Genre : Video Game
Publisher: Realtime Associates
Players: 1
Retail Price: $7
Availability: iPhone (via the App Store)
In Soul Trapper you follow the tale of Kane, a human that has been given the unenviable task of hunting down ghosts and trapping them via the Soul Trap. Think of the soul trap as a poor man’s Ghostbusters trap. The twist is, Kane can go inside and talk with the ghosts before sending them to the afterlife.
The installation went smoothly and is available for the iPhone and iPod Touch through the App Store. If you grab this game I’d recommend against downloading it over WiFi as it weighs in at a whopping 265MB; mostly, I presume because of the audio content. The visuals are sparse, only using still images throughout the chapters as a means of providing a vague context for the chapter being experienced. Therefore I recommend a download on your Mac or PC through iTunes will probably lead to a less frustrating wait… and I have FiOS.
Soul Trapper is an immersive audio adventure with interactive elements that I’d recommend using with headphones or earbuds, preferably in a non-noisy environment. That is to say, areas of the game involve concentration in addition to the fact that you are paying attention to the story, all of which I would find difficult on the subway on my way to work, or in the middle of a club waiting for your date. This is not one of those games.
The game started with a soundtrack that had me curious as the opening menu delivered a mix of audio akin to something you’d find in a mystical movie soundtrack like The Spiderwick Chronicles. Soul Trapper isn’t played as you’d play a ‘normal’ game, and I’ll preface this by saying its not for everyone. The game involves you listening to 23 chapters and following Kane through the adventuring, tapping buttons on the iPhone/Touch to interact. Such actions include asking questions, syncing your heart and breathing to audio and other puzzle-like tasks.
Kane isn’t your average hero, he’s a sometimes crude, mostly normal guy with a burden of capturing ghosts. I found the audio dialogue at times immersive and interesting, but equally often found it lacking and confusing. Not only do you play as Kane, being responsible for performing his ‘actions,’ but he also narrates the story. It is billed as an audio adventure, and I would be wary to call it as much a game as an audiobook with interactive elements.
Here is my reasoning: a game to me by definition has actions that have to performed to accomplish a goal, to complete a task, or some other function to move forward. Most games to me allow for the ability to not accomplish all goals, accomplish them out of order, or skip some entirely. Soul Trapper doesn’t really offer any of these types of interactions, and is entirely linear.
Soul Trapper’s main interactive element is moving Kane through the story. Actions performed in any sequence have no bearing on the story, and all actions must be performed to move through the game no matter what. Whether that’s asking questions of someone or performing other tasks, I didn’t always feel they were necessary to the plot of the game. Puzzle tasks I found interesting and at least offered a sense of accomplishment upon completion, versus tasks like syncing your heart rate or breathing to that of the audio. I found that doing these tasks was frustrating, especially when they lasted several minutes. Getting into the Soul Trap requires these minigames, which get progressively harder without ever seeming necessary. Instead of being challenging, they were tedious.
A big pet peeve I found was the showing of actions that couldn’t be accomplished, because the game wouldn’t allow it. I don’t want to spoil anything, but certain tasks can’t be completed only because that’s not what the story and game have in mind: you are at their whim, rather than being given a limited, choose-your-own-adventure style, freedom.
The game tries, and it is no doubt a very cool idea. I however felt that most of the story was unoriginal, and lacks a definitive time period: it references current events, but also sounds like a classic detective story, complete with sidekick and dame.
Where I found the adventure lacking was in its dialogue and overall style. It only makes rudimentary use of the iPhone and could easily be a console or PC game if the desire of the publisher was there. The interface design of the game is sparse: it offers a minimum of two buttons, a menu, and a map (which is hardly used). Action buttons appear as needed but rarely provide any interactivity beyond moving to timed events that trigger the next part of the audio adventure.
If you are looking for an interesting adventure, and something to pass the time, give Soul Trapper a try. If you are looking for a game that offers the ability to fail with consequences and succeed with a sense of accomplishment, then this will be less a game from your perspective and more an audio adventure. This may be what you’re looking for, but someone expecting a new type of ‘choose your own adventure’ may be left unsatisfied.
