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| Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Ghost
Chaser
1984 Artworx
Software
Programmed
by Frank Cohen
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text of the present article comes from the review published
in the sixth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(October 1985). |
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GHOST
CHASER
US
Gold/Artworx, £9.95 cass, £14.95
disk,
joystick
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Latest from the US Gold production line is Ghost
Chaser, yet another flip-screen platform game from
the States. As Harry the Ghost Chaser your main aim
in life is to capture all the spooks at Fairport Manor.
Not easily achieved as you have to get to the treasure
room which can only be reached once you've negotiated
sixteen tricky rooms choc-a-bloc with the local psychic
phenomena. Progress is further hindered by a series
of locked doors that can only be passed after collecting
one of eight keys scattered around the mansion. As you
might guess, the keys have not been placed with ease
of access in mind!
The
various baddies include grey spooks, which can be jumped
over quite easily, and random appearances from the Phantom
Ghost He follows your trail until you deal him a bad
dose of ectoplasm. On later sheets there are bats, skeletons,
fireballs and other deadly entities lo be encountered.
If you get touched up by a nasty, you go into a fit
of fright. Three such fits and you lose one of your
four lives. As is often the case with long drops, bottomless
pits are also worth avoiding, as these can prove slightly
deadly.
Control over Harry is fairly standard, using UP for
jump plus left and right to move him. Fire will unleash
a burst of the gooey Ectoplasm. After you have completed
the top half of the mansion, a painting slides aside
to reveal a secret passageway leading to the cellar.
At this stage you are given a password so that from
then on you can always start on the cellar level.
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.
Ghost Chaser
is
yet another platform variant that hasn't even got any
special features to make it stand out from the crowd.
I have a sneaky suspicion that when this was first released
it was quite acceptable but now it's showing its age,
having only just reached us after
appearing in the States some time ago. The graphics
are fairly detailed and atmospheric, the lack of colour
on most screens adding to the game's feel rather than
detracting. One minor gripe is the control over Harry's
jumps -- he pauses for a while before jumping, making
those all-important leaps over moving ghoulies difficult
to judge. To be honest, such an ancient game shouldn't
really be released at such a modern price, even though
Ghost
Chaser does present
a reasonable challenge with it's meagre 16 rooms.
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Presentation
76%
Good options and facility to jump levels.
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This
platform/arcade adventure looks as absolutely
ancient as the spooks that inhabit the Mansion.
The graphics are really muddy, with only a few
colours on screen at once, rather like an old
Apple game. The game itself is quite good fun
to play, although it does seem a bit dated. My
major niggle is the actual control of your man
while jumping about the place, it's terribly easy
to totally misjudge a jump and end up plummeting
down a hole. Perhaps it'd be better off with a
price label of about a fiver, but as it is it
doesn't really stand up to one of a tenner.
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Graphics 85%
Atmospheric and detailed locations
and good sprites.
Sound
51%
Equally atmospheric title screen
tune but few FX.
Hookability
71%
Initially, some interesting locations
to explore.
Lastability
61%
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. . but standard platform action does pall with
only 16 screens to get through.
Value
For Money 52%
Expensive for such old hat.
Overall
63%
Antiquated American software.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (30 Apr 2003)
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"Games of the Week!"
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