iPhone App: Garters And Ghouls

December 14th, 2009

= 4 stars

Kill undead monsters or be killed in this stylized action shooter.

The Good

• Resembles an animated graphic novel with line-drawn art. The overall theme is creepy gothic, “steampunk” genre, from the graveyard and creepy carnival environments to odd weapons like the “steam powered machine gun.” The main character Marie Dupois is pale with red hair and a dark blue skirt, appealingly hiked to show a fair amount of leg and garter.
• Straightforward controls and gameplay: movement d-pad on the left and weapons firing d-pad on the right. Killed monsters drop progressively stronger weapons (crossbow, machine gun, grenade launcher), ammo, money, and one-time use weapons (power glove, Nietzsche cap). There’s a progressive adventure mode and faster arcade “survival” mode. The progressive game includes stores to purchase character improvements, and you must destroy all monster-generators to complete a level.
• Some objects other than monsters react to your battles; you can destroy gravestones and carnival posters.

The Bad

• Rather derivative of the vampire-hunting game iDracula, which has a similar theme, runs faster, is more adrenaline-pumping, and has more appealing, efficient, pixel-art graphics.
• Occasional “grinding” moments, and down times when all the monsters are killed and you’re aimlessly wandering to find an exit.

Conclusion

Although I prefer the more exciting iDracula, Garters and Ghouls is a solid game, with particular appeal to creepy graphic novel fans.