You probably never played Ghosthunter, but you should have done. Developed by Cambridge Studio – the UK-based team that would later renamed Guerrilla Cambridge, before being shutdown following the release of PS Vita’s excellent Killzone Mercenary – was published in the United States by Namco, such was the mistreatment of the title by platform holder Sony. But it’s actually a great little game – and coming to PS5 and PS4 as part of PS Plus Premium from 18th June.
The game is, effectively, a third-person shooter – although it’s somewhat of a prehistoric one. This title pre-dates Resident Evil 4 and Gears of War, so the combat is fiddly and archaic; movement is ridiculously restricted while you’re aiming. Combat sees you weakening ghosts before “capturing” them Ghostbusters-style, but there’s more to it than that. You can also control a spirit to solve puzzles or lure phantoms into specific positions.
While it received middling reviews at launch, this was a forward-thinking title with excellent presentation – and it’s one, ultimately, a lot of people overlooked. The North American version was updated to include a number of gameplay improvements and fixes compared to its European counter-part; this was obviously a time when patches couldn’t be issued, because whatever shipped on the disc is what you got.
We’d recommend giving this a go, to be honest – it was one of the best-looking PS2 titles upon its release, and it’s still got lots of interesting ideas despite its ancient and inconsistent gameplay. A single playthrough will take you about 10 hours, so if you’ve got the time and you’re curious about the subject matter and story, be sure to check it out.
[source News: 14 PS Plus Extra, Premium Games Announced for June 2024]
Comments 23
I remember wanting to enjoy this game back in the day but the controls were awful
This and Primal are underrated PS2 gem by Cambridge Studio.
Great review on YouTube by BoulderPunch if you want to know more!
Never played this one but Guerilla Cambridge closing still stings every time it's brought up. Killzone Mercenary is one of Vita's best games and still blows my mind how they got a shooter to feel so good to play on a handheld. I lost many hours to multiplayer back in the day on that game.
A real shame. I was hoping they would just take full control of Killzone since the main team moved on to Horizon but alas. I might need to give this one a go just out of respect.
Would love those horror games where you picture ghosts. Forgot what they're called.
Or are those Nintendo games?
@Specky Fatal Frame or Project Zero depending on the area. They're on multiple platforms. There's a couple of them on PS4/PS5 as well.
I’ll try it (last played on PS2), but like the first poster said, will probably become frustrated with the control scheme again. It’s a shame though, because I like the premise a lot. Give me a new Ghosthunter with a budget that Sony gives its third-person action-adventures (Maybe less than 300 million though) these days and I bet those ghosts would look real good.
Used to really like this back in the day, although I never got past the second level
Great game that had some remarkable graphical tricks up it's sleeve for that time.
@PuppetMaster yup, thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of both of those games back on the PS2 👍
This was definitely an underrated game when it released but it got a bit of a cult following as the years went on.
@Kiefer-Sutherland The controls are inverted. You just change them in the settings and they are perfectly fine after that.
I remember enjoying this one back in the day. Not sure if I want to give it another go if it hasn't aged well but the trophies may draw me in.
I nabbed this game for my PS2 a while back before it got too pricey at around $80 after hearing good things about it. Loved it, can't wait to replay it again on PS5.
Is this the one with Craig Charles in? Oh wait no that was Ghost Watch, and it was real.
Never played this one, but will definitely check it out. Especially if it has trophies
Vaguely remember this, it was surprisingly good, but preferred Primal from those
Both need a remake with modern controls though, because the controls for 3rd person games were very much in their infancy
Not overlooked at all. Tried to play this via emulation recently, ghastly boring (pun intended). Empty levels with no personality, terrible controls and sub-par voice acting.
Guerilla Cambridge was not shut down following the release of Killzone Mercenary; it was shut down following the release of the PSVR launch title RIGS.
Depends on how it runs , I recently bought g-police and started wars: the phantom menace and thry run terribly on ps5
And MEDIEVIL. Dont forget that absolute gem.
You’re right. This is definitely overlooked. In fact, I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that for all my Sony knowledge, this is my first exposure to this iP. Without this article I would’ve gone on even longer likely remaining ignorant of its existence. Even more embarrassingly, I misread the title as ghostbuster. I appreciate bringing this to my attention. Now I can rectify my status as a fake Sony fan.
Personally thought the combat itself was kinda eh and the controls were a mess but it was saved by its presentation as well as its cast of characters (the voice acting was great as well). Ngl, I think reboot of the game could work. Add some Blade influence and I'm sold.
Oh and fun fact, one of the ghosts in the game is supposedly a descendnat of Sir Daniel Fortesque, right down to even having one eye.
I've played this before, years ago, and I don't have as much to complain about in terms of the controls as others, nor the voice acting being weak. Disagree. Michael Gambon is on the voice cast, for one.
It does, however, start a lot stronger than it finishes. You can tell it was rushed at the end because it gets progressively weaker. A few of the puzzles are a bit obtuse as well.
Having said all that, there's a lot of fun moments (the banter between the protagonist and the AI especially) and the premise is a good excuse for fairly decent level variety.
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