Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex
Ghost in the Shell was a very popular and influential anime film based off of a fantastic Japanese comic from the late 80's. With an already rich backstory and collection of supporting characters, there was a lot of room for this property to grow. We've seen an extremely good animated tv series, two movies and two videogames. One for the PlayStation and one for the PlayStation 2.
I discovered the 2002 anime series release, Stand Alone Complex a few years later and slowly watched my way through it. It took a little bit since I was determined to only purchase the special edition DVDs as they included the DTS audio copies and this show featured some very high quality 5.1 surround audio. After I had made my way through the two seasons that had been released I still wanted more. It was easily one of the best anime series I had ever seen and certainly the one with the highest production value. I can't remember if I had stumbled across the PS2 title at random, or if I had looked it up, remembering that there was a PS1 release at some point. But either way my enjoyment of the TV series pushed me to grab this without a second thought on it's possible quality.
Luckily for me, the Stand Alone Complex PS2 title hit all the notes. It not only contained a unique and separate storyline from the series, adding some more content to the fantastic world, but was also simply a well rounded and executed title. GitS:SAC follows Section 9, Japan's equivalent of Splinter Cell's 3rd Echelon, as they work to eliminate terrorist plots. This PS2 title even includes all the English voice cast so not only does the game certainly look the part, but also sound it as well.
Stand Alone Complex may include the entire series' cast, but has you controlling the two primary characters, Major Motoko Kusanagi and second in command Batou. As is the case in the series, Batou handles the role of primary assault, more of a run-and-gun character while the Major is a little more stealthy, relying on her acrobatic skills and her ability to Ghost Hack the enemy in order to infiltrate certain situations.
Cavia, under Bandai's direction did a fantastic job of keeping the entire game on-point. It feels very much a part of the series from all aspects and looks absolutely fantastic on the PS2. Though the series is so rich you could have certainly created a much more memorable title, at the same time I can't say that this failed as it still felt as if I was playing through a few episodes of the series and the character connections were still strong.
Though both games were definitely under-promoted and most fans probably didn't even know they existed, I've got high-hopes that someone will take this property soon and make a third game. There is so much that can be done with this property, especially now that console/pc power has come so far 12 years later. And since the series is still under production, with a third season just recently released the timing couldn't be better.
Ghost in the Shell was a very popular and influential anime film based off of a fantastic Japanese comic from the late 80's. With an already rich backstory and collection of supporting characters, there was a lot of room for this property to grow. We've seen an extremely good animated tv series, two movies and two videogames. One for the PlayStation and one for the PlayStation 2. I discovered the 2002 anime series release, Stand Alone Complex a few years later and slowly watched my way through it. It took a little bit since I was determined to only purchase the special edition DVDs as they included the DTS audio copies and this show featured some very high quality 5.1 surround audio. After I had made my way through the two seasons that had been released I still wanted more. It was easily one of the best anime series I had ever seen and certainly the one with the highest production value. I can't remember if I had stumbled across the PS2 title at random, or if I had looked it up, remembering that there was a PS1 release at some point. But either way my enjoyment of the TV series pushed me to grab this without a second thought on it's possible quality.
Luckily for me, the Stand Alone Complex PS2 title hit all the notes. It not only contained a unique and separate storyline from the series, adding some more content to the fantastic world, but was also simply a well rounded and executed title. GitS:SAC follows Section 9, Japan's equivalent of Splinter Cell's 3rd Echelon, as they work to eliminate terrorist plots. This PS2 title even includes all the English voice cast so not only does the game certainly look the part, but also sound it as well.
Stand Alone Complex may include the entire series' cast, but has you controlling the two primary characters, Major Motoko Kusanagi and second in command Batou. As is the case in the series, Batou handles the role of primary assault, more of a run-and-gun character while the Major is a little more stealthy, relying on her acrobatic skills and her ability to Ghost Hack the enemy in order to infiltrate certain situations.
Cavia, under Bandai's direction did a fantastic job of keeping the entire game on-point. It feels very much a part of the series from all aspects and looks absolutely fantastic on the PS2. Though the series is so rich you could have certainly created a much more memorable title, at the same time I can't say that this failed as it still felt as if I was playing through a few episodes of the series and the character connections were still strong.
Though both games were definitely under-promoted and most fans probably didn't even know they existed, I've got high-hopes that someone will take this property soon and make a third game. There is so much that can be done with this property, especially now that console/pc power has come so far 12 years later. And since the series is still under production, with a third season just recently released the timing couldn't be better.
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