I ain’t afraid of no ghost….runner.
Well, you should be. Ghostrunner also known as Jack is one katana wielding, slip and sliding, wall running bonafide badass. No game comes to mind that truly make you feel like a quick as lightning ninja. Sure, there are plenty of 3rd person hack and slash games like Ninja Gaiden, Metal Gear Solid Rising and Onimusha to name but a few. None of these make your heart pump so fast or fuel your body full of adrenaline. Which is exactly how this game makes you feel.
What do you get when you put the difficulty of dark souls, the platforming of mirrors edge and the world of bladerunner into a pot? The answer is, this game. Never have I played a game where you need to be constantly thinking forward as you run and jump through a level, slicing multiple enemies as you go. You require a mastery of pin point accuracy and cunning. One bullet or mistake and you are dead. luckily, we are provided with a mostly generous checkpoint system matched with a much appreciated instant respawn system. You will die a lot!
Just like Dark souls, you get better and better and after numerous failed attempts you finally prove yourself and storm passed whatever feat was in your way. The sense of joy, exhilaration and pride you feel is second to none. This just makes the game all the more special. Ghostrunner gives you training wheels at first and slowly as you progress from the slums of Dharma city to the jaw droppingly beautiful top level, difficulty is steadily increased. The variety in enemies here has to be commended as for each new thug you face you will have to alter how you are going to proceed. Between fighting a multitude of enemies that require defeating them in certain ways matched with the fast and furious platforming this game will keep you on your toes.
The story line is quite foreseeable but it is played out very well. The voice acting is highly commendable and none of the characters bored me but kept me intrigued to see the plot play out. The musical score here is utterly phenomenal. The tone is just perfect! Reminiscent of old school Daft Punk and Tron, it always helps to keep you fully immersed in the world of Dharma City. I cannot congratulate the developers enough by choosing Daniel Deluxe to show of his craft here.
The story runs about 8-10 hours long but begs to be replayed. I myself will be waiting for my Series X to arrive before starting anew. There are plenty of collectibles to gather around the world but some can be hard to spot so keep a lookout. You may even find some very cool new katana skins!
I did encounter one glitch which till today is still affecting me. Every time I press back to customize my katana my game crashes, it is completely infuriating as sometimes I was set back 15-20 mins. However, there was one good thing to come of this. Areas where I may have been previously stuck on for 20-30 minutes, I absolutely flew through them. Showing my own level of just how good I was getting and it genuinely brought me joy to see myself smirk at how easy it had become from originally wanting to smash my controller.
I highly recommend picking this title up support the developers and have some amazing fun! Thank you to 505 games and All in! Games for the review code. The TOM boss fight nearly killed and I was so proud to have gotten passed it. What an adrenaline fueled extravaganza!
8.5/10
