Ghoul Panic
released on Dec 31, 2000
Ghoul Panic is a comedy adventure game, set in a haunted mansion. Using a PlayStation light-gun, take on the might of vampires, monsters, mummies, skeletons and spooks to open the locked doors and uncover hidden bonuses. A conversion of the arcade game, with 3 difficulties and hidden game modes. There are also PlayStation exclusive game modes, including Survival, Adventure and Remix.
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I never had the light gun accessory, which I suppose was half the gimmick of this one, but none the less I remember enjoying it well enough as a kid. No reason int he world to revisit it, but a fun memory.
This review is my impressions so far.
On the surface it appears to be a charming and inviting light gun game. A few positives I have so far: presentation is charming and nice to look at, character designs are appealing and the game runs smoothly despite frequent loading, I liked some of the music too. Theoretically the boss fights and gimmicky ideas would be fun. Actually playing it though I was completely unprepared.
I have some problems with this game. The arcade game it is based on really seems to be intended to get more credits out of players, and the PS1 port did not re-balance this.
The first thing I did was go into the main arcade mode and choose the easiest option, I didn't have a light gun yet but the control for a regular controller was surprisingly good, it's smooth and has a nice momentum to it that makes it work really well. There wasn't much resistance in terms of difficulty, first impressions were great.
As soon as I tried the normal mode things fell apart (I had a light gun by this point). Just the NORMAL mode has a massive jump in difficulty, every single mini game suddenly expected near perfection. The difficulty balance is a mess.
Another problem is the kind of minigames the game contains.
Too many of these expect you to shoot one rapidly moving object with no mistakes you get one bullet and that's it, this is a light gun game with no cursor.
This wouldn't be so bad if the hitboxes were better.
There were several times when I could see the hit spark from my shot clearly over an enemy and it wouldn't count, the moving 3D models you have to shoot make these hitboxes nebulous and hard to discern, it should be easy and satisfying but it's not. and as usual the goal score is unreasonable. This is possibly because I am not good at these kinds of games.
Several are just button/trigger mashing fests that expect too much from the player.
I got the impression the game is balanced for 2 players, yet it doesn't adjust the requirements in one player.
The last thing I want to do after a long day of work is to come home and mash until my arms ache while getting a migraine as the game says I didn't hit the button nearly enough or refuses to count my hits, so far this game was pure frustration.
I'm hoping a second player improves this drastically, and that the other modes are a bit more forgiving. Those other modes use the same pool of mini-games so my hopes aren't very high on this one. I might need to just get practice I guess.
A significant part of this games identity is the light gun, and yet it doesn't feel balanced around that kind of playstyle at all. It's just way better with a controller, it's so backwards
I've always seen light gun games as a coin-stealing throwaway novelty, and this game only has worsened my perception. I'll give it another chance and try the other modes soon but my hopes aren't high.
On the surface it appears to be a charming and inviting light gun game. A few positives I have so far: presentation is charming and nice to look at, character designs are appealing and the game runs smoothly despite frequent loading, I liked some of the music too. Theoretically the boss fights and gimmicky ideas would be fun. Actually playing it though I was completely unprepared.
I have some problems with this game. The arcade game it is based on really seems to be intended to get more credits out of players, and the PS1 port did not re-balance this.
The first thing I did was go into the main arcade mode and choose the easiest option, I didn't have a light gun yet but the control for a regular controller was surprisingly good, it's smooth and has a nice momentum to it that makes it work really well. There wasn't much resistance in terms of difficulty, first impressions were great.
As soon as I tried the normal mode things fell apart (I had a light gun by this point). Just the NORMAL mode has a massive jump in difficulty, every single mini game suddenly expected near perfection. The difficulty balance is a mess.
Another problem is the kind of minigames the game contains.
Too many of these expect you to shoot one rapidly moving object with no mistakes you get one bullet and that's it, this is a light gun game with no cursor.
This wouldn't be so bad if the hitboxes were better.
There were several times when I could see the hit spark from my shot clearly over an enemy and it wouldn't count, the moving 3D models you have to shoot make these hitboxes nebulous and hard to discern, it should be easy and satisfying but it's not. and as usual the goal score is unreasonable. This is possibly because I am not good at these kinds of games.
Several are just button/trigger mashing fests that expect too much from the player.
I got the impression the game is balanced for 2 players, yet it doesn't adjust the requirements in one player.
The last thing I want to do after a long day of work is to come home and mash until my arms ache while getting a migraine as the game says I didn't hit the button nearly enough or refuses to count my hits, so far this game was pure frustration.
I'm hoping a second player improves this drastically, and that the other modes are a bit more forgiving. Those other modes use the same pool of mini-games so my hopes aren't very high on this one. I might need to just get practice I guess.
A significant part of this games identity is the light gun, and yet it doesn't feel balanced around that kind of playstyle at all. It's just way better with a controller, it's so backwards
I've always seen light gun games as a coin-stealing throwaway novelty, and this game only has worsened my perception. I'll give it another chance and try the other modes soon but my hopes aren't high.
used to play this light gun game with a controller. Still loved it though.