Gaming Target - Xbox: Grabbed by the Ghoulies

Written by Ryan Genno on September 09, 2003

First Impressions: ФMan, that's gotta hurt!Ф

Going by the name alone, Grabbed by the Ghoulies either sounds like a very weird game about ghosts or an incredibility stupid adult game. УCome on, Grabbed by the Ghoulies seems like an illegal hold in wrestling and not a kid's video gameФ. Why should you care about this cartoon-like horror/action game called Grabbed by the Ghoulies anyway? It's Rare's first Xbox only video game that's why!

If the Rareware name sounds familiar to some of you then maybe you heard of some of their earlier hits? Rare's hit list in nothing short of amazing: Goldeneye 007 (the top selling video game of 1998 in North America), Perfect Dark (the popular semi-sequel to Goldeneye), Donkey Kong Country (the computer generated classic that revivifies an old favourite and a dying 16-bit system), Diddy Kong Racing (one of the better kart games out there), Star Fox Adventures (their last Game Cube game before the buy out), Banjo Kazooie (a cute 3D adventure game done right), just to name a few. Their list of credits don't end there because Rare worked away at other big time classics like Battletoads, Wizards and Warriors, and RC Pro AM for older game machines like the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Sega Genesis. It's safe to say that this UK based company has made some of the biggest video games in the world and they have years of experience to back it up. Now that Microsoft owns Rare, they no longer have access to characters from the Nintendo universe but they're still able to use their original names like Joanna Dark, Conker, Banjo and Kazooie if they want.

With all of Rare's past hits under their belt, it surprises me that they decided to go with an all new game for their first Xbox entrance. In Grabbed by the Ghoulies you help a young boy named Cooper save his captured girlfriend who was taking inside the old Ghoulhaven Hall Mansion. To make matters worse for poor Cooper, the haunted mansion is filled vile skeletons, ghosts, spiders, mummies, and much more so his quest isn't going to be easy.

Fortunately, our hero does have a few tricks up his sleeve to fight off the ghostly bad guys here. If something wants to attack you then you can just blow them away with a super soaker filled with holy water or why not pick up weapons lying around the place like pool cues, chairs, or other weird items. If that doesn't work then Cooper will just resort to hand to hand combat where you can pull off crazy moves like wild punches, drop kicks, and the always popular flying elbow. The cool part about the attack system in Ghoulies is that you can use the left analog stick to direct moves and the right analog to delivery the strike which is something different. Another thing you should be a wear here is the game's scare factor because if Cooper gets caught off guard by a sneaky monster or trap, you'll have to calm him down in a hurry by tapping the proper buttons.