Gameplay

Tom Chick hates fun

The key to Ghost Master is to realize it’s a puzzle game about influence. There are really very few ways to lose, the challenge is in beating the challenge times or freeing the ‘restless spirits’ that are permanently bound to their fetters, and adding them to your collection. To do so, you need to figure out a particular map, learn the habits of the human herd and their weaknesses.

A ground/air/outdoor fetter

All-girl threesome

Wild and crazy indeed

Each human has a conscious and subconscious fear. Any unnatural activity scares humans, but attacking their fears is particularly effective. Typically you settle for driving a human away, however, to get the big points it helps driving them insane. As with any good puzzle game, Ghost Master rewards you with points. Like a truly great one however, these points are turned into gold plasma coins, which you can use to purchase new abilities for your ghosts.

There are other challenges than merely scaring away the human infestation. You may be asked to herd them to a specific spot, guide them into a task, or to scare a specific human. Most humans are completely harmless, but there the ones out there who can banish your ghosts. They can be cheap psychic mediums or ‘Ghostrakers’ (think: Ghostbusters). They’re more vulnerable to your scares because of their initial high belief rating, but can purge a room very quickly. Sometimes the player may get a flashing yellow exclamation mark warning over his ghost’s icon indicating that the ghost is near being spotted, but when the red exclamation mark of banishment appears, it’s all but over.

Static

Aside from the rather quick binding and rebinding that becomes necessary to achieve a fast score or to avoid banishment, Ghost Master can be a rather static experience. For the most part, the ghosts just sit there, firing off their powers whenever the feel like it or whenever your commands specify. The player spends his time looking through the house for restless spirits to free and recruit, and to observe where the humans are going to.

Dream Demon is a powerful spell

Surprise!

Shriek away

The variety of powers is quite vast, but the effects aren’t all that impressive. Sparks, wavy lines, blood or water coming down from the walls or at best false fire will light a human up. The end result is always the same – the human runs away temporarily to regain their confidence, and then comes back for more. Eventually he’s had enough and goes away for good. When presented in this fashion, Ghost Master hardly seems fun – but then again, if you read about Puzzle Fighter Turbo, it wouldn’t sound too hot either. But when it comes down to beating that damn challenge time... it’s too hard to say no.