Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex Review

[SNap]

In this new, epic FPS for the PlayStation Portable, you control the stylish cyberpunk Motoko Kusanagi and her dim-witted robot accomplice Tachikoma. Based on the popular anime series in Japan, this prolific title promises wonders to this handheld console.

Graphics (7.5): This met the exquisite standards of the PSP, but still appeared very blocky and uneven in certain places. Like when Motoko fires her weapon, the flame which the weapon produces seem to drag too much and don't add up to a good experience. Plus, when enemies are shot, they seem to just 'magically' appear on the ground, void of any frantic moves like falling to the floor, clutching their wounds etc.

Gameplay (6.0): Although rather stale and repetitive, the player can control Motoko and Tachikoma with minimum fuss and ease, but rapid fire fails to work occasionally. A wide range of weapons is available in this game, but they all pretty much have the same preferences as eachother, like an assault rifle will fire at the exact same rate and power as another.

Design (6.5): The environment is pretty classy nonetheless, but lack of wall texture and variety put this baby on the cutting board. The clothing worn by enemies is repetitive, as there is essentially only 3 NPCs for terrorists. Obviously boss skins are different, but all characters should be different.

Story (9.0): This is where it shines. The on-edge, thrilling story sees you foiling bomb plots, hostage situations and the best part of it all; blasting away terrorists. While Motoko does most of the work on foot, she also has the option to enter Tachikoma and take advantage of Tachikoma's various guns and missiles. Also, there is always a variety of missions available, so if you are stuck, you can complete others and then come back.

Overall (7.0): Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex promised us a lot, but was let down by patchy gameplay flaws and awkward design physics. Only fans of the manga series will be thrilled with this title.

By SNap

[Imatron]

Assuming theres only one Ghost in The Shell game out for PSP (and the same one I own) Ill add that the overall game is a slightly sub average game and will apeal mainly to fans of the show itself, imagine ommiting an episode from a tv show and useing it as a plot for the game. While the game is a little under average per my opinion, it is sligfhtly addictive, espeacially for the tachikoma fans. You may select between several section nine members to play, however who you use makes little difference, and the Tachikomas still say "Yes Ma'am" to your commands even if you are not playing as the female member of the group...The only reason you'd find yourself switching out your character would be because in order to unlock more parts for Tachikoma customizability, you must find each hidden "Jameson type" cyborg hiddn on the levels and destroy it. Each character you use to destroy it and beat the level unlocks a hidden part, and thankfully to help you keep track the level select has an indicator of which characters you have beat the game with. You have access to customize four Tachikomas, each with a different ai that will wander about the area until you jump inside and take control. You do get a list of commands for your Tachi too, but they can be tricky to select, and most of the time youll be inside the Tachikoma piloting it rather than letting it wander about getting itself killed or allowing it to accidentaly kill a mission critical objective.

The addition of a multiplayer mode is appreciated but the chances of finding another player with the game is near imposable, and lacks an infrastucture mode to play track down players through the internet.

[pspcrazy]

Interesting review snap, this game definately does seem like one of the old classic PSP games that was ignored for some reason. I played this 3 years ago at my first comic con and it wasn't too bad at it, but I wasn't a GOTS fan back then. I'll check the game our but it does seem like this is a better story/anime then game.

[Imatron]

Agreed, it's a better anime and manga than it is a game.

I have the first and second season, plus the second and third movie converted for PSP. I used the sandisk MP4 converter to get subbtitles fr the japaneese only second movie...though I cant sewem to get episodes 17 through 26 of the second season to convert properly as the original view mode seems to squash it even when using the same settings for episodes 1-16. When I set it to full screen, being widescreen 16x9 it seems to squish it back into shape...