On December the 24^th, 2015, midnight, my Dad and I were bored. I eyed our Playstation 1.  I suggested to Dad we play some. We went sifting through our games, when I found a game I had never seen before. It appeared to be a bootleg, it was a blank disc with the words “Ghost on the Shell” written on it. It sparked my curiosity, so we popped it in the console and started it up. On that day, Ghost in the Shell became a very well loved game.

Enough about how I discovered this game! This is a game for the original Playstation, and I guess that it originally came out in Japan, because the manga of the same name that this is based off of, also came out in Japan. It’s a simple mission game; you go through a bunch of levels, completing some objectives, before fighting a boss in each level.

Graphics – 6

I’m being gentle on this game because it’s a Playstation 1 game. Back then, the graphics had to compete with the Nintendo 64, both of which were game consoles that usually had 3D games. Of course, there are games like PaRappa the Rapper that aren’t usually full 3D. The graphics actually remind me of Star Fox for the SNES. They both look polygonal, and the player for both games, coincidentally, both take place in a futuristic-looking ship of some sorts, where you have to do a bunch of things before fighting a boss. (Forgive me if my description for Star Fox is off, I’ve never played it before.)

During the time that the Playstation came out, 3D games were a new thing. Everyone thought that this was a massive jump from the graphics on previous games, and to be honest, it was. When you compare the graphics for a game like this to a game on the NES like, say, Bubble Bobble, you’d obviously think that this game had the better graphics.

Nowadays, we have games with almost hyperrealistic graphics like Grand Theft Auto V, or, if we’re really stretching it, Plague Inc. However, while the Playstation graphics are old, it’s old-school, which means that the games are fun to pick up and play, even with its mediocre graphics. This game is not an exception.

Sound – 8

The music is actually really good! The sound is not Undertale quality, which, if you don’t know, has the best soundtrack to ever come out in the era of games. However, at the same time, it’s not Hong Kong ’97 quality, which is basically just the same 5 second loop of a song over and over again. I wouldn’t mind listening to it for an hour, which is good, because STAGE THREE. It is going to take me probably 3 hours to get all those bombs. I won’t dwell on the difficulty too much for this section, that’s for last, but instead, I’ll briefly explain the music that I have heard so far.

The first song is for the first stage. It takes place in the area around an abandoned warehouse. You would expect there to be a song that basically screams out “YOU HAVE AN IMPORTANT MISSION ON YOUR HANDS!” That’s exactly what this song is. The second song is for the second stage. You have to navigate through some sewers. The song for that round is chilly and quiet, which adds to the fact that the sewers are almost dark, and become completely dark and some points, so you will absolutely depend on your night vision through most of the stage.

The third round takes place in…I actually don’t remember where this round takes place in! However, this round is considered one of the most frustrating stages of the game. You have a time limit, and with that limit, you have to eliminate all the bombs in that area. If the limit runs out, the bombs explode. This one has, by far, the most urgent sounding song in the game, because it is urgent! For each area, you only one 1 minute to destroy at least 20 bombs!

The boss round music is the same for each stage so far. I haven’t gotten past stage three yet (stupid bombs…) so the final boss might have a different boss theme, like for Penguin Brothers and almost every other game that I’ve completed from start to finish.

Addictiveness – 10

This game keeps a score system. When you die, you’ll get taken to the scoreboard. There, you can save your score and see how you and your friends did in the past. It’s addictively fun to try and beat your high score, all while completing each and every round. There’s not much to say here.

Story – 6

The story is about the Public Security Station 9, who consist of the main characters in the manga. You play as a rookie, a new character. The Public Security Station 9 members have to defend the city from a major terrorist group called the Human Liberation Front. With the help of their high-tech fighting robots, armed with blasters, grenades, and spider-like wall climbing abilities, the Fukoshima. The rookie will have to do many things, like destroy all the bombs in an area before it explodes, and navigate the sewers to try and find out where the Human Liberation Front hideout is.

Depth – 5

There’s a lot more to do, other than the first three stages. However, I don’t know about them, so this section will have to be left somewhat short. I’ve given a brief explanation of the three stages I know of in the Sound section, but here, they will be expanded on. The first round takes place around an abandoned warehouse. The boss you will have to fight is in the warehouse. To enter the house, you have to get four keycodes. To get them, you have to destroy four targets that are circling the warehouse. I assume that the keycodes are stored in the targets’ memories.

For the second round, you have to do some navigation. If you’re claustrophobic, I wouldn’t recommend playing this game, because you’ll be navigating sewers. The passages are small, and the sewer is almost completely dark. You’ll have to rely on night vision for at least 60% of the round. For example, when you first drop down farther into the sewers, you'll completely isolate yourself from any hint of sunlight. At that point, your night vision will automatically turn on.

The third and the final round I’ve played so far is the hardest round. There are multiple areas. In each area, you’ll have to destroy at least 20 bombs in one minute. If you clear that area, you’ll get a time extension of 60 seconds, so if you clear the area with 10 seconds to spare, you’ll have 70 seconds to proceed to the next area and destroy the rest of the bombs.  If you run out of time, the bombs will explode. Sometimes, the bombs are in really hidden areas, and you’ll have to rely on your radar to try and figure out where they are, and two or three bombs are on top of a pillar in every area!

Difficulty – 6

Stage three. ‘Nuff said.

Overall – 6.8

If you’re looking for a not well known game that’s fun, challenging, and on the Playstation, I’d recommend playing this game. You’ll be able to happily kill 2 hours with it.