Save the princess?

After your girlfriend is kidnapped away by ghosts in opening movie, the game transitions from story to play when the camera zooms in on a panel and fills the screen. Finding yourself in Ghoulhaven Hall, you meet Crivers the butler. He serves as your guide and is most useful early on to teach you the controls.

Controls

The left thumbstick moves Cooper around, with all offensives launched by the right thumbstick. The face buttons serve mostly to pick-up and discard weapons, and the left and right trigger moves the camera.

Attacking only requires pointing and holding the right thumbstick in the direction you wish your punches, kicks, and weapon swings to go. The “Ghoulies” you’ll be facing range from small little imps and spiders to more traditional monsters such as skeletons, zombies and mummies. None of the Ghoulies will ever present much of a challenge to the conscious gamer. The only fiend to be afraid of is the Grim Reaper who is able kill you in a single death-touch (well, more accurately, you just faint and restart the level).

Fear the reaper

Playing though Grabbed by the Ghoulies involves simply moving from room to room and satisfying a certain criteria. Most of the time, it’s defeating all of the enemies. Occasionally, the game will twist things slightly to keep things fresh by being more specific about your short-term goal. Sometimes you’ll have to defeat a minimum number of creatures within a time limit, or clear all the enemies by using weapons only, etc. Failure to do so brings out the Grim Reaper, and he’s not here for a tea party.