Ghost It's a lucky title. His exit window put him in competition, initially, with a title of well another carriage, with which he would hardly have got to compete, that is Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt However, it has recently announced the long-awaited postponement of RPG and this has left many fans of the genre with an insatiable thirst. Ghost comes to their rescue by offering a cyberpunk adventure that, although short, will make the wait of December 10 a little less unbearable (because it is the definitive date, which we are not sure of). But just talk about his most famous cousin, and let's go see what left us this ten hours in the world of Ghost.
This content is provided by YouTube. To view it, you must allow external content. Activation may result in data being shared with the third party.
ย
A little story.
After a cataclysm what remains of the Earth's population lives Dharma Tower, an archology in which poverty, violence and chaos reign. Designed and built by the mysterious Architect, now missing, the tower now belongs to Keywords, a despot that from the high planes of Dharma Tower reigns over what remains of humanity.
And although these first lines could be likely to be a story of the next 2021, fortunately we are only talking about the setting where the title develops. One More Level and Ironworks Slips. In all this we assume control of Jack the Ghostrunner, an unstoppable and incredibly agile war machine, armed with a very loyal Katana. Jack, the protagonist, is probably one of the last members of his line: the Ghostrunners had in fact been conceived by the Architect to act as a police force able to maintain the order within the Tower. As soon as the title is launched, we are greeted by the only cut-scene in the game, where our Jack is brutally defeated by Mara, the Keymaster, and thrown to the abysses of the Tower. But, theater blow, the Ghostrunner is still alive, it was repaired by a group of Rebels called "Climbing" and is guided by Adam., an IA that preserves the consciousness of the Architect, to climb the Tower again, to reach Mara again, and revenge, finally ending his dictatorship.
The story is divided into 17 levels, of variable duration, in which the evolution of the plot will be told exclusively by voices outside the field, that already mentioned by Adam, and that of Zoe., a rebel climber survived the purges of Mara, which will help us during our ascent. The plot is quite simple, but it is difficult to follow, as most dialogues will take place during the platforming phases that interspers the phases of combat. This has often led me to lose important parts of dialogue just because it concentrates on understanding where to go and choosing the right timing for the acrobatics necessary to proceed in the level. I probably should have waited until the end of the dialogues before leaving with the parkour...but the plot is absolutely not the strong point of the title therefore patience.
Aaaand you're dead
"Violence, speed, momentum", Ghostrunner's gameplay could be summed up by this famous phrase from the DrDisrespect streamer. Our protagonist is in fact endowed with a superhuman agility that allows him to run indefinitely on the walls, use a grapple to cling to the protrusions, and to take forward slowing down time, so as to dodge incoming blows. This, combined with the ability to fetch enemies with only one shot of Katana, makes it a deadly machine. Be careful, however, do not believe you are invincible: a single unscrupulous or unscheduled blow to the sender with your Katana will send you to the other world, forcing you to repeat the whole section: if on the one hand the mechanics "One shot-One kill" turns out very pleasant when it comes to squandering enemies, on the other will provoke you not little frustration, when you will find yourself for the 157th time in a row in front of the screen "You're dead" (every reference to my experience with the game is purely random). And as if not enough, at the end of each level the game will keep us reminding you how disgusting you are, showing you the time of completion and the death count for the level, comparing it with your friends who own the game.
Ghostrunner is an impietous title, damn punitive, but at the same time addicted. Yes, because it takes on the fluidity with which developers have conceived and realized the gameplay, in which parkour and fencing mix in a perfect combination, it is damn pleasant and inevitable. If we add to this majestic musical background, which transports us with sounds ranging from Retrowave to Synthwave, from dirty Techno to the most chaotic Electro; as well as the neon hypnotizers of Dharma Town, well, it is clear that finding yourself stuck to the screen with the same clarity of a toxic to a rave will be a matter of a moment. And there is no more serious error: yes, because Ghostrunner requires, demands perfection, and as such requires our utmost attention and responsiveness, and very often will not be enough. Being able to complete a painting "at the first stroke", is difficult, very difficult. Don't think about throwing yourself in the mix starting to lie fendents to the right and missing, because you will last very little, very little. It will be necessary to learn the position of enemies, the possibilities of movement, their blind corners and their weaknesses in order to act accordingly. Do not be afraid to die, it is absolutely necessary.
At first the paintings are simpler, it is true, but we will still have to take confidence with the combat and movement system. As soon as we begin to feel cyber-ninja tests, here is that the game feeds us to decuplicated enemies, increasingly stronger, quick and deadly. You pass from simple armed scagnozzi of gun and soldiers equipped with machine gun, from soldiers shielded by an impenetrable shield to deadly mech shooter-laser. There's nothing for everyone, but in the end, the only thing that matters is that everyone will go down with one shot. And when you feel you can manage multiple enemies with different features, here comes the bosses, with even greater difficulty. Ghostrunner is a continuous race, yes, a continuous race to try not to stay back, not to be overwhelmed by the difficulty that increases, sometimes even disproportionately and illogically, as for example happens when we face the first boss. I don't want to spoiler but know that only that boss-fight took about 60 minutes of play (one full hour, on a total game-time to complete the title just under 10 hours) as well as the beauty of 217 dead. It's at times like what my desire to keep going, with the mouse that dangerously went towards the "Uninstall" button, and it's also in those moments that I thought about how Ghostrunner is not, and cannot be, a title for all, therefore be careful, do not buy it exclusively because you are in abstinence from Cyberpunk, because you may be painfully sloppy.
In addition to the often difficult and poorly calibrated volentier, there are also sections that I found definitely out of place in such a title. I'm talking about the intermezzos in CyberVoid, a digital network that our Jack can access to to acquire power-ups for his abilities. How can one think that in a hectic and adrenaline title like this of the PUZZLE sections can be a good idea? I understand that I want to lower the pace every once in a while, but when you get to have alt-tabbare to look for the solution to an enigma on the internet, well I think you're a little overreacted. Moreover the rewards we will get, that is special skills for our ghostrunner, they are anything but fundamental. Among these are, for example, the ability to launch a remote fender capable of killing multiple enemies at the same time, or the ability to take control of an enemy and make it our ally for a short time. It would seem very interesting but, in fact, their utility during my gaming experience was almost zero. Often, in the frenzy of the fights, I forgot to have them available, and when I tried to use them often everything was in a stupid death, because the shot given by the skill led me inexorably to fall from the platform where I was, or because the lock-system of the skill did not work properly. However, it is interesting to manage skill upgrades, which we will unblock by proceeding, and that we will be able to equip through an inventory tetris style, where each upgrade will have the form of a certain piece that will be framed with others to obtain our ideal load-out. Cute yes, but once again of poor utility.
It is not all gold that glitters
Take control of a lethal cyberninja and incedere squartando and dilandiando to katana blows for the dystopian suburbs of a post-apocalyptic tower really sounds very well, it must be admitted, but the way that all this has been implemented in Ghostrunner? Here's the trouble. Let's start with the main question, the difficulty. That a game was designed to be difficult, it is understandable and honest. Also players generally like it, see the various From Software titles. The problem here arises when the difficulty is used illogically and disproportionately, dismantling perhaps even the game itself, and trying to stretch its longevity, otherwise really modest. Of the 10 hours played, probably no more than a couple would be needed to finish the title, I had not had to die so many times.
If a title is based on speed, rhythm, fluidity of movement, how can all this get married to the hundreds of interruptions due to our dead pitiful? It is clear that, of course, there is little left, and all is reduced to a trial and error at times unbearably frustrating. Unfortunately, the various problems that affect Katana's hitbox and IA's management of movement must also be added to this. In a game that requires perfection it is necessary that controls and behavior of the character and enemies are sufficiently precise and "consistent", coherent. This unfortunately does not always happen in Ghostrunner. Among fendents unmotivately gone blank due to hitbox dancers, input lag that will fatally miss fundamental jumps, and our character who does not understand to have to run on the wall and lets himself beatly go to a mortal leap of faith, many, too many of the dead who will share our experience on this title will be attributable to other than our lack of skill or readiness of reflections. Moving from the infallible Jack, ghostrunner redivivo, to Micheal Scott of The Office (see gif) will be an excessively frequent tragicomic experience, too, we repeat, for a title that requires perfection.
Another note of demerit, alas, for levels. With the exception of a couple of them, the rest is very little inspired by what had appeared in trailer and concept art on the net. The excessive linearity of the same also seems to oblige the player, especially in the fighting phases, to take a precise path to complete the picture, punishing almost the alternatives thought by the player. It is therefore reduced to a kind of training for a fantomatic speed-run, which forces to repeat even seemingly trivial sections, effectively destroying the reputation of our ghostrunner, degraded by infallible automaton to repeating robots, in an almost comic way.
Technically speaking
We tested the title on PC, in resolution 3440x1440 (UWQHD) with all "High" settings, without Ray-tracing. These settings allowed us to maintain a frame-rate fairly constant on 75-80fps with a GTX 1080, we are still widely above 60fps, minimum frame-rate, according to us, to be able to enjoy at the best of a frenetic title in person like this. Graphical realization does not cry to the miracle but is more than enough. Excellent instead of the audio compartment, with a noteworthy doppage and a fearful soundtrack that perfectly matches the title and mood. However, we cannot avoid mentioning the already mentioned problems regarding input-lag and hitbox that we hope will be taken into account and solved with later patches, thus improving substantially the game experience.
Ghost is a challenging, difficult title, sometimes cruel. To be killed by a flying bullet when you are one step away from closing a painting on which you spent the previous 20-30 minutes breaks your heart. It also knows how to be fun though, giving remarkable satisfaction when you slip, run on the walls and precise defenders we can open the way to the next room. Short but intense, it could be said, with its tens of middle hours necessary to see the tail titles, hours infarcite of imprecations, sweat and tears. A title for lovers of challenges, who are not afraid to explore the limits of their abilities and, above all, their bearing. At the recommended price 29.99โฌ, Ghostrunner is currently available on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One, but the version for Nintendo Switch and for next-gen consoles, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X.
ย
ย
ย
ย
ย
ย
ย
About the Author
