The Haunted Mansion: Fun With Grim Grinning Ghosts

Welcome foolish mortals, to the next installment of Halloween-inspired posts on Strange Moments in Gaming.  If you're a fan of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, then the game featured today is right up your alley.  This game is none other than The Haunted Mansion, a ghost-filled experience that is somewhat unique due to being based on a theme park ride.

Ready to dive into this massive house of spooks?  Ok then, there's no turning back now.

First thing's first, don't be deterred by the fact that this game was released in the same year as Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion movie, this game has nothing to do with that mostly-unfunny film.  This means no annoying subplots involving kiddies trying to face their fears or whatever nonsense happened in the movie (I've only seen it once).

In the game you play as Zeke, who has applied for the caretaker job position at the mansion, not knowing that the house is packed with nine hundred and ninety nine happy haunts (sorry, it's very hard to write about this game without referencing the ride's audio track).  Anyway, the truth about the mansion hits Zeke the moment he walks through the door and encounters his welcoming committee AKA a large group of ghosts.

Soon afterward we are introduced to Madame Leota, who you may remember from the ride as the talking head inside of a crystal ball.  It is here that you learn about the plot, involving an evil wizard who has enslaved the ghosts of the mansion and forced them to do his bidding.  In short, you have to explore the various rooms of the mansion while fighting off evil spirits and gigantic spiders, in order to restore peace for the happy ghosts who inhabit the place.

The majority of evil ghosts you encounter aren't all that scary.  They'll usually just spawn in large groups and then charge at your location, making them easy cannon fodder for your magical spirit lamp (your only weapon in the game).  However, there is one type of evil specter that can be somewhat freaky, due to the fact that they don't make any sound as they slowly stalk you through the rooms.  Once they get in striking range though, they will scream like a banshee to inflict damage (oops I mean "fear" as the game puts it).  I was pleasantly surprised to receive a couple slight jump scares from what I initially thought was a kid's game.

The best part of The Haunted Mansion though is its various references to the ride it's based off of.  You'll explore rooms containing the famous "changing" paintings from the ride's queue, as well as the statues whose gaze follows your movements.  You'll have a humorous encounter with the hitchhiking ghosts, and the singing quartet busts from the graveyard even make an appearance, complete with new songs to serenade you with.

In short, if you're a Disneyland fanatic this is a game you should have in your collection.  If you can get past the simple gameplay you will find this to be a game with a very enjoyable spooky atmosphere.

Welcome foolish mortals, to the next installment of Halloween-inspired posts on Strange Moments in Gaming.  If you're a fan of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland, then the game featured today is right up your alley.  This game is none other than The Haunted Mansion, a ghost-filled experience that is somewhat unique due to being based on a theme park ride.

Ready to dive into this massive house of spooks?  Ok then, there's no turning back now.

First thing's first, don't be deterred by the fact that this game was released in the same year as Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion movie, this game has nothing to do with that mostly-unfunny film.  This means no annoying subplots involving kiddies trying to face their fears or whatever nonsense happened in the movie (I've only seen it once).

In the game you play as Zeke, who has applied for the caretaker job position at the mansion, not knowing that the house is packed with nine hundred and ninety nine happy haunts (sorry, it's very hard to write about this game without referencing the ride's audio track).  Anyway, the truth about the mansion hits Zeke the moment he walks through the door and encounters his welcoming committee AKA a large group of ghosts.

Soon afterward we are introduced to Madame Leota, who you may remember from the ride as the talking head inside of a crystal ball.  It is here that you learn about the plot, involving an evil wizard who has enslaved the ghosts of the mansion and forced them to do his bidding.  In short, you have to explore the various rooms of the mansion while fighting off evil spirits and gigantic spiders, in order to restore peace for the happy ghosts who inhabit the place.

The majority of evil ghosts you encounter aren't all that scary.  They'll usually just spawn in large groups and then charge at your location, making them easy cannon fodder for your magical spirit lamp (your only weapon in the game).  However, there is one type of evil specter that can be somewhat freaky, due to the fact that they don't make any sound as they slowly stalk you through the rooms.  Once they get in striking range though, they will scream like a banshee to inflict damage (oops I mean "fear" as the game puts it).  I was pleasantly surprised to receive a couple slight jump scares from what I initially thought was a kid's game.

The best part of The Haunted Mansion though is its various references to the ride it's based off of.  You'll explore rooms containing the famous "changing" paintings from the ride's queue, as well as the statues whose gaze follows your movements.  You'll have a humorous encounter with the hitchhiking ghosts, and the singing quartet busts from the graveyard even make an appearance, complete with new songs to serenade you with.

In short, if you're a Disneyland fanatic this is a game you should have in your collection.  If you can get past the simple gameplay you will find this to be a game with a very enjoyable spooky atmosphere.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Fatal Frame: The House of Camera-Shy Ghosts

When you think of survival horror games, probably what comes to mind are Resident Evil and Silent Hill.  No matter what series you're thinking of, you likely associate the genre with zombies, which are the most widely used enemy type in survival horror.  Well how about we look at a survival horror game that contains absolutely no zombies at all, or even monster nurses?

What we're going to cover today is Fatal Frame, a game where the only enemies you'll encounter are ghosts, and plenty of them.  But how do you kill something that's already dead?  Well obviously you defeat them by using a camera, right?  Okay, maybe that isn't the most obvious weapon, but that's what made Fatal Frame a unique game, it was all about battling spirits using the magic of a viewfinder instead of the brute force of a shotgun.

In Fatal Frame you'll play as a girl named Miku who is searching for her missing brother.  Her unfortunate brother made the mistake of entering the abandoned Himuro Mansion, which is inhabited solely by the ghosts of people who were murdered there.  Miku finds her brother's spirit-destroying camera as soon as she enters the mansion, and so begins her terror-filled journey.

What you'll discover right away is that this mansion isn't filled with just a couple spooks here and there, ghosts are everywhere, and the frequency of the encounters only increases as you progress through the game.  The only way to defeat these ghosts is to enter viewfinder mode on the camera, and frame the ghost in the shot.  Immediately this adds some tension to the battles, because you can't move your character around while in viewfinder mode.  So you must stand still, helplessly watching the ghost close in on you while you power up an attack.

This is bad, this is very bad...

This isn't too difficult when faced with slower moving ghosts, but later on in the game you will encounter some brutally fast versions that close in on you in the blink of an eye, and are almost impossible to keep in the frame (the longer you hold them in the frame, the more powerful your attack will be, so keeping ghosts in the frame is crucial).  It should also be noted that ghosts can (obviously) float through walls as well as teleport to various locations in the rooms.  This makes it very easy for them to sneak up behind you unnoticed, and causes some pretty thrilling battles.

Some joyful ghost types you'll encounter include boss-style ghosts with massive amounts of HP, creepy child ghosts, ghosts with broken necks, and my most-hated ghost: the Blinded.  The Blinded represent women who had their eyes stabbed out shortly before being killed, and as a result they can hunt you only by sound.  You must be especially careful to creep around them because they have an extremely fast lunging move.  Taking a bunch of damage from these ghosts is usually unavoidable because they tend to appear in small areas with not much room to maneuver.

One of the Blinded.

Fatal Frame can be very difficult due to its survival horror nature; you'll take plenty of damage from the resident ghosts, and you must make do with limited supplies of first aid and camera film.  But the rush you experience after taking down some of the more challenging ghosts is well worth it.

Have you guys played Fatal Frame?  Were you spooked by the atmosphere? 

When you think of survival horror games, probably what comes to mind are Resident Evil and Silent Hill.  No matter what series you're thinking of, you likely associate the genre with zombies, which are the most widely used enemy type in survival horror.  Well how about we look at a survival horror game that contains absolutely no zombies at all, or even monster nurses?

What we're going to cover today is Fatal Frame, a game where the only enemies you'll encounter are ghosts, and plenty of them.  But how do you kill something that's already dead?  Well obviously you defeat them by using a camera, right?  Okay, maybe that isn't the most obvious weapon, but that's what made Fatal Frame a unique game, it was all about battling spirits using the magic of a viewfinder instead of the brute force of a shotgun.

In Fatal Frame you'll play as a girl named Miku who is searching for her missing brother.  Her unfortunate brother made the mistake of entering the abandoned Himuro Mansion, which is inhabited solely by the ghosts of people who were murdered there.  Miku finds her brother's spirit-destroying camera as soon as she enters the mansion, and so begins her terror-filled journey.

What you'll discover right away is that this mansion isn't filled with just a couple spooks here and there, ghosts are everywhere, and the frequency of the encounters only increases as you progress through the game.  The only way to defeat these ghosts is to enter viewfinder mode on the camera, and frame the ghost in the shot.  Immediately this adds some tension to the battles, because you can't move your character around while in viewfinder mode.  So you must stand still, helplessly watching the ghost close in on you while you power up an attack.

This is bad, this is very bad...

This isn't too difficult when faced with slower moving ghosts, but later on in the game you will encounter some brutally fast versions that close in on you in the blink of an eye, and are almost impossible to keep in the frame (the longer you hold them in the frame, the more powerful your attack will be, so keeping ghosts in the frame is crucial).  It should also be noted that ghosts can (obviously) float through walls as well as teleport to various locations in the rooms.  This makes it very easy for them to sneak up behind you unnoticed, and causes some pretty thrilling battles.

Some joyful ghost types you'll encounter include boss-style ghosts with massive amounts of HP, creepy child ghosts, ghosts with broken necks, and my most-hated ghost: the Blinded.  The Blinded represent women who had their eyes stabbed out shortly before being killed, and as a result they can hunt you only by sound.  You must be especially careful to creep around them because they have an extremely fast lunging move.  Taking a bunch of damage from these ghosts is usually unavoidable because they tend to appear in small areas with not much room to maneuver.

One of the Blinded.

Fatal Frame can be very difficult due to its survival horror nature; you'll take plenty of damage from the resident ghosts, and you must make do with limited supplies of first aid and camera film.  But the rush you experience after taking down some of the more challenging ghosts is well worth it.

Have you guys played Fatal Frame?  Were you spooked by the atmosphere? 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Ghostly Poes in Zelda: Ocarina of Time

What's Halloween without a good ghost story?  Well how about this: once upon a time in the land of Hyrule, a hero named Link encountered many ghosts on his journeys.  The ghosts are called Poes, and in this article we'll be looking at their appearances in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

In Ocarina of Time, you will encounter Poes all over Hyrule, but their main haunt is the Kakariko Village graveyard.  If Link is foolish enough to start disturbing the graves by pulling back their headstones, Poes will appear and begin patrolling the graveyard.  These ghosts are all pretty similar in appearance, wearing a hood which hides all facial features except for their glowing eyes, and carrying a lantern.

Expect to find a large concentration of ghosts here.

Poes will attack Link by charging at him while spinning their lantern around.  Trying to lock on to most Poes will cause them to go invisible, eliminating any easy slingshot/bow-and-arrow attacks.  Successfully defeating these ghosts will allow you to capture their spirit, which you can then drink (gross), or sell to a Poe collector.

There are various special Poes found throughout the game, such as Big Poes who appear at specific locations in Hyrule field, which fetch a high price at the Poe Collector.  Another example are four special Poes found in the Forest Temple, which must be defeated in order to advance to the temple's boss.

A Big Poe eludes capture.

While not very scary, these ghosts add a little bit of darkness to Ocarina of Time, and they are for the most part well-placed in areas of Hyrule that should be haunted (the land does have a bloody history after all).

What's Halloween without a good ghost story?  Well how about this: once upon a time in the land of Hyrule, a hero named Link encountered many ghosts on his journeys.  The ghosts are called Poes, and in this article we'll be looking at their appearances in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

In Ocarina of Time, you will encounter Poes all over Hyrule, but their main haunt is the Kakariko Village graveyard.  If Link is foolish enough to start disturbing the graves by pulling back their headstones, Poes will appear and begin patrolling the graveyard.  These ghosts are all pretty similar in appearance, wearing a hood which hides all facial features except for their glowing eyes, and carrying a lantern.

Expect to find a large concentration of ghosts here.

Poes will attack Link by charging at him while spinning their lantern around.  Trying to lock on to most Poes will cause them to go invisible, eliminating any easy slingshot/bow-and-arrow attacks.  Successfully defeating these ghosts will allow you to capture their spirit, which you can then drink (gross), or sell to a Poe collector.

There are various special Poes found throughout the game, such as Big Poes who appear at specific locations in Hyrule field, which fetch a high price at the Poe Collector.  Another example are four special Poes found in the Forest Temple, which must be defeated in order to advance to the temple's boss.

A Big Poe eludes capture.

While not very scary, these ghosts add a little bit of darkness to Ocarina of Time, and they are for the most part well-placed in areas of Hyrule that should be haunted (the land does have a bloody history after all).

reade more... Résuméabuiyad