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Nov 28 2005
Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Review
PSP Game Review | FPS
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| Summary: Not a fan of the series? You might become one.
82
The Game itself isn't a port of the PS2 version. The story, mechanics and details are for the most part, a unique experience. Set in the year 2030, GITS provides a unique story away from the series. There is no laughing man, but there is definitely a wider conspiracy to follow through. The story spans 20 years and revolves around documents which detail an uprising in the Far North long ago. The action begins when a terrorist group decide to steal the historic documents.
The controls are nearly identical to Coded Arms, although some things are made a bit more intuitive with this game. There is an auto lock in the targeting system, but it's not just *click and instant lock*. It gives it a form of time based, realistic adjustment that locks on to enemies, but takes time for one of the 4 playable characters. Once you target an enemy, you basically push a button (down on D-pad) and it adjusts to the enemy, running and the enemy moving do affect the aim of your character, so it's not always dead on. Movement itself is actually very easy, and as well, you have to ability to push in any direction twice and quick sidestep or hop forward.
Most, if not all of the levels have interactive environments, but in the limited sense of opening doors and placing bombs. You can actually hack hack the top of mechanized tanks by jumping on top and disabling them, while they are moving. Cut scenes are all made with the games engine, and the characters are faithfully re-produced to 3D for the game, but the voices don't sync up with lip movements. This may be due to the fact that the game was animated for Japanese voice actors.
Playable characters include Major Motoko, who is basically an android. Batou: a cybernetically enhanced human with ocular implants, Togusa: a human Ex-Cop now working with Section 9, and Saito: A member of Section 9 that wears an eye patch and looks like a pimp.
Tachikoma's are intelligent mobile tanks. There are 4 different Tachikomas (Balanced, Aggressive, Intelligent, Humorous), but you can only use one at a time. Each can be colored and configured independently so when the next mission comes up, you can select between 4 customized mini-tanks, with different voices and different personality traits, including Loyalty stats.
All characters, including the Tachikomas, have individual stats and abilities. Tachikomas have the same stats, and have even more in-depth numbers focusing on movement speed and things of that nature, as well as Changing to the color of the tank.
Eac character has an extremely wide and suprisingly versatile selection of weapons, ranging from dual Beretta type handguns, emp grenades, missle launchers, rocket launchers, various derivatives of assault rifles, sniper rifles, sub machine guns, ion based rifles and more. You can also find upgraded versions of each weapon with increased range, speed and damage. Tachikomas have their own line of weapon attachments, and can actually hold and use any variation of 5 weapon attachments at once, including 2 shields you can use instead of guns.
The graphics in GITS:SAC rarely dissapoint. However, some of the car models and characters look quite bad due to crappy textures, making certain parts of the game look neglected. The rest of the game is very crisp. Overall, the visuals are more than acceptable, but not mind blowing.
All voices are done in English, using the same voice actors that are in the series. All the dialog come with subtitles, but there is no option for Japanese dialog. It's comical to have your Tachikoma note plainly that an enemy has been spotted and then say plainly "oh yeah! Take that!" as she mows them down.
The music in the game is your typical electronic, futurist sci-fi sounding stuff. Alas, there is no trace of the music from the show. Sound effects are decent.
The multiplayer feels like an afterthought. There are 8 maps to play on taking place both indoors and outdoors, but with only 4 gametypes (FFA, team FFA, Tachikoma FFA and team Tachikoma), there probably won't be all that much variation when playing with friends. You can toggle the auto-lock function on or off as well and configure a few other options.
You can play with up to 6 gamers, which means with the team game types, you can only have 3 per team. GITS: SAC is Ad-Hoc only. You can choose from a list of 26 names, rather than inputting your own, so when using Xlink or XBC, you might frequently see 4 other Foxtrot users online. The games limited multiplayer is fun and does add tons of replay value.
In the end, the game is fairly interesting, with a well thought out story, something that cannot be said for the limited number of other FPS games for PSP. The ability to customize characters and your friendly mini-tank are a great addition, and the large weapon list will leave you fully satisfied. The game is limited by its lack of online multiplayer.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is recommended for many FPS gamers, even if you're not into the series.
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Comments
Thanks for the review..
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lol Thanks for telling me you could actually control tachinkoman. If anyone wants to have Japanese dub with English subtitles, pick up the "Asia" version of the game. No problems with any japanese in the game as well as the menus are all in English. Expect my review of Ghost in the Shell soon.
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ghost in the shell seems cool enough, but are there any real 'mind blowing' fps games coming out soon? rather, are there ever going to be any 'mindblowing' games coming out at all?edited: Nov 28 2005
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tachinkoman fights sound fun
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Wow, if you think these controls are the same as Coded Arms, I want to try some of what you're smoking!
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The default controls are almost identical pixelator. analog or D-pad for movement (switchable) and Triangle,square,circle and X for look.
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I love FPS games but I will NEVER buy one for the PSP simply because of the control system. No matter how hard developers try it will never be the same as dual analogue. Real shame.
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knight, agreed. however the FPS games for psp have seriously been "dumbed down" so that if you miraculously found a way to use 2 analogs or analog and a usb2 mouse.. It would be the easiest game in the world. If only sony decided to put the analog on the RIGHT side, all of our problems would be somewhat fixed. D-pad works for movement, as well as analog, but D-pad + analog for looking would be great.
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Guess I will have to wait until PSP2 but that's for another thread.
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in coded arms, you could configure the regular buttons for directional operation...thats what I did.
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I guess konami and bandai made these FPS' for PSP only for lefties then.
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I'm a righty and I don't have any trouble playing CA or SWBF2. It's all on how easily you adapt. It took me 2 hours of CA to adjust to the controls.
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I dont think you got my point. but thats ok
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