Yu Yu Hakusho Ghost Files: Spirit Detective
Score: 75% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Atari Developer: Screaming Games L.L.C. Media: Cart/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: Another FUNimation cartoon has been brought to the interactive field. Yu-Yu-Hakusho Ghost Files: Spirit Detective takes you through the first third of Yusuke Urameshi's adventures as the spirit world's newest employee. The graphics are typical of the GameBoy Advance - it doesn't try to push the system and is basically the same as seen in other tile-based GBA games like Terminator 3, The Incredible Hulk and Dragonball Z: Legacy of Goku. In most isometric GBA games, it is hard to tell what the status of your character is. In this case it isn't that hard because the characters have enough detail in them so that you can tell which of the six characters you have control over. There is nothing remarkable about the sounds and music of Ghost Files. Most of the time I could do without the noises blaring out at me, and the sound effects themselves consist of a limited number of whooshes and hits.
Gameplay: Yu-Yu-Hakusho Ghost Files: Spirit Detective takes the player from Yusuke's early and unexpected demise to his revival and first couple of missions as the Spirit Detective. Yusuke Urameshi is one of the tough kids in school -- he doesn't have good grades and he constantly gets into fights (especially with his self-proclaimed rival Kuwabara). So no one expected him to save a little boy from being hit by a car. When death herself (a girl named Botan) comes to collect Yusuke and confesses that no one expected his courageous actions, he is given a chance to reclaim life. When the young tough guy comes back to life (an adventure in itself) he is hired by Koenma (the prince of Spirit World) to become the newest Spirit Detective. As Yusuke grows in skill, he joins up with one time enemy, Kuwabara, and later two other demon bandits, Hiei and Kurama. Unfortunately, if you aren't already familiar with the storyline of the show, you may find yourself more or less lost when characters pop up out of nowhere in Spirit Detective. You will have control over each of the main characters (Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei and Kurama) as well as Botan and Yusuke's girlfriend, Kayko, during certain key times in the story. Except for the two ladies - your characters will level up as they defeat enemies and collect energy. As they grow stronger, they will learn their signature moves from the show. Yusuke will gain control of the Spirit Gun and Spirit Shotgun, while Kuwabara's Spirit Sword will become available. The two demons will start off with some of their powers - but even they will learn new moves as you progress. One of the problems I found with Yu-Yu-Hakusho is the amount of running you do across the fairly large sized maps. I found that after a few minutes of pressing one direction on the D-Pad, my hand would start to cramp up. But at least the game gave me plenty of reasons to run across these maps. Most of the time you are charged with missions like 'find all of Kuwabara's homework' which is scattered all across the city. So you may find your hand cramping up on a regular basis.
Difficulty: Yu-Yu-Hakusho Ghost Files: Spirit Detective is not an extremely difficult game. It can easily be beaten over the course of a weekend (at most). The enemies are quick to put down (and if they aren't, they are extremely predictable). In order to try and ramp up the difficulty, Yu-Yu-Hakusho throws tons of enemies at you. This isn't the best way to tackle this problem since all you have to do is line up the enemies so that they all take up the same space on the screen and then you just keep tapping the punch button. What Spirit Detective lacks in difficulty, it makes up in quick gameplay; you should be done with this game in no time.
Game Mechanics: Yu-Yu-Hakusho Ghost Files: Spirit Detective has a basic control scheme - you move around and attack pretty much anything that charges at you. Some combination of A, B and the Shoulder Buttons will release one of your current character's moves (depending on how much skill your selected character has acquired). Ghost Detective is a game for the fans of the show, plain and simple. Most people who know nothing of the show will probably find themselves lost rather quickly. This game should be seen as more of a supplement to the series - not a replacement.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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