Ghost Hunters, Amstrad CPC

Who ya gonna call............Ghost Hunters?

Game - Ghost Hunters, Codemasters

Release - 1987

System - Amstrad CPC

There were a lot of playground arguments about which 8-bit computer was the best out of the C64, Spectrum or Amstrad CPC. I didn't know anyone with a C64 so there weren't many disagreements there, but it was always the Spectrum v. Amstrad. I thought the Spectrum was a better games machine but the Amstrad did have some good titles.

 Wooooo!  Scary!

Ghost Hunters was one of them - it was a a sort of platformer crossed with Operation Wolf. The plot is simple - Professor Twilight (no relation to those annoying vampire films) has offered a big reward for someone to rid his mansion of ghosts, your brother goes and gets lost and you have to rescue him - I'm sure this sort of thing happens all the time.

In order to do this you have to work your way up through Prof Twilight's mansion by activating the lifts; the switches for these lifts are disguised a flashing objects such as goblets or books.  The main character is controlled using the joystick the twist is how you fire and aim. Hold down the fire button and move the joystick and you can move an Operation Wolf type cursor around the screen gunning down Dracula and his pals.

Grab that paper to start the lift!

The trick is to be quick with gun because the more enemies that appear on the screen the higher the Terrometer goes, the higher this meter goes the quicker your Macho Energy drains. You can top up your energy from time to time by collecting the bubbling potions. By adding a twist to the controls the game stands out from the average run and gun platfomers.

The graphics are functional but do not show off the CPCs varied and colourful palette as best it could, although the mansion and sprites are well drawn. Sound is also below par with one notable exception - speech. Metal Gear 4 probably has about 4,000 hours of speech, Ghost Hunters has one word, however, in 1987 hearing your computer speak was amazing. So, when your computer shouts "Ghost Hunters" at the start of every game you can't help but get excited.

The Terrometer is at zero so life is good

Like a lot of the Codemasters games from the 80s this is not an easy game and it takes a lot of practice to make any real progress, but persevere and you start to make inroads.

Summary

A simple platform game made more interesting by the innovative control system. There is nothing ground-breaking here but put it all together and you have a playable game. Make some progress through the mansion though and is does get a little samey.

Definitely worth a play, if only to hear the speech!

7.5/10