Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

It's not often that a game becomes interesting after you die, but behold one of the many quirks that make Geist (GC/Nintendo, N-Space) a slightly different experience than the first-person shooters you may be used to.

The focus of this story is a horrible accident which turns biological threat specialist Sam Raimi into a wandering spirit, capable of possessing live people, animals and various inanimate objects. This is the game's most original feature, and essentially the only thing elevating it from mediocrity. Thankfully, assuming control of other entities is extremely pain-free and allows for every level to feel somewhat unique. Early on, you get to assume control of two mechanical hands to freak out an engineering specialist, and then you infect his computer with pop-ups when he tries to figure out what's going on. It is necessary to scare humans in order to possess them, and herein lies the puzzle element of Geist.

Admittedly, the game's best feature in single-player mode is reason enough to at least give the game a try, but be forewarned that many other elements feel outdated. First, the enemy AI is extremely basic, rarely finding cover from your gunfire and hardly reacting to your movements. The music suffers from being entirely too generic and its frequent looping only worsens matters.

The game has potential for longevity, despite being a late-gen title, because of its multiplayer mode. It's not necessarily deep or even original, but it's the closest Game Cube owners are going to get to match the Halo experience. Comparatively speaking, Geist's graphics in multiplayer bear some similarity to Halo 2 (Microsoft), and they look cleaner and brighter than the single-player mode. The possession deathmatch mode takes everything that is enjoyable in FPS games, but is slightly different in that you begin as a wandering ghost who must possess a person or object to begin killing. What is particularly enjoyable is the ability to hijack your opponent's body. The Hunt and Capture the Host modes were fairly decent (although the latter doesn't involve much killing), but the standard deathmatch held my attention, especially when playing with three human opponents and four bots.

Considering developer N-Space's pedigree predominantly consists of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen games, Geist is a stellar debut into the foray of mature titles. The graphics are some of the best you'll see on the Game Cube, while the gameplay, although hit and miss, succeeds at being both original and compelling.

Chaos mini

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Ubisoft) is a complicated game, even by console standards, so a port to the N-Gage would seem like a recipe for disaster. Much to my surprise, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (N-Gage/Nokia, Gameloft), developed by Montreal-based Gameloft, is as faithful a port as you can make on the handheld.

What is utterly shocking about this title is how Gameloft made all of Sam Fisher's moves possible for this version. You can still wall jump and sneak up behind the bad guys. Other important keys to the series, like lighting and sound, have been successfully implemented into this version. Thermo and night vision have also been crammed into this port.

Perhaps the most amazing accomplishment is that the control scheme never felt like a burden, even though nearly every button is used in this game, and there were never any problems executing Sam's moves. Gameloft even included an online two-player co-operative mode and four-player multiplayer mode using Bluetooth.

Naturally, the AI is not as developed as in the console versions, but the N-Gage Chaos Theory is worthy of its namesake.

Now playing: NHL 2k6 (Xbox, PS2) Wishlist: Perfect Dark Zero (X360)