun little secrets on how to unlock other ghosts, but ultimately its about being a bad guys, akin to the Dungeon Master ethos. As you progress through the levels you can find a multitude of different ways to meet your objectives through chains of ghosts. For an RTS its quite chilled, but devilishly fun! 

Cunzy1 1: I assume there must be nods to popular culture in this game, what's the craic?

Richie: Oh man, so many! The most iconic would be a level dedicated to the original Evil Dead, where they have lovingly recreated the cabin even down to a mounted stag head trophy, and features "Bruce Elm" and buddies finding a basement with an evil book in it... There are many more calls to pop culture horror movies, Ghostbusters (parody Ghostbreakers), Amityville horror, Blair witch project are among them.

Cunzy1 1: Despite earlier saying I'd never heard of this game, I've also heard they left the game on a cliff hanger but then added a secret ending that American gamers never got to see. Did you get the 'true' ending?

Richie: Yes, but in true PC game fashion, not without its problems. The patch for this additional content was released at a later date, long after I had beasted it. Several years later I happened upon the disk and decided to have a playthrough, this time with the additional patch... And well, played through the entire game, but the bastarding thing wouldn't play the final level, most likely due to me using newer hardware that ghost master could handle. However I will count this as Beast #2 for the sake of this acid rounds. Finally a couple of years ago I rebought it on sale on GoG which had proper modern hardware compatibility, and I finally got to play that last level (Beast #3). The sad thing is that "final level" actually leaves the game in a good position for a sequel, a sequel that will never happen #sadface

Cunzy1 1: On a scale of ghastly to Mega Gengar where does this sit?

Richie: This one is such a fun a different game that has aged really well (assuming you can run it, thank you GoG) I would thwack this one as a healthy, Mega Gengar well worth a playthrough!