Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Ok, the reason I wanted to play this title is because I am a big fan of the Ghost in the Shell anime. It was a revolutionary leap forward in the way complex and engaging science fiction could be translated over to the animation medium. So, being that I am such a big fan I thought I would be able to give this title a fair shake and not get a bunch of grief no matter how I scored it from all of the other anime fans out there. So please, all you die-hard fans out there, go easy on me and try the game before you send in your nasty e-mails.

First off Ghost in the Shell (GitS) is indeed a first-person shooter on the PSP. The only other FPS on the PSP was the widely reviled Coded Arms so I was thinking it couldn't get any worse then that, and I was right, it didn't get worse, but it didn't get much better either. As is the norm in GitS, there is a heavy amount of conspiracy-based plot twists and all sorts of different terrorist cells operating in this bleak and violent future. Problem is, there is so much plot and animation to watch that I really think it steals from the overall gaming experience. I mean, I'm all for cool cutscenes and little plot devices to help move things along.  But in GitS, there is an awful lot of watching going on (and not enough playing) and the plot is so thick with technical references and double, double crosses and back stabbing that I found myself not really caring about the plight of our four heroes (the same one from the cartoon) and their obviously contrived situation.

The state gaming commission released 2500 of these little fellas for sport!

Now eventually when you do finally get to play, you can choose from one of the four heroes featured in the game Motoko, Batou, Saitu and Togusa. Now once you get your character picked you can arm them with several different weapons that you select from a rather large collection. And you must equip and arm a Tachikoma, a sort of walking tank that fights alongside you. The Tachikoma provides the comedic relief as they are supposed to be a new form of A.I.  You can arm the Tachikoma with some of the games cooler weapons and in some instances actually get inside of them and control them. It's one of the game's better ideas, as often you must place a rescued character in the Tachikoma and then lead it out of harm's way. Plus with a quick pop-up menu, you can order them to attack viciously anyone who gets near you, or stand down and let you complete a stealthier part of the mission.

The missions, by the way, are fairly short and I breezed through the first few with a little too much ease, which is actually saying something because the controls on this title are not it's strongest suit. Using the control nub you can move your character around and with the four primary buttons you can look up, down, right and left. It's something of a stretch for all of us since we are all used to using the much more dialed in controllers of the console systems and/or the tried-and-true mouse and keyboard. Thankfully the game does give you an auto-aim feature that helps alleviate some of the difficulty of dialing in on a bad guy. But it is small consideration since the game really isn't controlled well. I am not a big-handed guy and the way my hands would clench up as I used the nub (which is set too low in my opinion) and the right trigger button to fire while using my right thumb to aim. The whole thing just does not work.

Hold still, you've got something on your face, I'll get it for you.

Since it is based on an excellent anime, I suspected that the graphics would rock, and I was right as far as the cutscenes were concerned. It appears to be a darn near lift straight out of the anime series and that in itself is pretty cool. But when it comes to in-game action, the game has a very strong deja vu feeling as you seem to run into the same bad guys over and over as you run past the same metal crates and parked semi trucks. The level design isn't all that inspiring either, as you can activate the map and see exactly where you need to go, so that really eliminates the whole "surprise" aspect of the game.

Likewise, the voice acting is straight from the anime as well and done with spot-on quality. The music and in-game voice work are also pretty decent but the explosions, gunfire and other action noises seem to be on the lacking side of things.

Gameplay: 4.8
Very bad controls on this one, I can't play for long stretches as it isn't at all comfortable. The auto aim feature helps, but still...

Graphics: 7.4
The anime cutscenes are directly ported from the cartoon, but the in-game graphics are filled with repeat characters, poor level design and small areas that don't do a good enough job of giving the game some depth.

Sound: 7.0
Paying the voice actors to reprise their roles was smart, but allowing the sound effect part of the game to fall flat was just plain mean.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
There is like six levels in the game each with three or four parts, and I flew through the first few with no problem. It's more of a challenge fighting your way through the very heavy and unnecessary plot.

Concept: 6.1
First-person shooters are new to the PSP, and this one is better then the other, but only just. There needs to be some creative thinking done if this genre is going to be a viable medium on the PSP.

Multiplayer: 6.0
You can go at it with some friends via ad-hoc if they, too, possess the game. The multiplayer levels are a bit on the small side and given the complete absence of cunning that is required it's not much more then an exercise in holding down the fire button.

Overall: 5.8
The PSP still has a way to go in the FPS genre. I must say if you are looking for a decent action game you'd be better off with SOCOM; this ghost just has no legs.