Lazarus Jones, the hero of this otherworldly adventure, may be dashing. He may boast movie-star looks. He may sport some of the finest character animation yet seen in a PS2 game. But get him knee-deep in water and he quips, "I shoulda learnt to swim!" Kind of like jumping instead of running because you move faster. Or low picket fences which form a major obstacle. They're just some of the items on the great big list of Annoying Things You Shouldn't Put Into A Game. If it didn't hurt, it'd be funny.

But let's concentrate on Ghosthunter's smarties, of which there's a more attractive list. As the name implies, your task is to track down and eliminate otherworldies in all their many and varied forms. Lazarus is dispatched to investigate the site of a recent massacre at a disused school. Housed deep within the bowels of the building, he discovers a self-aware artificial intelligence that has been created for the unlikely purpose of assisting in spook capture. In a trice your new-found AI pal recruits you to help in the fight and you find yourself clad in a biker jacket brandishing a selection of anti-phantom hardware that'd make Egon Spengler emotional.

A tall tale, to be sure, but that's by-the-by. When the visuals and animation are as good as this, you'll swallow anything. Ghosthunter's graphics possess that rare quality which invokes a feeling of pride in a game, the feeling that you've purchased wisely. When you're not blasting your way through hordes of apparitions or trying to figure out how to access the next area, you're simply admiring how good it all looks. The wan sunlight has a luminescent, honeyed quality that feathers the edges of distant trees and buildings. Characters sport extremely convincing facial features that, along with their sophisticated bodily expressions, convey a sense of reality that games rarely achieve. And the way spirits flicker in and out of phase is fantastic. From the lighting and textures to the upsetting way a spirit claws its way out of a tortured corpse's mouth, it's a feast for the eyes.

But every painting needs a subject, so let's talk ghost hunting. To assist you in your task, you have a number of useful items, chief among them being the grenade. Not a grenade in the conventional sense, mind, as it's not actually a damage-dealing device. In fact, 'grenade' really is the wrong word altogether - it's more of a trap-cum-containment device, in true Ghostbusters style. When flung at a roaming spirit, it attaches itself, providing you with intelligence on the ghost's health and corporeal status. Certain weapons in your inventory work by bringing spirits into phase with the world of the living, and the only way to capture a ghost is to change its state thus. So, once the grenade is attached, you pepper said spirit with fire from your anti-ghost guns and, when its corporeal status bar is depleted, the trap activates, sucking up the spirit and holding it so it can be 'downloaded' at the spirit containment facility back at the school. Got that? Good.

The demands Ghosthunter makes on your control skills are considerable. From minute to minute, moving around and interacting with the world is a doddle - when you approach an object you can climb, or come up to a wall you can hug your back to for a stealthy approach, an icon will tell you so. Things get fruity when you're facing down multiple enemies and the system takes a little getting used to. Say you're fighting three floating spirits. You tag one with your grenade, open up with the weapons, and all the whole you're dodging fire from the other two and considering the switch to a long-range weapon, as the whip-quick beastie whizzes off to take cover. On top of this, you need to think about ammo conservation and how many shots you have left before you have to take three or four crucial seconds out to reload. Once you know the drill, each engagement becomes a test of skill rather than patience.

Your first few engagements are one-on-one and the learning curve is, for the most part, reasonable. However, the camera does cause problems, and it's in those life-or-death combat situations that you feel the pinch most. While physical movement is performed with the left analogue stick, camera control sits with the right, and the thing seems to have a mind of its own at times. The two main modes Lazarus switches between - run mode and combat mode, toggled with a tap of Circle - each have their own camera view. Run mode is fine - the camera mainly stays fixed and moves closer to Lazarus only when you back up to a wall with the camera behind him. No problems there, but when you're in combat mode it becomes a problem, as you start to lose your picture of where Lazarus is in relation to the enemy.

There's nothing worse than reversing away from a big, tough, heavy-hitting enemy, only to find the camera zooming into Lazarus' chest. It leaves you with a close-up view of some pretty texture-mapping on the enemy but no idea of where your gun is pointing. Part of the problem is that Lazarus moves slowly in combat mode - if he was a little more fleet of foot, perhaps you could dart him out of such situations and into view again.

Camera issues also beset Astra, your secondary character. Throughout the game, you'll find mystical circles where a tap of X will summon her, at which point control switches. She's key to progression. She swims through the air like a ghostly mermaid and can go places that Lazarus can't - floating over obstacles, up broken staircases, etc. She also has a unique set of ghostly abilities that challenge you to approach problems from a different gameplay perspective. But again, the camera, with its latent inability to keep up with your movements, compromises the pleasure such character-variety brings. Half the time you end up bouncing the poor girl off the walls like a goldfish with inner-ear problems!

But you'll overcome such issues for the pure and simple fact that they don't outweigh the good stuff on offer. You'll learn to deal with the occasionally crappy camera because you'll want to experience what else the afterlife has to offer. As the song so rightly puts it, "Bustin' makes you feel good..."

Graphics 90%
PS2-tech tweaked masterfully. Near-flawless.

Sound 70%
Decent music with some truly creepy effects.

Gameplay 80%
Great set-ups marred some by camera issues.

Lifespan 80%
Good length. Small sections can take ages.

Overall 80%
A few camera issues aside, this ethereal beauty makes a good case for possession. Mwahaha.