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Ghost In The Shell is an IP that has gone through many
mysteriously linked guises. The first film was a revelation in anime
at it’s time – and to this day continues to be – a series, Ghost
In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, followed a couple of
years later. Seemingly two different sequels have been constructed;
one, some years ago, released to the US
market with the emergence of some of the new characters seen in Ghost
In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex and now, a sequel for the UK
audience, launched in cinemas nationwide on 28th October,
2005. From this, so far the series has spawned but two videogames
– Ghost In The Shell on the PlayStation and Ghost In The
Shell: Stand Alone Complex earlier this year on the
PlayStation2. The PlayStation2’s effort seemed to be rushed to the
shelves, but turned out to be quite different to anything we were
expecting. A Stealth-based title with a punishing difficulty curve, Ghost
In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex made Metal Gear Solid 3:
Snake Eater stand-up and take note, even without any
flashy bells and whistles.
Now, with little competition, Ghost In The Shell: Stand
Alone Complex makes another muted entrance onto the PSP, but
instead of Stealth, this time, ATARI have cloaked the anime’s
entrance into the First-Person Shooter genre. The title takes the
place of a case during the period of the series, seemingly nothing
unusual until some rather nasty weaponry starts flying about. The
story is progressed by both Cut-Scenes and in-game narrative to a
decent  effect,
with the style strictly in-keeping with the series’ anime
traditions. A Map acts as the game’s HUB, with each Level of the
game selectable as you progress in a semi-linear fashion; usually,
three Sub-Missions will be playable in any order, followed by a set
Mission
and so on. Older Levels can be replayed at any time and, as an added
incentive, the title keeps a record of each of the four playable
characters completed Missions. For each
Mission
you may choose between the four playable characters – each with
seemingly negligible differences in defence, jump height, speed
etc., but with a superior ability to wield a certain weapon – and
for most, a Tachikoma to assist you.
Tachikoma’s,
or “Think-Tanks”, are your AI in-game AI.
Basically, a Bot to assist you on your
Mission
. You have a set amount of limited commands over your Tachikoma,
such as Point and Hold Fire, and your character may also mount your
Tachikoma. Useful as a vehicle or to designate the added firepower
on a specified target, however, the balance is drawn by the fact
that should your Tachikoma fall, your
Mission
is over. Tooling-up both yourself and your Tachikoma before a
Mission is an option but is greatly advised, and helps to add depth
to the title in the fact that over thirty weapons can be unlocked
and selected. Your character’s armoury is limited to only three
Weapon Slots, however, weapons maybe acquired during play through
downing an armed opponent and pressing Up on the D-Pad to swap guns.
No ammo can be collected; instead you must collect a new weapon when
running low with your current one.
The
Level  design
on the whole is fantastic. Ranging from short, evasion based
skirmishes to seek-and-destroy to demolition – the set-pieces in
the game have obviously been influenced by RARE’s GoldenEye 007
and Perfect Dark titles on the Nintendo64, with the action
being strung between corridors and open-arenas and isolated to
neither, and also being less of a strain on the system with less
data-hits on the disc needed. Levels greatly differ in length and
objective and some of the more inventive Missions will have you
wondering why the excursions haven’t been used in the genre
before, with their obvious nature and lack of need for any real
additional technical prowess. In contrary to this however, the enemy
AI is often less than pleasing. Later Levels see a spike in enemy
intelligence, but on the whole guards will often stand in place;
firing, reloading, and continue firing. Running into your
line-of-fire isn’t uncommon and killing each other is obviously an
everyday occurrence for the gang members and neo-assassins of Ghost
In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex’s world.
Graphically,
 Ghost
In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex pushes out the boat for PSP
development. True, the smaller scale Levels and basic animation of
the weaponry leaves plenty of memory available for impressive looks,
but the title is easily on par with Grand Theft Auto: Liberty
City Stories in terms of technical achievement. A high-polygon
count, crisp resolution and a very clear draw-distance go
hand-in-hand with the title’s beautiful effects system and
distinct lack of the polygon pop-up and motion-blur that more
commonly plague PSP titles. The sound-quality is impressive, with
the lip-synched Cut-Scenes performed by the original cast and the
in-game effects clearly being up to scratch.
Ghost
In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex has presented itself to the UK
audience as an average, run-of-the-mill PSP First-Person Shooter
presentation. Surely, the reason for this being that it simply
doesn’t need to do any more  with
such little competition available; Coded Arms offering an
intensive visit to the First-Person Shooter genre by an outsider,
but being totally outclassed by ATARI’s latest offering. It seems
almost contradictory in an industry that over the last five years
has learnt to barge and shout it’s way onto shop shelves and into
people’s living rooms – and more so because no-one is singing
it’s praises. Maybe in the low-light of an after-Grand Theft
Auto: Liberty
City Stories launch Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
would’ve got the credit it deserves, but as it stands, the title
is destined to join the ranks of Eternal Darkness and Saint
Seiya: The Sanctuary as the unsung heroes of their generation.
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