Cheat Index - Geist GameCube Review

Call us cynics, but we can't help but feel that developers too often take the paint by numbers approach to videogame design. As a result, genres sometimes become saturated with formulaic clones of the same basic idea. Ask yourself, how many games have aspired to be the next Grand Theft Auto? Probably more than you can count on two hands. Unfortunately, one of today's most overpopulated genres is the first-person shooter, and again many of these games are so similar in theme and design that it can be difficult to tell them apart. Which is why some software houses have done whatever they can to ensure that their so-called "FPS" stands out from the pack.

Sometimes, we end up with a far better game and a more robust genre for their efforts. Few would argue with the stance that Valve's Half-Life series paved the way for smarter, more immersive FPSs than ever before, for example. Occasionally, first-person perspective games stray so dramatically from the shooter template that they can't accurately be contained under the conventional definition of an FPS. Retro Studios' fantastic Metroid Prime series, with its emphasis on exploration and puzzle solving, is one.

Geist, from developer n-Space and Nintendo, is another. Which is not to suggest that you abandon any notion that the game functions like a shooter, because that isn't true. Like Prime, there are shooter elements in this original take on the genre. You will pick up a gun and blast enemies away and you will do it on a regular basis. But Geist is much more focused on the act of possession -- of figuring out who or what to inhabit and then taking hold of the person, animal or object in order to continue progressing through the adventure. It's during these moments, which are commonplace, that the game proves to be surprisingly inventive and enjoyable. Unfortunately, a game engine incapable of matching n-Space's ambitions occasionally hampers the experience.

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