Ghost Rider (2007) PS2 Game

Rating: 2 out 5 chain whips

Plot Synopsis:  It’s really kinda bullshit.  But I guess the Devil threatens Johnny’s girlfriend with something, there’s something about Blackhearts body.  Also Blade get’s involved.  I’ve played most of the game and I have no idea what the hell is happening, I just beat dudes with a chain and shoot them in the face with a shotgun.

The Good:

-It plays exactly like God of War and Devil May Cry.  Those were pretty good games so they could have stolen from worse.

-Tons of guest stars.  If you like the Ghost Rider universe then you will see pretty much every bad guy that Ghost Rider has ever fought since the 90’s.  Also a bunch of skins allow you to play as a variety of Ghost Rider’s.

- If you can make it to the end then you can play as Blade.  I haven’t gotten to that yet but honestly it’s the only reason I would go back to the game at this point.

-The shotgun, it’s strange but it is by far the most satisfying weapon in your arsenal.  It sounds cool, the feedback on the controller is nice, it does an appropriate amount of damage to enemies.  If feels like something powerful.  It usually drains one “link” of your energy “chain” (basically your magic points) but you do unlock it for use in at least one combo that allows you to use it for free and it swiftly became my bread and butter combo.  I like it, I just wish I could use it more.

-The Penance Stare is also pretty satisfying to use.

-The fighting sound effects are good as well.  The sound of the chain, the shotgun or just your fists pounding on demons has weight and oomph to it.  Enemies are reactive and you feel pretty bad ass when you get a good combo going.

The Bad:

-It plays like God of War and Devil May Cry.  So everything that makes those games annoying also makes this game annoying.  It get’s repetitive and I’m not a real fan of either game for long stretches.

-The story is incredibly paper thin, like Cuban DMV paper thin, and relies almost entirely on coincidence and random occurrence to bring all the players into the game.

-Not enough shotgun, seriously, I would love to just use it to push back the hordes or whittle away a boss from a distance but you really have to save it and even then you have to debate if something is worth a shotgun blast or if you should just save it and use your Penance Stare.  There’s 3^rd special that involves you breaking your chain and sending the links flying but I never found much use for it, it’s shotgun or Stare, nothing in-between.

-The riding levels really wear on you after a while.  The breakdown goes like this: fightin’ level, ridin’ level, fightin’ level, ridin’ level, etc.  The ridin’ levels get pretty tedious with how they are laid out and what goes on in them.

The Ugly:

-The voice acting is terrible.  No one sounds like they’re supposed to there isn’t really any drama or tension, things just happen and people just say stuff and none of it relates to anything.

Final Thoughts:  I got the game for less than $5 when Gamestop blew out their PS2 games.  I will say that it was worth every penny of that.  It’s certainly not worth more.  Give it a shot if you like God of War/Devil May Cry style game play and/or Ghost Rider.