Just recently finished playing through the Ghost Rider game for the PS2 so I thought I'd post a brief review. The game itself is a sequel to the recent movie starring Nic Cage, Peter Fonda, and the gorgeous Eva Mendes although the game doesn't require the player to have any knowledge of the film to enjoy the game.

Now, onto the details:

Gameplay: 7/10 - the comparisons made between this game and other fixed-camera action games like God of War and Devil May Cry are certainly justified. The melee combat is definitely inspired by God of War and the combo scoring system is certainly a nod to Devil May Cry's. The combat, however, isn't as fluid and intuitive as in either of those two heralded games but it's not bad either, and anybody who hasn't played GoW or DMC would probably be more forgiving of the gameplay than I am. One unique feature in this game, however, are the on-bike stages, which have the titular hero racing his hellcycle across some well-designed courses while jumping over and sliding under obstacles and battling an array of demonic bikers, exploding sharks, and other twisted highway scum, sort of like Road Rash in Hell. I would have scored the game higher on the gameplay if not for two, fairly major problems:

- During the on-foot missions, certain enemies are protected by a shield that makes them impervious to damage, and the only way to breach through their shield is to get Ghost Rider's combo meter up to a particular level as specified by the creature's shield. The combo meter, in turn, can be raised by landing successive and varied attacks without getting hit, the more varied the combos the player uses, the higher the meter goes. Sounds simple enough, no? The problem is that Ghost Rider has access to very few combos to start out the game (the moves are purchased by the player by using points earned from dispatching enemies) so battles against these shielded enemies can be long, and ultimately boring affairs since it takes forever to get the combo meter up.

- In the on-bike missions, there is no way to reverse your bike's heading if it gets turned around, which can happen if you collide with an obstacle or wall at an angle. When this happens, the player has no option but to quit and restart the level, which can be terribly frustrating.     

Graphics/Character and level design: 8/10 - an amazing looking game, especially considering the fact that this was created as a movie tie-in. The particle effects on Ghost Rider are some of the best I've seen in any PS2 game. The textures are well-detailed and while there are a limited number of enemies, they are designed fairly creatively and don't easily fall into the generic fodder camp. There's a ton of level re-use, however, since most missions have Ghost Rider simply going back and forth between the same locations, and everything starts to run together after a while. What there is however, looks extremely detailed and well thought-out.

An aside: One particular level, entitled "The Mine's Dark Heart" bears a striking resemblance to the Wendigo level in Activision's X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003). I'd swear it uses almost the exact same textures and level layout. Anybody out there played both games and think so as well, or am I just imagining things?

Story: 5/10 - The game's story and dialogue were written by Garth Ennis (of Preacher and Punisher fame) and Jimmy Palmiotti (best known for his work on the Marvel Knights imprint of books). They'd collaborated previously on The Punisher game which was probably one of the most underrated games of the past couple of years in terms of dialogue. Not so much this time, though. The main plot is a fairly bland and forgettable affair and the dialogue is pretty standard, exposition-laden material. It's not bad, but it's not good either. Still, I doubt many players or comic book fans are going into this game looking for good literature.

Sound: 5/10 - fairly generic sounding in-game music, and the repetitive enemy utterances can get grating after a while. I would've galdly played through some levels with the volume set to mute if the sound cues weren't so essential to blocking enemy attacks effectively. The motorcycle engine sounds are good, though.

Replayability: 7/10 - This game is short. Not just Marvel Ultimate Alliance short, but SNES short. I finished the game on my first play-through (on normal difficulty) in about 4 hours of game time (which translates to about 5-6 hours of real-time when you take into account restarting from save points, purchasing new abilities from the in-game menu, gawking at the graphics, etc.). On my second play-through (again, on normal difficulty), having unlocked all the combos and maxed out Ghost Rider's health, I breezed through the game in a little over two hours. Some people might think this a bad thing, but I think this actually prolongs the game's use... here's a game that doesn't require a big time investment to enjoy in its entirety, sort of like the games back in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.

Extras: 9/10 - This is where the game really shines. Blade, Ghost Rider 2099, Vengeance, and Classic Ghost Rider are unlockable as playable characters and even though GR 2099, Vengeance, and Classic GR all play the same as the standard Ghost Rider, I'm nonetheless tickled pink at finally being able to play as Zero Cochrane in an actual video game. You can also purchase concept art, "making of" featurettes, and promotional pictures from the Ghost Rider film using the points you earn in battle. The thing that really drives up the score, though, is the ability to buy comic books from the upgrade menu. These aren't the whole comics, but scanned pages of significant issues in Ghost Riders 30+ years of publishing history. The scans are relatively high-quality, and I had no problem reading the text on my TV screen.

Value: 7/10 - I got this game in a used game bin so I paid significantly less for it than a new copy of the game. I don't think I would've bought it if it were selling for full-price though. I recommend buying it if you can find it cheap, otherwise, it's worth at least a couple of rentals.

Overall Rating: 7/10 - a good solid game that's sure to please most Ghost Rider fans. Gamers who have no interest in the character will probably find little to engage them here, but it's still a decent distraction while waiting for the next God of War and Devil May Cry game.   

i didn't like this game
i would if i was a fan of ghostrider

My 8 year old son loves it. I haven't played it.

-MJB

If it comes out for XBox i'll get it!  I liked the movie, even though Nic Cage sometimes annoys me with his acting style.  And I like the character.