Ghosttown Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]
23Developed and published by Marex in in 1995.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Al82_Retro
Add me on Google+: http://bit.ly/1tPwL1u
I should probably start this review by pointing out that Marex (Adam Marlik) was not the original developer of Ghosttown. The game was released in 1990 by Virgin Mastertronic and was a pack-in game for the C64 lightgun, which is how I originally became aware of it. The Marex release (or at least the version I play here) has replaced the lightgun support with joystick controls and an on-screen crosshair; I'm guessing that this is what Marex added to the game for this 1995 release.
Ghosttown is little more than a side-scrolling shooting gallery and features a single level where the objective is to shoot the cowboy targets as they appear whilst avoiding shooting innocent bystanders. The player does not take damage, but failure to shoot targets in time will result in depletion of ammunition (as indicated by the counter in the bottom left of the screen). Once you reach the end of the level, the game increases the difficulty by reducing the amount of starting ammunition and makes you play through the same level again.
I played through nine levels and the counter reset to level one, so there doesn't seem to be any ending. Throughout each level, the only difference that I could spot was the occasional, minor difference in the duration that cowboys appeared and how quickly they would disappear again. The crosshair in this version has a maximum speed to keep things controllable, but this means that it's impossible to kill targets that appear on opposite sides of the screen; this is probably left over from the original lightgun version, where the player is able to quickly cover the whole screen.
The biggest problem the game has is some terribly shoddy hit detection. In order to kill the walking cowboys, you have to hit them somewhere between the waist and the legs; hitting any other part of the sprite simply won't register. Some of the cowboys that appear from behind cover are impossible to kill as none of my shots seemed to register, no matter where I hit them.
The graphics and music (courteousy of Geoff Follin) are very good, but the fact that the game bungles the core game mechanic just left me feeling disappointed.
As a game included with the lightgun, Ghosttown could be considered reasonable. However, the Marex version adds nothing other than the joystick support; without rebalancing the game for the new control scheme, it actually ends up less playable in some respects.
With more time and effort, this could have been a really decent shooter. As it is, it's just a disappointing footnote in the history of the C64.
#retrogaming