Geist [GC]

Between new footage of the Legend of Zelda and talk of the next-generation Revolution console, Nintendo had a very busy booth at last week's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. So busy that some people overlooked the fact that the publisher premiered the first new playable build of its spooky GameCube first-person shooter, Geist, from the show floor. The game showed up in demo form, just as it did at last year's Electronics Entertainment Expo. The latest rev consisted only of a single level -- the very first stage in the game, according to reps on hand -- and the demo ended after 10 minutes, but it offered deeper insight into the title all the same.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, the n-Space-developed Geist is a first-person shooter with a twist: players become a ghost and haunt the hallways of top-secret corporate facility. The apparition can glide through the dreary location, or it can take possession of both living and inanimate objects, from dogs and humans to video cameras and keypads. As readers might have already guessed, these elements combine for some unique and entertaining challenges and puzzles.

The GDC demo of Geist opens up the adventure. Players manipulate John Raimi, a disease control agent deployed to the secretive Volks Corporation for reasons yet to be determined. A small military force accompanies Raimi on this shadowy assignment. In a setup that is sure to remind some of shooters like Half-Life, Raimi travels the dark, industrial corridors of the location completely unarmed. He's given relatively simple assignments by members of his squad, who bark out commands and cover walls in adequately scripted sequences that take place while gamers move about.

At first, there's not much to do. One of Raimi's initial orders is to rendezvous with another member of the group, who will bring him up to the situation. But before too long, the would-be hero's group runs into opposing forces from the Volks Corporation, which is shooting to kill. As small firefights break open, Raimi uses his PDA to interact with one of the computers in the facility's laboratory, and downloads data that shows the Volks Corporation has been conducting odd experiments on the cellular level. Gamers barely have a moment to ponder the information before Raimi is given a gun and challenged to take up the battle. And this is where the character's situation goes from bad to worse.

For the next several minutes, Raimi must devise ways to defeat gatherings of enemy soldiers. The main character's handgun operates in a near-impotent manner, requiring several well-placed shots before foes appear to give up and die. The soldiers feature ragdoll physics for added effect. In a few parts, Raimi is better off shooting at explosive barrels in order to explode groups of enemies. In others, he might need to crouch behind a wall, essentially ducking for cover, and fire shots at the opposition when the opportunity arises.

Geist still lacks polish in some areas. Players can easily move Raimi through the environments using a dual-analog stick configuration. However, the character seems unable to turn quickly or accurately, which means that precision aiming can be difficult without some practice. Geist's framerate is also occasionally jumpy, which is disappointing because the title's visuals, while impressive at points and passable others, are not as flashy as some other games, such as Metroid Prime 2, whose fluidity is solid.

Still, despite these criticisms we found ourselves having fun with the first stage. The concept is very intriguing and as the storyline unfolds, it only gets better. Before the end of the first stage, a grotesque, bloody, worm-like beast with massive fangs drops from the ceiling, impales a squad member and then decapitates the poor bastard. Afterward, Raimi must face off against the boss, dodging its deadly fireballs and shooting at its exposed mid-section. In another sequence, a pillar falls onto an enemy, flattening the unlucky soul and spraying blood in thick gobs. Clearly Nintendo is not attempting to limit the gore factor in Geist in order to receive a more wide-reaching rating.

There were two unfortunate truths to the latest Geist demo: the first is that the entire thing wraps up just before it really gets started. Eventually, Raimi and a small group of soldiers make their way to a point where an escape helicopter awaits. But before the squad can make it out alive, an invisible force jerks one soldier to the ground. When another goes to investigate, he is stabbed to death. We can only guess that the first soldier had been possessed by an evil ghost, a clear foreshadowing of events to follow. As Geist followers will already know, Raimi himself later becomes a ghost and is able to do perform exactly the same possessing move.

The remaining soldier, clearly inhabited by an unknown, deadly ghost, takes aim at Raimi and shoots the character before he can escape. Raimi's eyes close and he loses consciousness. The demo ends shortly after Raimi awakens. He opens his eyes and finds himself trapped in the middle of a high-tech device engulfed by a field of energy. The character screams and his soul is sucked from his body. It lingers in the air right above the abandoned frame. And that's it.

The second unfortunate truth is that the latest demo offers no look at what is likely Geist's most original feature and biggest appeal: the ability to take possession of items and beings. A Nintendo representative on-hand even admitted to us that, "the demo is not a good representation of the finished game." The same rep was kind enough to tell us about one intriguing puzzle that awaits gamers in the finished work, which will run about 12-15 hours.

In ghost form, Raimi will need to watch characters and learn about their phobias, and then use them to his advantage. This is true only because the hero can only inhabit the bodies of entities after they have been scared. So naturally, spooking them out is always the primary goal. In some cases, Raimi will need to take possession of inanimate objects to help his cause. For instance, he might need to gain access to a password-guarded door and so players must actually inhabit a keypad. When this is done, the camera will switch positions to show a transparent, underneath view of a guard's fingers as he taps the keys, revealing the proper code.

Definitely sounding good.

After the latest playtest, we find ourselves slightly less skeptical about Geist. In fact, we're downright hopeful that a little more time will be spent polishing response time and fluidity so that both can match the caliber of the concept and storyline, which are refreshingly original and exciting respectively.

We've posted new movies of Geist as it was seen at GDC in our media section. A word of warning though: whoever is playing the game -- not us, we swear -- is incredibly awful. That noted, readers can download by clicking on the videos link below.

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