GHOST IN THE SHELL, THE GAME

	Ghost in the Shell Sony Playstation © Shirow Masamune / Kodansha LTD. © 1997 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. / Kodansha LTD. SCPS 10043 Cost: ･5800 — by Keith Rhee		Though widely regarded as a success, the theatrical release of Shirow Masamune's GHOST IN THE SHELL drew criticism from fans of the manga. Aside from the inevitable compression of the story for the 90 minute length of the movie, many griped about the changes in character design, especially that of the main character Kusanagi Motoko. Shirow's critically acclaimed manga now finds its way to the Sony Playstation, and along the way it rectifies some of the issues that caused many viewers to find fault with the movie. The most notable difference is that Motoko now looks exactly like her manga alter ego, albeit sporting a new wardrobe with an emphasis on a "cybernetic" look and sex appeal (Note: unlike the movie, which had Motoko wearing a so-called data membrane and rendered her practically naked, these are real clothes). The game mechanics are based on the Jumping Flash engine, with several modifications; it allows a third-person view of the tank you're piloting and eliminates the double and triple jumps of JF in favor of the ability to cling to walls. Along with the ability to strafe, this makes for dramatically different gameplay from JF.
			After an action-packed FMV opening, the player is thrust into the role of a rookie, piloting the arachnid tank Fuchikoma under Kusanagi's command. There are 12 missions overall, ranging from search and destroy to pursuit of an enemy. Each game segment is preceded with a nifty bird's eye view of the area, and interspersed through the game are more OVA-quality video clips that explain the story. The movie was deliberately drawn in a bleak tone, but the video clips here are vibrant with color and add greatly to the mood of the game.
			But the environments are still oppressive, and they're executed very well. Sewers feel claustrophobic, industrial areas look bleak, and the skyscraper levels induce acrophobia. The inner-city level is depicted a little on the simplistic side, with box shapes for the buildings (as with the original JF), but this less ambitious approach makes for a solid rendering of the environment with little to no pop-up (contrast this with VF-X, which had much more complex building designs and had horrible pop-up problems). The mechanical direction is equally slick, if again a touch on the simplistic side. But for the most part you can recognize Shirow's trademark design, and it's perhaps best that the programmers opted for smooth gameplay rather than have designs too ambitious to be rendered smoothly.
			Last but not least, GHOST IN THE SHELL features an assortment of techno music from acclaimed artists across the globe. While this player found the music to be less remarkable than what was featured in the WIPEOUT games, the music does a great job of setting the futuristic mood for the game (the music can be bought on a separate CD as well, necessary if you want to listen to the music on its own - the music on the game disc itself is linear encoded and can't be played in a CD player). Finally, some shortcomings. Most enemies can be defeated using the "circle of death" maneuver — strafe the enemy while circling it. Also, if you get nailed by the end-level boss you get sent to the beginning of the mission. Having to repeat the mission just to get another crack at the end boss can get frustrating after 3 or 4 attempts. Last but not least, as with many 32-bit games, GHOST IN THE SHELL has a killer presentation but is rather short. The missions are challenging, and many of them will take you multiple tries to figure them out, but a determined player can finish the game within 1-2 days. All in all, GHOST IN THE SHELL features a fantastic presentation that puts MACROSS DIGITAL MISSION VF-X to shame (UNiT, are you listening?) and solid gameplay. Fans of Kusanagi Motoko will definitely like her appearance in the game as well. Overall, it's a great ride - such a shame that the ride is a tad short. Rating: * (out of 4)**