Game Review: Geist
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What Parents Should Know
Parents should know that Geist is a first-person shooter,
and players use bullets and explosives to blast through humans
and monsters. There is some light cursing and partial nudity,
as well. Also, the gameplay features a unique spirit-possession
dynamic, though the supernatural action is never scary.
Families who decide to play Geist might want to talk about the first-person-shooter genre. Are games more immersive when players look through the eyes of a protagonist? Do first-person games affect players differently than third-person games? Do shooting games have to be graphically violent?
Common Sense Media Review
In GEIST, players assume the role of John Raimi, a scientist
on a mission to destroy the Volks Corporation, a shadowy entity
that is conducting otherworldly experiments. Raimi gets caught
in one of these experiments and his spirit is separated from
his body. Players spend the better part of the game trying to
defeat Volks and bring ghost and body back together.
It is an original concept and one that introduces the most exciting aspect of the game: Raimi's spirit can posses a variety of people, animals, and even inanimate objects. Too bad players will tire of it pretty quickly.
Before Raimi's ghost can take possession of a living host, he must scare it. This often sets up little puzzles. For example, players might posses a bowl of dog food to scare and posses a dog, then use the dog to scare a rat, then finally posses the rat and run through a crack in the wall. Though this dynamic is really a lot of fun at first, the puzzles become predictable and it seems arbitrary as to which objects in the environment are possible to posses and which are off-limits.
When players aren't floating around as a ghost and haunting things like mop buckets and telephones, they'll navigate the Volks Corporation's underground laboratories and buildings as a possessed human. These portions of the game play like a standard first-person shooter, and disappointingly linear one at that. Apart from a few instances in which players must switch between jumping out of their host body to become a ghost and re-possessing a human form to use weapons, these shooter levels will likely be routine and dull for anyone familiar with the genre.
The level of violence in Geist is also genre-typical. Players will blast enemy humans and monsters with guns and explosives, although apart from the occasional splash of blood on a wall, these scenes are not very graphic. In many ways, the game's attempts to create a gritty, mature atmosphere fall flat. The blood splatters are unconvincing and happen sporadically. The cursing never becomes more intense than "hell." And one female character is shown partially nude in the shower but her body is covered in blurry soap bubbles. These mature elements seem unnecessary and function as an almost laughable patina of griminess.
Geist includes an offline multiplayer mode that conforms to many first-person-shooter conventions. Players will blast friends or computer-controlled bots in deathmatch and capture-the-flag-type contests. Just like in the main story portion of the game, these multiplayer games are spiced up by the inclusion of the possession mechanic, but also just like in the main game, this mechanic eventually grows stale and become routine.
The final problem?: Blocky, dated graphics drag it down further, as do regular problems with choppy slow-downs. Ultimately, players will find Geist to be an original first-person shooter haunted by repetitive gameplay.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
