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