A lot of people are buying Rare Replay tomorrow (most preordered game of E3) and it's not hard to see why. 30 dollars for a large sack of 30 games is an incredible deal. And not just any games, huge, long, meaty games included! Games such as Conker's Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Viva Pinata, even Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts. Any two of those games could justify the 30 dollar price even without the rest of the package. Amazing value, anyone can see that. However what you can miss is among those big meaty games is one game that's easy to miss because, well, everyone did miss it. It's not a tentpole game like the others I've mentioned. Indeed it was a commercial failure and only now will have a chance to unleash itself upon a wide audience. That game is Grabbed By The Ghoulies.
The story is simple. Cooper and Amber, an Englishman and an Englishlady respectively, are lost somewhere in the woods of South West Britain after a wrong turn and happen upon the very creepy Ghoulhaven Hall. Situation being what it is (a storm brewing) they pop their heads in and well things get hairy from there. The mansion is full of ghoulies! Nasty ghoulies, really burning hot ghoulies, misshapen ghoulies, televised ghoulies, wizard ghoulies, hairy ghoulies, even nice friendly ghoulies. All sorts of ghoulies! The thick of it is that Cooper openly speculates that the Mansion is owned by a freak which sends Baron von Ghoul, the owner, into a rage. He sends a pair of ghoulies to grab Amber to teach them some manners. The game is super corny lighthearted fun and is told in a silent movie style where the dialog appears in black boxes to musical stings. Its also got a huge cast of characters ranging from the Hagrid like groundskeeper Fiddlesworth Dunfiddlin (whose exclamations such as "pick my plums!" and "sniff my snapdragon!" are the best) to the dependable and resourceful Ma Soupswill.
The meat of the game is punching and kicking various ghoulies in a vaguely arcadey way. You run around with your left stick and kick and punch in the direction you tilt your right stick. Sort of like Too Human only not a pile of wank. It played as a melee duel joystick shooter/brawler and kept things fresh throughout the game by introducing new enemies and combining various challenges, conditions and weapons in fun ways. The game is divided into rooms. Most rooms start quiet. Nothing much going on. There's a little suspense, you know, a little mystery. Wham! The doors swing shut with a slam. Cooper yelps. Skeletons burst from paintings, you're told to not kill the Haunted Coat (if you cock that up an air guitar playing Grim Reaper will come try to kill you Spelunky Ghost style) and you're off to work. You grab an onion gun, you shoot a few skeletons, pistol whip them and the walking television too and exit through the door! Provided its an actual door and not a decoy.
This may seem especially strange but I recommend actually you don't just play it once. I recommend you keep going and I'll tell you why. The combat for me of this game didn't click until I went through Challenge 21 which is basically Super Hard Mode. In it you play as Amber instead of Cooper and you get no health/speed/whatever pick ups and only have enough health to withstand 1 hit. Basically you have to be perfect. The prereqs to playing the mode are pretty stiff- you have to get all the collectible books in the main game and do the 20 previous challenges which are one off things. But if you're looking to have a ball with a really hard challenge it's one of the best in Rare Replay.
The Rare family of games has many gems and this is one of them. It's probably not the best gem, it's probably not the most polished gem. It's not the deepest gem nor the most beautiful gem. What it is is a simple little gem that's pretty charming and no one played. Now that with Rare Replay you'll likely own a copy of this lost gem you should probably give it a go. It's not the meatiest game, but it's got it where it counts! Don't give it the shaft!
(Note: The name of the game "Grabbed by the Ghoulies" is a double entendre in the UK since there Goolies means is another word for balls. This was the whole reason they made the game.)
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