Geist – 5 Escape – First Play

What’s going on? I can’t speak. I feel strange. The last thing I remember was meeting up with Tom inside the Volks Corporation and then making our way out when … wait I remember … I remember being … separated

I haven’t played a first person shooter (or first person adventure as developer N-space and publisher Nintendo have described Geist) in some time. I have not played Far Cry, Doom 3, or Half-life 2 and have only played a few parts of Halo 2. I enjoy a good FPS and appreciate the genre, but simply have not had regular access to the right hardware. As a result I don’t have a lot of recent experience to compare Geist to in regards to its technical merits or shortcomings and I prefer it that way.

When Nintendo described Retro’s Metroid Prime as a FPA I admit that I was a little skeptical of the new genre label. That was until I played it and felt that the categorization though subtle was appropriate, especially as you moved further and further through the game. When this categorization was applied to Geist I decided that it was something I wanted to experience even though I have been very skeptical of how the game would turn out.

My vision has altered. Everything has a saturated glow and the colors are somehow dull. The world moves more slowly as if I am not a part of it as I once was. I guess that’s the truth. I am not in the same world anymore. I am a spectator of where I once was. There’s another, like me that has been guiding me through my new surroundings. She’s a ghost. I can possess things. I can enter both living and non-living things and see the world from a new perspective and can make things happen. I defeat my foes by startling them until they are weak enough that I can control them, like a puppet. I can also use the environment. Ahh, look there’s a guard and an explosive box right next to him. I don’t need the gun my current host carries … I can use my powers more uniquely … the box … it’s now me … I explode … and the world slows … metal expands … his body flies through the air slowly as he passes through my world into the one after.

At this early stage of my Progressive review, Geist has drawn me in because of one thing and that is its unique gameplay and fun and new perspectives that it offers. All the other elements of the game including visuals, sound, and control neither enhance nor detract from my play experience. That being said, occasionally with widescreen and progressive scan enabled, I have stopped and taken notice of my surroundings. Some of the cooler touches in the game are the way your view changes when possessing different objects and creatures. The game draws you in when you are the laptop, exploding box, or pressure valve looking out the world through there creative and clever views. Control is standard FPS fare, albeit a bit lethargic. The story is just starting is to become insteresting. Aside from my current condition as as a geist, the story so far has a familiar Resident Evil like plot. There’s something up with an evil corporation in their secret facility and I need to find out what.

So there is a somewhat generic story, sluggish control, average sound, okay visuals and the strange thing is, so far none of that bothers me in the least. Being John and a geist has been a highlight above the mediocrity so far.

There’s a small hole in the wall … I wonder … the rats. Maybe if I bark loud enough they’ll weaken to let me change my skin into a smaller outfit. They’re scared .. and now one of them is me. As a squeak through the hole it opens to a pathway that bypasses the guards. This is where I need to be … now how do I get up to that crawl space. This body just won’t cut it. I need something larger, something that can jump … hmm … who or what will be my next tool.