With all the Pac-Man playing I’ve done in my life, I know that Obake means ‘ghost’ in Japanese, more or less.  I’m not sure what the ‘doro’ part at the end means though.  Anyway, in this game, two siblings are about to go to sleep under a red moon, but then a ghost comes out of their closet to snatch them away to play a spooky yet silly game of tag meets hide and seek.  In this multiplayer game, choose to side with the humans or the ghosts as you either hide from the specters or try to catch all the humans.

If you choose to play as the humans, up to three can go at the same time.  Your job is to hide from the ghosts without being caught for three minutes.  If all three humans are caught before the time runs out, the human side loses.  Ghosts who catch humans will put them in a cage in the middle of the arena.  Another human can unlock the doors on each side of the cage to free them and keep the game going.  Humans can defend themselves by shining a lantern at the ghosts to stun them, but you have to charge it up first.  If you play as the ghost, you must try to catch all the humans and put them in the cage without any of them escaping.  Ghosts can track the humans’ footprints and go through walls, but they move a little slower and must wait a bit before catching another human.

You’ll play this game in all sorts of spooky locations, like a graveyard, ghost town, warehouse, swamp, or library.  Some locations are better suited for ghosts, while others are easier for humans to traverse.  You can play the game online or local couch multiplayer, and you can even play single player, which is nice.  If you perform well, you’ll earn coins which you can use to buy new characters, lanterns, and outfits in the shop.  You can also earn stamps by doing certain things, and if you get enough stamps, you might get a stat increase for one of your characters.

While you can play single player, the game is mostly multiplayer-centric, and it seems more fun to play as the ghost.  Also, camera angles can be a bit problematic sometimes, and play control and hit detection seem a little off.  There were times where I tried to grab a human as a ghost, and it would totally miss, while other times it didn’t look like I was close at all, and I got them.  But if you can scare up a few other players, you might have a fun little game to play this Halloween season.

Kid Factor:

OBAKEIDORO! is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  You can stun ghosts with a light, or grab humans and toss them in a cage, and they’ll have dizzy stars above their head, but that’s about as violent as it gets.  Even though the game is cartoony, some of the scenes might frighten very young children, especially the beginning when the silly ghost comes out of their wardrobe to steal away the kids.  Reading skill is helpful, too.

Tags: Game Reviews