Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

The Good
Being a Ghost in the Shell fan for quite a while now, I usually enjoy anything that really expands on the story of the series, so I decided to buy Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex for the PSP. Upon reading the back of the game, I was surprised to see that the Puppet Master was making a return to the series, and this made me quite happy...but who cares about the story, if you buy a video game, you buy it to have fun.

First off for this game is the new perspective, the oh so popular first person shooter, this being the first Ghost in the Shell game in First person, they did a pretty good job with the animations of the characters, but they could have tried better.

Next up is the inclusion of Ad-Hoc multiplayer for up to six players(but they all need a copy of the game), where you can use either Major Kusanagi, Batou, Saito, Togusa or Aramaki, each of whom have their own weapon setup and skills.

Luckily, Bandai got all of the voice cast from the renowned TV show on Adult Swim to lend their voice talents so we don't have to deal with sub-par at best voice overs. Some of the dialogue in this game is pretty stupid, but hey, at least the stars of the show are the ones who are saying it...I guess that's a good point, I'm really stretching the good qualities of the game out.

The Bad
First off the bat, the between mission cinemas suck, all they are doing is standing and talking, no movement, in one entire scene the Major just has her arms crossed, that's it, not even a simple walk across the room.

Also, if they're gonna give you a partner during the game, they could have given you a human NPC rather than an annoying Tachikoma, if it's not standing there jabbering, it's usually stealing a kill from you. One good side of the Tachikoma is you can load it out with your choice of happenstance artillery and then board it in your mission, but it's pretty much exactly the same as if you were out there walking by yourself.

And then there are the controls, I know it's the PSP, but first person shooters don't work on it. You use the analog nub to move forward, back, left, and right, and the face buttons to look around, and it's very complicated to do with a 4 inch screen right in the middle!!!

Plus we also have mediocre graphics that look like they could have been on the Playstation 1, this is the PSP people, not the Nintendo DS.

Add in a whole lot of stupid enemies, and load time every time you open a door(not to mention waiting an estimated minute and a half just to read the boring briefing about the same mission you did 5 minutes ago which you are about to do again), and you've got a crappy game based on a good series!!!

The Bottom Line
If you liked the series, the you could give this game a try, but only if it's under fifteen dollars, if not, then don't bother, and to the people who aren't fans of the series, DON'T BUY THIS GAME, IT SUCKS!!!