Geist Review

Then you have your boss fights! Geist is absolutely chock full of them, and you really can count on there being at least one in every mission of the game. Some of the bosses are very clever, but it can be annoying to face the same one later on, just in a mutated form to make them more challenging. That doesn’t take away that each are very fun in their own regard, but it would’ve been nice to see completely different bosses from time to time. You actually have to utilize your possession mechanic nicely to win some of them, and that was a very clever thing to do, rather than just shooting them to death. Another nice thing is that some of the missions that have multiple bosses in them, and having checkpoint completed stages will definitely help so that you don’t have to do everything over again. It works a little bit like Halo in that regard, but there isn’t much similarity to it other than that.

The story really is just driven so well by the possession and FPS mechanics because your core objectives absolutely depend on your being able to utilize them very well. If you can’t keep your hosts alive, you have to be careful because there may not be any others around for you to grab a hold of and you’ll phase out. If you can’t figure out how to scare an organism, you will die out in ghost form. But really, the entertainment is most definitely there, and it’s just plain awesome!

Finally, we have the multiplayer features of Geist! To be totally honest, I feel the multiplayer in this game truly rivals that of the quality of GoldenEye 007. Now that is indeed a bold statement, because people still find the same enjoyment of that years later to this date as they did when the game first released on the Nintendo 64! In Geist, each of the multiplayer modes utilizes the possession and FPS mechanics hand-in-hand very nicely, and different every time! First you have Possession Deathmatch. That is pretty self-explanatory and straightforward. With the possibility of up to four human players and four bots, you go through the map that was chosen and look for available hosts to possess! Each host has a unique weapon, and you can see just what they’re holding to determine whether or not you want to take that one or not.

All the maps in the game are pretty much derived from the main game in some fashion, with a few actually being pretty unique and new altogether. When in the actual fight, you aren’t vulnerable as a ghost to other players’ damage at all, which is a nice thing. But you can still phase out if your spirit meter drains. When you do possess a host and its health is dangerously low, you can actually risk not being killed by dispossessing with the B button and searching for another host. But if your previous host is still eliminated three seconds after you leave it, you still get a negative score towards your kills. There are also various powers ups available if you have them turned on, which can allow you to run faster, jump higher and take over the hosts of other players. There are others, but we’ll let you witness them first.

The second mode is Capture the Host! This works somewhat similar along the lines of capture the flag or king of the hill, but it’s still quite a bit different. The object of this mode is to possess any of the available hosts in the map, and take them to a designated point that will score you points upon their dispossessing of them! Each host will score you one point, and you can actually score more if you kill other possessed hosts in the battle before you actually take yours to the designated point!

Finally you have the Hunt. This is probably the most unique multiplayer mode to ever grace a game to date, and it’s thoroughly invigorating! In this mode, some players are ghosts and some players are already soldiers. The soldiers actually have anti-spirit weapons equipped, and the ghosts are there to do nothing but stir up some trouble! What is the main goal of this mode? For the ghosts it’s to kill the soldiers by possessing them and pulling them into the map’s death traps, and for the soldiers to eliminate the ghosts by shooting them with their weapons! This mode is particularly more difficult for the soldiers since it’s tough to actually hit the ghosts, so it’s always more entertaining to actually control the ghosts!

So all in all, the gameplay of Geist is truly something else in overall quality! The only thing that really suffers is the somewhat shortness of the game’s main story. It can probably last a maximum of 25 hours or so depending on how much you’re wanting to unlock all the hidden goodies. But really, the possession and FPS mechanics utilized in both the main story and the multiplayer matches always have entertainment value, and it’s something different which makes it awesome!

The ending of Geist is pretty good. The final boss is actually pretty tough if you can’t figure out what to do, but once you do, the battle is very cool. How the whole thing actually plays out is really the best part of it, because it’s not your average run-of-the-mill final boss fight. It’s almost like a something along the lines of a cross between Final Fantasy and the Twilight Zone. It’s just plain weird, but also very cool!

The ending cutscene is also pretty sweet, it will give a nice ending to the game’s main story between the two people that you encounter a lot in the game, and it also leaves a bit open at the end. Someone that you don’t expect to see at the end actually comes to rescue you, along with someone that you actually took control of at some point in the game! What is exchanged in the dialogue can leave you to believe that a sequel could easily be made, so let’s hope that remains to be true!

Geist has some excellent replay value without a doubt. The single player story is very well told, and experiencing it again at least once is almost a must. Then you have the hidden host and ghost collectibles which unlock multiplayer features and extend your spirit meter respectively. But it’s probably not likely that you’ll find every single one of those in each mission, so you should be motivated to go back and find them if you want to experience everything the game has to offer! The gameplay makes the story very fun, and you really just can’t get enough of possessing the things that you can!

Then you have the multiplayer. Like stated before, it truly rivals that of the quality of GoldenEye 007. Hours upon hours of fun are in store for those that wish to partake in it, and that is no joke. Just how fun it is to play with three of your friends or all computer bots will make you come back to it time and time again. Each mode has something fresh and unique to offer, so it’s really a no-brainer to want to participate in it whenever you darn well can! If you want an exclusive game for the GameCube that you are bound to want to play months down the road, Geist is most definitely it!

Geist is without a doubt one of the most unique titles from Nintendo to grace their console since it was launched. Nowhere else can you see a game like this, as it is one awesome game. Sure the graphics aren’t the best presentation in the world, and the one-liner dialogue can be rather drab at times, but when looking at those minor flaws and comparing them to the greater aspects of the game, they aren’t exactly detrimental to the overall experience. Your life as a ghost is incredibly unique, and the FPS mechanics will easily quench the thirst of all gun lovers that enjoy shooting ‘em up in videogames! Do you want an “out-of-body” experience that will most likely give you thrills from the second you begin playing to the very end? Well then, Geist is your game. The single player story is great, while being a little short, but that time inadequacy is more than easily made up with an incredible multiplayer that will have you coming back to the game months to years down the road!