The children have stopped laughing in the amusement park. Beleseblob, the evil clown, has stopped the magical clock and along with his henchmen, has brought terror to the park. In this adventure, you are Gast, the little ghost, care-taker of the amusement park. You must defeat the clown by solving puzzles and collect stars so that you can drive the nightmare away!

If the above reads like a children’s adventure game – and it supposedly is – rest assured that I had more of a blast playing this game than almost any other loaded on my computer this year with the exceptions of Tony Tough, Syberia & Post Mortem. There are a few niggling problems that prevent this game from being a minor classic, but it would still be a welcome addition to any adult adventure gamer’s collection.

Gast is a miniaturized version of Edward Munch’s famous ‘The Scream’ (nowadays better known as the mask from the Scream movies). He has a ghastly look about him with his large empty eyes and dour puss. Left click your mouse and he glides effortlessly across the carnival, his robe barely skirting the ground. The amusement park has been darkened, both literally and figuratively, by a cast of characters culled from your nightmares: a giant spider, octopus and man-eating plant; black cats, bats and rats; vampires, ghouls and headless bodies - and they all put forth their best spooktacular efforts to scare the bejabbers out of you. As you overcome each foe, Gast will collect stars that will be needed to take a climatic roller coaster ride to face the evil clown. His defeat will restore power to the magical clock and bring sunshine to the now dark and gloomy carnival grounds.

The first thing I noticed when playing Gast is what I will refer to as the ‘European Mentality.’ Having recently played a North American developed Casper the Ghost console game, for some reason I was not surprised when Casper – that’s Casper the friendly ghost – could only advance through levels by pummeling his opposition with fire balls, ice balls and magic spells. That’s the ‘American Mentality’ in a nutshell – violence solves problems. The first time I was confronted by a foe in Gast, I was actually befuddled as to how to proceed! It seems we are expected to actually tax our brains and outwit these monstrous minions by choosing the correct item from our inventory. That’s the ‘European Mentality’ and it is also my preferred choice.

To facilitate gameplay – and after all this is supposed to be a game for children – the picture of the item needed to defeat a foe will appear in a thought bubble above its head. If you think this makes the game sound too easy, well rest assured that almost every single puzzle in the game has not one, but two and sometimes three different possible solutions. Two people can play this game through to the end scene with neither player experiencing the same situations as the other. Though this is a game that you may complete in a one day, you will replay Gast just to see the wonderfully ghoulish animations that reward your effort and to experience the varied resolutions.

Gast’s graphics and animations are a deliciously macabre marriage of Gahan Wilson’s comedic horror, Charles Addams’ dark undertones and Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. If you are a fan of horror adventure, then this game is love at first sight. One small problem with the graphics is that as Gast moves around from area to area - through the haunted woods, spooky mansion and carnival – his movement is presented in a ¾ overhead view so it is sometimes difficult to immediately spot Gast’s present location, especially in many of the wooded areas. Also, for some inexplicable reason Gast can plunge off the edge of cliffs. He doesn’t lose a life – he’s already dead mind you – but you then have to restart from an arbitrary spot in the woods. This became frustrating and unnecessary and artificially extended the length of the game. Another small, but frustrating, problem is that inventory items are not always easily obtainable. Though you can see them – as they are usually brighter colored then their surroundings – you sometimes can not click on them unless you place Gast in a specific spot.

Up to this point, Gast was a blast. Once you have played through and collected enough stars (and you will want to have at least 15) it is time to pay the 3-star fee to board the roller coaster. It is at this point that the game lost its appeal as the roller coaster ride is hindered by poor controls. It is an arcade sequence that requires the player to avoid obstacles – you lose a star every time you are hit - by tilting the coaster car to the left or the right. The problem was that everything moves so fast and the controls are so slow to respond, that it took over a dozen attempts to complete the ride and then all of your hard work is for naught if you then don’t have enough stars to defeat the evil clown in what is basically another arcade sequence.

Keep in mind that the first 90% of Gast is still a joyful experience. You will become a kid at heart as you lose yourself in the ghoulish surroundings and concentrate on cracking the riddles presented by your opponents. Highly recommended for any adventure gamer that does not fear playing a kid’s game with adult undertones or for anyone who just likes a scary good time.

Final Grade: B

Gast the Greatest Little Ghost can be ordered directly from the Mindscape website.

System Requirements:

• PII 266Mhz processor or higher
• 64 MBRAM
• 315 MB HD free space
• 8X CDROM
• Direct X 8.0
• Win 95/98/2000/XP
• Soundcard
• Mouse