Ghost Rider Critic Reviews

Climax was really onto something here. If it only decided to sway a little from the constant arena-like battles and introduced some more exploration and puzzle-solving, with much more downtime, it could have been one of the great PS2 action games.

The action is tight, the feel gritty and the soundtrack definitely metal.

A real surprise - undeniably entertaining in short bursts, but repetitive in the long term.

Bursting with superhero energy and verve, and makes up for what it lacks in inspiration with water-tight execution.

Simplistic gameplay is no bad thing when it's as fun to play as this.

It’s a decent brawler that doesn’t do anything new or interesting, and it stars a skeleton on fire. I’ll gladly take it over yet another collect-a-thon platformer.

Taking it on its own merits it's a generally fun but rather un-ambitious and far too short arcade brawler that certainly isn't going to change the world but will happily provide a few hours of solid fun for anyone willing to give it a go.

It's fast-paced, it's accessible enough, there are plenty of moves for the casual gamer, and it's got plenty of unlockable fanservice extras.

Pros: In a nutshell, it's Diet "God of War." Cons: The diet version is never as good as the non-diet version.

The camera can sometimes work against you rather then with you, and since you have no control over it you may be caught in a situation where you can’t see what you’re hitting, or who’s hitting you.

It's just too bad that the game gets so repetitive and has some rather unengaging story sequences.

While the appeal of Ghost Rider palls in the long term (the game is simply too samey, unless your thirst for fighting overrides your need for variety and pacing) it’s a strong and well-considered title.

It's neither as deep nor as satisfying as any of the games it bites the style from, but it doesn't do them such a disservice that the game is rendered painful either. It's just sort of... there, existing without doing much to give pause or reason to like it.

Sadly, like most other movie tie-ins, this is marketed at fans of the film, not at gamers, and like Johnny Blaze himself, the whole thing feels a bit soulless. If only it also had the same level of flair.

There’s nothing ground-breaking going on here, but the mix of combat - shooting and hand-to-hand - and simple obstacles - jump over, slide under - is diverting enough. Of course it’s nowhere near enough to stop Ghost Rider from being another totally forgettable licensed-game experience.

We found ourselves having some good beat-em-up fun, even if we found a way to exploit game mechanics. But storyline felt like it was thrown together in a few minutes, not really giving us much reason to want to go on. Maybe it would have been better being based on the movie, after all.

Ghost Rider is worth a rent if you enjoyed the film, but otherwise, only die-hard fans should buy, due to the unlockable content alone.

Ghost Rider tries to be many things, and ends up missing the boat on what it was that made the comic book so good in the first place.

There's certainly plenty of action here, but with dull, monotonous settings and boring sound design, it's easy to slump into tedium, bashing away at enemies simply because they are there.

The level design and longevity just isn't there to make this more than a rental or a bargain-big pick-up -- especially with God of War II's release closing fast. This rider is anything but the leader of the pack.