Published by: Nintendo
Developed by: n-Space
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Players: 1-4
Release Date: June 27, 2005
Written by: Andrew S.










Shortly after the N64 was released, Nintendo and 2nd party developer Rare had begun working on a first person shooter for the system. Such an idea was unheard of at the time. The PC dominated the FPS genre and most FPSs made on the consoles were failures. However, Rare nabbed the James Bond License and begun work on a game based on a two year old Bond movie. The day Nintendo unvealed Goldeneye was a pinnacle day in videogame history.

With a superb single player and robust multiplayer, Goldeneye would open the door for other FPSs to appear on the consoles such as Turok and Perfect Dark, Nintendo would dominate the FPS console genre for years. But this gen, Nintendo published Perfect Dark Zero was lost to Microsoft and the orginal Goldeneye dispursed. So what is Nintendo to do? Why get the creators of a Mary-Kate and Ashley game to make your next big FPS!!! Of course I'm talking about Geist.



N-space
Much of Geist's contraversy comes from it's new develper, N-space. N-space hasn't had a good track record. The company has developed a Mary-Kate and Ashley game and a Duke Nukem game. So think of the gamers' suprised faces when they learned that they would be developing a new FPS for Nintendo. Of course, Rare wasn't that big of an accomplished developer until Nintendo stepped in. When the game was shown at E3, it had iffy controls, but don't expect N-space to handle this game alone. This game is being closely watched over by Nintendo EAD, who is lead by none other than, Shigeru Miyamoto. Expect Nintendo to fix up any of the mistakes N-space and it to be given a nice clean over.

Possessing Anyone and Anything
In Geist, you play as John Raimi, who has lost his body to the Volks Corporation( Don't you hate it when that happens?) Apparently, the Volks Corporation is involved in paranormal experiments and it's up to John, who is now a ghost, to pentrate the corporation and regain his body. John sports some cool ghosts powers. For one, when in ghost form, he moves faster than everybody else. Thus, all the other characters in the game move slower to you. He can also go through some objects, such as chain link fences. But his best power is the power to possess people, objects, and animals. He can simply possess inanimate objects by simply going up to it and pressing the the possess button, but possessing animals and humans takes a little more skill.



People and animals can only be possess if they are scared or injured. You'll need to possess gun turrets, dog food, lamps, thermometers, you name it. Anything to scare you prey. But the real meat is in the gunfights. While in gunfights, you possess a person who has weapons and get to work. Mow down those who stand in your way!! But be careful. Once the body you're using it almost out of health, it's time to hop out of it or else you'll go down with it. Get out and find the next closest person with a gun to possess or else you may be shot down. The mixture of puzzle solving and gunplay should make for some interesting gameplay.

Unfortunately, it appears Giest doesn't make the best use of the GC's technology. Although it looks okay, it's definately not the prettiest lookng game out there. However, the game features some nice affects. When you're in your ghost form, a filter is added to your view, which makes the world seem blurry. Your view wil also change depending on what you're posessing. Humans will have the normal view you've come to expect, but possessing certain animals, such as a dog or a rat, will alter your view since they don't have as good of eyesight as people. Because this is an M rated game, blood will also be featured. What's special about the blood in this game is that it can splatter on not only the environment, but characters and weapons which is not normally seen in FPSs. All these elements working together make for a visually appealing game, even though the graphics aren't up to today's standards.



Deathmatch of the Dead
What would an FPS be without multiplayer. Although the game doesn't support online, you can still play 4-player splitscreen with bots. In multiplayer, you once again play as a ghost. At the start of the round, all of the players scramble to a body to possess, each with a different combination of guns. Once you get a body, kill everyone!! Don't forget to ditch that body once it almost looses its life. Even in ghost form, you are not defensless. You can use your powers to jack other players out their bodies and take over them. Those who have played the multiplayer say it's really fun and it's very reminisant of Goldeneye or Perfect Dark.

The wait it almost over.

Geist is to be released on June 27, 2005. This game has been anticipated for a long time. The concept alone should at least get you interested. Well, happy scaring!!!


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