Classic Games: Casper [PSX]

There are many Games that I really like to play and there are a handful which are my all-time favourites.  This game falls into the latter category.  The Game is called Casper and was released on a few platforms, PSX, 3DO, and Saturn.  The Game is quite respectably linked to the 1995 Feature film: Casper which was also one of my all-time favourite movies.  The version I played with most was the PSX version, however I have played the other two, there are a few improvements in the Saturn version which I would say make it better, but the Game world at large remains identical.

The game takes place in Whipstaff Manor, Maine.  Casper the friendly ghost explores the Manor solving puzzles.  The main game mechanic involves Casper finding the missing pieces of portraits throughout the mansion.  There are various power ups that can be collected, items that will help you on your way and logic puzzles for you to solve.  The first puzzle is simple and forms in essence a tutorial or training section, from the main foyer of the Game you can only explore a limited area of the Mansion at first.  During this exploration you find a weight and a bucket, among other things.  All four pieces of the first portrait can be found here.  The Game gets progressively harder and becomes less and less linear.

The Game is split into 4 main acts.  Act 1: Find tokens of friendship, mirrors the opening of the Movie in which Casper, a friendly Ghost who lives - or rather haunts, a Mansion with his 3 uncles: Fatso, Stinky, and Stretch, must find attempt to befriend Dr. Harvey and his daughter Kat.  Dr Harvey is a "Therapist to the Dead".  Whipstaff Manor which was at one point the home of Casper and his family when he was alive, has been passed on to Carrigan Crittenden, after the death of her father.  A spoilt money hungry vile woman when she finds the Mansion haunted she tries everything to get rid of the Ghosts including attempting to knock it down, eventually her last hope is Dr. Harvey.  The Game begins after Dr. Harvey and his daughter's arrival.  Other than Casper himself there are no characters present in the game except his 3 Uncles.

This Game can be incredibly challenging, some of the logic puzzles are fiendish, one or two of the hidden paths and switches in the Game are hidden quite Sadistically.  If you have ever played this game, the path leading North out of the Hedge maze into the East Wing of the Mansion is one prime example of Bastardry.  I will not say where the solution to that particular path is hidden but suffice is to say when I first found it I felt so pissed off with the Game Programmers, it was a slight jaw drop "You're fucking kidding me" moment.  Before solving that puzzle the wicked and wild solutions my mind had dreamt up as possibilities were unreal.  The major difficulty factor in this Game is that once you progress beyond a certain point the Game is almost entirely open, you can go anywhere through any of the routes in the Mansion solving many puzzles criss crossing back and forth.  The Mansion has many doors and paths which are locked, require certain coloured keys, require certain switches and secrets to be found, power-ups to be collected etc before they can be followed.  This game will test your memory a much as it will your logic ability.

I would rate this Game 8 out of 10.  I would be impressed if you managed to finish it, of the few rare people I know who have actually played it none have managed to finish it.