Ghost Master®

I've been replaying this game regularly since childhood. It has such a fun concept, which transfers to the enjoyable gameplay. I'd love to play its sequel or remaster if it ever comes to be.

I used to own this on disk and I played the game countless times. The pop culture references are cute and clever. The puzzles are challenging. I really enjoy this game.

As with many others, I played this game when I was much younger, a long time ago. I remember getting to one frustrating level and not touching it since, but after finding the game on sale, I couldn't help but indulge in the nostalgia.
Surprisingly, the game runs fine. I had to adjust my display scaling so that I could see more than a quarter of the screen, but that's the only change I had to make. However, there were a couple of crashes - fortunately nothing lost, but be aware that some cutscenes may just make the game go kaput.
Gameplay wise, it's very interesting. There's a decent amount of depth, and multiple ways to approach a scenario, though these aren't exactly obvious. The abilities aren't explained super well, although you'll start to figure things out with time. The most frustrating thing by far, though, is the AI. A number of puzzles are dependent on making X character go to Y, but you have close to zero control for this, so you're at the mercy of early 2000s AI pathfinding. There are abilities that can help suggest where the AI should go, but that doesn't mean it'll adhere to it.
Scenarios that would take 10 minutes are instead dragged into long ordeals as you wait for a specific character to pick up an item and take it where you need it to go, only for some nobody to take it instead and carry it to the other side of the map.
That being said, this does encourage use of other strategies, as well as being very aware of your surroundings to see if there's anything you can use to your advantage. Part of the gameplay is freeing other ghosts by completing sidequests for them, and some are much easier than others, while a couple are completely hidden and won't be found unless you either experiment a lot or consult a walkthrough.
There's a degree of replayability to try and get a higher score, or free a ghost that you didn't get around to before, but for this second point it is worth noting that some scenarios change slightly depending on whether all the ghosts at that location were freed.
Graphics hold up surprisingly well, and the artstyle has aged finely. The sound is good and the music is fun and quirky, although there are only a handful of tracks - it's enough, though. As for controls, the only key you need is Escape, as everything else is handled by the mouse. It may take a little bit of getting used to, but I find the control scheme quite enjoyable.
In all honesty, I bought this game out of nostalgia, and expecting to play a few levels before realising what a dog it was. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it's held up, and very much enjoyed playing through and finally completing it. That being said, it's not perfect, it is sometimes frustrating, but that just makes finally completing it all the sweeter, right?

Loved this game since I was a child! There is so much personality put into the haunters you command and the mortals you terrorize. There are so many haunters you can command with so many different powers, and you can combine powers for interesting results. It is always entertaining watching the different powers being used.

There are interesting and unique levels with different objectives. Since there are a variety of places and haunters, game play will not get stale. You can drive people insane too. You can see through both haunter's POV and mortal's POV, which I think is pretty neat. There is a detail that you can see a sleeping person's dream or nightmare. A lot was put into this game, and it is so fun!

I have a tradition of playing this every September and October!

Another Childhood game I remember fondly. It is a well done strategy game and you do feel like you are in control of these ghosts to help complete objectives. Small side note: This game is the reason that I gained a fear of spiders as a kid. Curse you Clatterclaws!

Another game from my childhood, the soundtracks of the game still plays in my head :)

One of the most fun games I've ever played.
+ creative gameplay
+ stories and character backgrounds
+ pop culture and horror references
+ easy and intuitive controls
+ game design and graphics
- gold plasma is hard to get and easy to spend
- even though I enjoy the dated graphics, some may not be fans