Ghost Rider [PS2]

Based on the comic books, Ghost Rider doesn't try for much of a plot, but focuses on action instead as you travel through different areas of Hell and Earth to save Roxanne. The action is fast and there's a good number of on-screen enemies to contend with at a time. As you dispatch them back to Hell, you collect souls to cash in for power-ups, and also build a ranking that earns you bonus souls at the end of the level. You'll also ride the Hellcycle quite a bit, avoiding obstacles and fighting off enemies in a sort of Zaxxon-meets-Road Rash style. Both gameplay styles work well and keep things more interesting than either would be alone. The graphics look alright, but seem like they were probably kept simple to reuse on the PSP version. There are places where everything on the screen is either red, orange, or black as well, which gets rough on the eyes and makes cycle jumps harder to time and some repeated locations give a somewhat cheap feel. Speaking of which, there are a couple of pretty cheap boss fights as well, so be forewarned. The game makes occasional reference to the film during the comic-styled cutscenes, where Mephisto(pheles) looks similar to Peter Fonda and on the power-up menu, where a movie still of The Caretaker (Sam Elliott) provides the background. The alternating beat-em-up and driving action and array of power-ups make this Teen-rated clone of God of War better than it could have been, but not worth more than a rental for fans. [5/10]