Ghost Ride(r) the whip!

Hi there.

As you've probably already figured out, this isn't Justin. My name is Griffin McElroy. Yes, I'm his brother. I'm a Broadcast Journalism major at Marshall University, and I love video games with a white-hot, fiery passion. I've been playing them for as long as I can remember, and to this day, still find enjoyment in blowing off my responsibilities to put some game time in the books. I like RPG's, action games, adventure games, and classic titles. I'm secretly a Nintendo fanboy, but don't tell anyone, alright?

We cool?

Good, then on with the post.

When my brother first asked me to help him write a blog dedicated to video games, I jumped at the opportunity with fevered excitement. To combine my two great passions, writing and video games, on a semi-professional level? It was too good to be true, I thought.

And then he handed me my first assignment - to review both handheld versions of Ghost Rider.

I tried to remember times in the past where I had wronged my sibling. I'd like to think that I've been a good brother, for the most part. I can't remember a single prank I've pulled on him, or any showing of innocent brotherly malice that I may have made against him throughout the years. So why had he chosen to punish me with... with...

A movie-based game.

Movie-based games, or as I like to call them, MBG's, are generally terrible. They are simple, mindless, stupid endeavors, often created as a way to cash in on a popular franchise. They simply have bad gameplay, sub-par graphics, and often, don't follow the plot of the film which they were based on.

In some cases, where the plot of the film is terrible to begin with, this may be a good thing.

Ghost Rider is actually a comic-based-movie-based game. A CBMBG. There's simply too many letters there for it to be any good.

My standards for the PSP version of this game were understandably low, and perhaps that's why, after a few hours of playing it, I harbor no resentment towards the game whatsoever. Yes, it follows all the criteria of a MBG, the gameplay is mindless and repetitive, the graphics are merely adequate, and the plot deviates from the movie within the first twelve seconds of the game. In all fairness, it's a new story. - Justin But despite all this, I actually found myself genuinely enjoying certain parts of Ghost Rider.

It plays like... well, let's just say that if imitation is a form of flattery, then God of War should be very, very flattered. Like, really flattered. At certain moments, when I was flying through the air, juggling enemies overhead with my ever-whirling chains, I felt like I was playing an expansion of God of War, where Kratos had decided to develop an interest in motorcycles, and also, his head was on fire.

Don't misunderstand, this game is not nearly as well-polished, or as finely crafted as God of War. While the controls are usable, they have been oversimplified to the point where the action sequences in the game can be completed with the repeated pressing of two buttons. The game moves on rails, obvious, blaring rails, made out of fire. You will fight enemies until they are dead, and then you will move five feet to the next checkpoint, and then you will fight more enemies, until they are dead. You will get sick of it very quickly, if you attempt a marathon Ghost Rider session. But in short bursts, which, in my opinion, is what handheld gaming is designed for, it's actually rather enjoyable.

(By the way, if you ever attempt a marathon Ghost Rider session, then you should probably brush the Cheeto crumbs off of your lap, and reevaluate your life.)


The bike racing sequences aren't bad either. I actually preferred them to the beat-em-up sections of the game. You'll find yourself flying down a highway, more than likely in Hell, taking out demons, who are riding on (as best I can tell) motorized dragons. You'll find yourself jumping lava-filled gaps, and sliding under low barriers, which will make you wonder who exactly designs these convoluted Hell highways in the first place. The bike combat levels are very fast paced, with stylized, slow motion sequences at certain stunt points along the track. I found myself enjoying these levels quite a bit, and wondered how the game would have turned out with just a little more TLC.

Another neat feature is your ability to upgrade the titular character's stats and moves by completing special (and impossible) challenges in each level. However, the points you earn by completing these challenges can also be spent on unlockable bonus features, such as artwork, making-of documentaries, and best of all, actual Ghost Rider comic books. I appreciated the irony in the fact that by the sixth level, my character was overwhelmingly weak, due to the fact that I had spent all my upgrade points on comics. The parallels to my own life were alarming.

Ghost Rider for Game Boy Advance was pretty much the same. While I prefer my GBA titles to be either RPG's or ports of Super Nintendo games, the controls are tight, the gameplay is enjoyable, and the graphics are pleasant. It's exactly what you would expect of a GBA port of a game on a console system.

All in all, the handheld versions of Ghost Rider won't revolutionize the industry. But, I don't know, if you really liked the movie, or you don't have the patience to wait two weeks for God of War II, then perhaps Ghost Rider might be right up your alley.

Consider this a challenge, or perhaps even a plea to all video game developers currently working on a MBG.

Surprise me.