News

Ghostrunner: Always Bring a Sword to a Gunfight

Published

4 years ago

November 2, 2020

We are living in a bit of a cyberpunk-issance. The Rutger Hauer starring vehicle, Observer, CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk, and now the kinetic roller coaster ride that is 505 Games studios’ Ghostrunner. This one takes a very different approach to the cyberpunk subgenre and explores an explosive fast-paced parkour based gaming.

Ghostrunner is an first-person experience that is just as much an action parkour game as it is a puzzle game. It challenges you to dodge bullets, slice your enemies in twain, all while maintaining a careful enough vantage point on the battlefield to figure out how to get access to the next area.

Developers, One More Level and All In! Games’ Ghostrunner focuses on Jack, a Ghostrunner by profession who must traverse Dharma Tower, the last bastion of humanity following an apocalyptic event known as The Burst. Even though Ghostrunners are badasses by trade you are overpowered and all but destroyed by The Keymaster at the start of the game. You wake up barely alive, brought back to life by The Architect a powerful force in Dharma Tower. Ultimately, you are tasked by The Architect to go out and destroy The Keymaster.

Ghostrunner is built up of figuring out how to traverse certain arenas by wall running, jumping, grappling, and taking down The Keymaster’s gang by dodging bullets and striking.

Throughout Ghostrunner, you are able to upgrade your systems. This is done through an inventive Tetris inspired grid, where you place as many upgrades as you can fit in place. This allows you to execute enemies by slowing time and slashing through multiple enemies at once. Several times though the game, you receive these upgrades and they seem to be perfectly timed to reinvigorate gameplay to make everything fresh again.

Ghostrunner

Controls are a mixed bag. I reviewed the game on Xbox One X. So, naturally, I was playing with a controller. I’m sure that this is a little more well built playing on keyboard and mouse. The starch feeling of the controller doesn’t allow the game to fully bloom. But, it doesn’t totally kill the experience either.

Now, there are moments where I don’t think that keyboard or controller would have had a large impact on things either way. There are some parts in the game where controls take a back seat to bad level architecture. This is especially true in a level that has you seeking out items in a stage filled with rotating platforms. It gave me one of the most frustrating moments in the game, one where I didn’t feel that skill had anything to do with dying or making it out of the level alive.

The game is built on repetition, prepare to die a lot. But, there are also moments that you can get in sync with this game and play to its beat, and those moments are by far the high points. Plus, dying isn’t too much of a hindrance thanks to forgiving load times and checkpoints.

The soundtrack drives this game. The electronic synth beats are a perfect match for your cold steel slicing through your many enemies combined with all that kinetic ninja work that you do. The electronic score fits well in a game that itself is inspired by the whole cyberpunk movement of the 1980’s that exuded this sort of electronic synth menagerie. But, it one hundred percent makes you want to not only play as the Ghostrunner but to be the Ghostrunner.

Ghostrunner

The abilities in this game never make you feel overpowered. Once you gain enough ability to take on enemies too easily you can always count on Ghostrunner upping the level difficulty on a new set of enemies. Some with automatic machine guns or some with forward facing shields that make use of your powers to figure out a way to quickly move behind them to lay a dispatch.

The world and color scheme of Ghostrunner is beautifully designed. Lighting and the cyberpunk beauty is front and center and looks just as good as the films of the 80s that inspired it. Not to mention the level design is constantly coming up with new ways to challenge you to traverse it in a number of approaches that are almost entirely up to your choosing.

Ghostrunner makes you feel like a ninja. A bad ass cybernetic ninja. That’s why you wanted to play Ghostrunner and that’s what it delievers on. It’s fast-paced rewarding and sears with kinetic action. Death never becomes too much of an issue thanks to smart checkpoints and almost zero load times after death. The 8 hour campaign is a blast even if you run into a bit of unrewarding frustration in some of its makeup. Ghostrunner delivers on exactly what you want, and makes it entirely okay to bring a sword to a gunfight.

Ghostrunner is out now on Xbox One, PS4 and PC and is priced at $29.99.

Peep our review for G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout.

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Related Topics:505 Games Cyberpunk Ghostrunner PC PS4 Xbox One

Editorial

Yay or Nay: What’s Good and Bad in Horror This Week

Published

3 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks.

Yay:

Mike Flanagan talking about directing the next chapter in the Exorcist trilogy. That might mean he saw the last one and realized there were two left and if he does anything well it’s draw out a story.

Yay:

To the announcement of a new IP-based film Mickey Vs Winnie. It’s fun to read comical hot takes from people who haven’t even seen the movie yet.

Nay:

The new Faces of Death reboot gets an R rating. It’s not really fair — Gen-Z should get an unrated version like past generations so they can question their mortality the same as the rest of us did.

Yay:

Russell Crowe is doing another possession movie. He’s quickly becoming another Nic Cage by saying yes to every script, bringing the magic back to B-movies, and more money into VOD.

Nay:

Putting The Crow back in theaters for its 30th anniversary. Re-releasing classic movies at the cinema to celebrate a milestone is perfectly fine, but doing so when the lead actor in that film was killed on set due to neglect is a cash grab of the worst kind.

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Lists

The Top-Searched Free Horror/Action Movies on Tubi This Week

Published

19 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The free streaming service Tubi is a great place to scroll when you’re unsure what to watch. They are not sponsored or affiliated with iHorror. Still, we really appreciate their library because it’s so robust and has many obscure horror movies so rare you can’t find them anywhere in the wild except, if you’re lucky, in a moist cardboard box at a yard sale. Other than Tubi, where else are you going to find Nightwish (1990), Spookies (1986), or The Power (1984)?

We take a look at the most searched horror titles on the platform this week, hopefully, to save you some time in your endeavor to find something free to watch on Tubi.

Interestingly at the top of the list is one of the most polarizing sequels ever made, the female-led Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. Perhaps viewers have seen the latest sequel Frozen Empire and are curious about this franchise anomaly. They will be happy to know it’s not as bad as some think and is genuinely funny in spots.

So take a look at the list below and tell us if you are interested in any of them this weekend.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.

2. Rampage

When a group of animals becomes vicious after a genetic experiment goes awry, a primatologist must find an antidote to avert a global catastrophe.

3. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren uncover an occult conspiracy as they help a defendant argue that a demon forced him to commit murder.

4. Terrifier 2

After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County, where his next victims, a teenage girl and her brother, await.

5. Don’t Breathe

A group of teens breaks into a blind man’s home, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime but get more than they bargained for once inside.

6. The Conjuring 2

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, Lorraine and Ed Warren help a single mother of four in a house plagued by sinister spirits.

7. Child’s Play (1988)

A dying serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a Chucky doll which winds up in the hands of a boy who may be the doll’s next victim.

8. Jeepers Creepers 2

When their bus breaks down on a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discovers an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive.

9. Jeepers Creepers

After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old church, a pair of siblings find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force.

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News

Morticia & Wednesday Addams Join Monster High Skullector Series

Published

23 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Believe it or not, Mattel’s Monster High doll brand has an immense following with both young and not-so-young collectors.

In that same vein, the fan base for The Addams Family is also very large. Now, the two are collaborating to create a line of collectible dolls that celebrate both worlds and what they have created is a combination of fashion dolls and goth fantasy. Forget Barbie, these ladies know who they are.

The dolls are based on Morticia and Wednesday Addams from the 2019 Addams Family animated movie.

As with any niche collectibles these aren’t cheap they bring with them a $90 price tag, but it’s an investment as a lot of these toys become more valuable over time.

“There goes the neighborhood. Meet the Addams Family’s ghoulishly glamorous mother-daughter duo with a Monster High twist. Inspired by the animated movie and clad in spiderweb lace and skull prints, the Morticia and Wednesday Addams Skullector doll two-pack makes for a gift that’s so macabre, it’s downright pathological.”

If you want to pre-purchase this set check out The Monster High website.