Graphics: 8.5
Gameplay: 6.5
Sound: 8
Controls: 8
Replay: 5

Ghosthunter, a new action third person shooter from Sony Europe, is a game that is riddled with the same problems of many recent games: boring and frustrating puzzles. However, that does not mean that all is bad with this ambitious title. The game successfully creates a creepily intriguing atmosphere that suits the game perfectly. That, combined with a solid storyline, a great graphics engine, and spot-on voice-overs make this a game that manages to pull out as just slightly above average.

In the game, you take the role of Lazarus Jones, a young Detroit police officer who unwittingly releases spirits into the world. Hawksmoor, the bad guy in the game, is one of the spirits released in this process. He kidnaps your partner and now it is your job to capture all the spirits and save the day. Don't worry, you will be armed with your fair share of ghost capturing goodies. For instance, you will have a gun type weapon that will send an energy beam out and wrap around the ghost, and another weapon is a grenade that will detonate and capture them.

The game will zap you to different locals set all over the world. By going through astral portals, you will visit places such as an abandoned prison, a haunted old ship, and an empty ghost town. What makes the game so cool is the way you move around between alternate realities so seamlessly. The game is just unpredictable because you will be walking around and then all of a sudden the world will change and you will seemingly be in the same spot, yet you are in an alternate reality of it. The best part about this is that there are no loading times once you are in the levels. You get to play through the whole, long level seamlessly.

What drags this game down are the puzzles. Really, everything else about the gameplay is fairly solid, but the puzzles are just ridiculous. The problem is that they are so easy that they become a very big nuisance. Half the time you will know what to do before it even starts. Why do you know? Because there is really only one "option" on each puzzle. If you think the answer is too obvious, its because it is. The game doesn't try to trick you, there is one way to complete the puzzle and the game only presents that one way. However, if you can suck it up and just forget about this annoying aspect of the game, you will find there is a lot to enjoy elsewhere.

The combat system is really nothing spectacular. You would think that ghosts would inspire more terror than these ones and the gameplay would revolve more around difficult battles with them, yet in Ghosthunter the combat is very simple and basically involves circling the enemy and continuously attacking them. The AI really isn't that smart and it is pretty easy to kill the ghosts with just constant peppering.

Visuals in this game are simply amazing. For a Playstation 2 game, Ghosthunter looks incredibly detailed and well animated. The engine really pushes the Playstation 2 to its limits by making the graphics look better than some of the Xbox games available. What's so incredible? Characters in the game are detailed down to the very wrinkles and freckles. The game has a unique artistic presentation for all of its designs, for both friends and foes, that really makes it shine. Your own character and the enemies all look as if they had hours upon hours put into making them look amazing.

As for other aspects of the visuals, the detail in the character models and detail is also matched by detailed, well lit environments. The environments compliment the character design perfectly because they are filled with imaginative, artistic design that really captures the creepy feel and atmosphere. And the special effects? Awesome. There is plenty of spazz and pazazz in the special effects provided by the weapons and the spirits.

The sound department is overall very solid. The music is where the game shines, it, like the environment, perfectly captures the atmosphere of the game. There are also plenty of spooky cries and wails from the spirits to keep you sitting on the edge of your seat and wishing you hadn't started playing the game at midnight. Voice-overs in this title are unique and well done. The voice actors match their characters and their personalities very well.

Replay in this game is few and far between. The single player mode is the only thing available, no multiplayer of any kind, so what it's over, it's over. Unless you really love the game, you won't be playing this one again.

In the end, I believe this game is at least worth a rental. It really isn't deserving of a purchase due to a lack of replay and the gameplay will get old before you finish the game the first time.