Ghost Rider (video game)

Ghost Rider is a third-person game released for the PSP, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance based around the movie of the same name.

The game's storyline is around the movie, and was penned by Marvel writers Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti. Players can play as Ghost Rider both on foot, or on the Hellcycle. The villains are both from the movie and the comic, including Scarecrow, Deathwatch, Lilith, Blackout, Vengeance and Blackheart, and for the GBA version, Mephisto.

Plot
The game serves as a semi-sequel to the movie. One day Mephisto tells Vengeance to bring Ghost Rider to him. Vengeance pursues Johnny on his own hellcycle and captures him, opening a fiery portal in midair which sends Johnny to Hell. In a fit of rage, Johnny becomes the Rider and fights his way through legions of demons. Eventually he reaches the gates of Hell, but Mephisto appears and prevents his escape. The demon lord explains that he is losing his grip on his demon hordes, which are escaping Hell and rampaging on the surface world and if not stopped could trigger the apocalypse. The angels of Heaven will subsume his kingdom if he cannot bring it back under control, so he attempts to recruit the Rider for the task. Ghost Rider dismisses him, but agrees when Mephisto sends Vengeance to kill Roxanne Simpson, Johnny's true love and Ghost Rider kills Vengeance. He travels back to Earth and proceeds to San Venganza village and fights the succubus Lilith and the demon goddess' sons, along with the Dark Heart monsters and the other demons who had escaped from Hell. Soon, he faces Lilith and kills her on the top of a train. But some of the demon goddess's sons, the Lilin, survived and ran away along with Blackheart. The Caretaker/Phantom Rider arrives, accompanied by the dhampir vampire-hunter Blade to help Ghost Rider and tells the Rider that the vampire Blackout has joined forces with Deathwatch and his demon ninjas and have killed some guards and was going to help himself to the military's hardware. Ghost Rider goes to fight Blackout and ultimately confronts him. Ghost Rider kills him and on the other hand Blade found Blackheart and hid him while he was sleeping. Meanwhile Ghost Rider comes to know that Roxanne was kidnapped. He then fights more evil vampires and finally confronted Scarecrow. Having beaten him, he ensured that Roxanne, who was held captive by Scarecrow was safe. Then he proceeds to the carnival where his father was killed. He soon confronts Mephisto, who reveals that he was against the Rider all along: in order to summon a portal to Hell and usher in the Apocalypse (but knowing that any efforts using demons would have been thwarted by the angels), Mephisto sent Ghost Rider on his quest so that the hellfire of his cycle would inscribe the massive geoglyph necessarily to summon the portal. Soon, Blackheart appears and growing larger resembling his comic book appearance, fights Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider beats him. Mephisto then disappears with Blackheart's body and Johnny reunites with Roxanne.

Gameplay
The game features a system reminiscent to that of God of War and Devil May Cry, even having some of the same controls and style of attacks. Combos are done with bare hands and with the Demonic chain. The overall mood, setting and visual style are very much the same as those in the first installment of Devil May Cry. When on the Hellcycle, Ghost Rider is still capable of performing some of the same chain attacks, and can shoot hellfire.

The Game Boy Advance version has some elements of Road Rash and Castlevania.

Alternate characters
After beating the game on certain difficulty levels, bonus character skins can be unlocked. They include Classic Ghost Rider, Ghost Rider 2099, Vengeance, and Blade the vampire hunter.

Blade gameplay
If the player chooses to start the game again as Blade, they get slightly changed gameplay. Blade only has his Daywalker Sword for a weapon, he does not have the shotgun or chain-link attacks of Ghost Rider. Combo attacks are much more limited. He also does not replenish health by absorbing flames from the occasional fire-drums 'staggered throughout the game levels. Instead, Blade can suck the life force from any wounded foe that is a non-boss (readiness is indicated by a circle above their heads). However, during the motorcycle-racing sections, his vehicle can still shoot firebolts, and he can use his sword for melee combat.

Reception
Ghost Rider has a score of 54/100 for the PlayStation 2 version and 49/100 for the PSP version on Metacritic.