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When Rare hopped on the Microsoft wagon, everyone thought that they would be pumping out Banjo-Kazzoies and Perfect Darks like gangbusters for Microsoft’s little black box. It turns out that those titles are taking a back seat to Rare’s newest concoction: Grabbed by the Ghoulies: A game that’s part Streets of Rage, part Resident Evil, part Banjo-Kazooie. Confused? Good. Read on to see what I mean.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies follows the story of Cooper, a young adolescent man who has to try to save his girlfriend from the cluches of a band of monsters inside a haunted mansion (enter ‘part Resident Evil’) after she is kidnapped on their way home from a camping trip gone bad. The game opens up with a rather inspired ‘graphic novel’ kind of look, as the story is told through animated comic book cells. Once the opening movie has finished up, you take control of Cooper and are given a tutorial on the games play mechanics. You will control Cooper with the left stick, and attack with the right stick. This may sound rather strange, but it actually works very well once you get used to it. Whichever way you push the right stick is the way Cooper will attack, allowing you to attack behind or beside you if creepy crawlers surround you. You will soon learn that the game is chalk full of items that can be used as weapons, may it be a stack of bottles, a pool cue, a frozen ham, or a stack of cheeseburgers, the game is never at a loss for something to bash things with. There are some special items that will help you in specific areas of the game, such as the water gun that will help take care of the zombies in the lighthouse, or the garlic blaster that will make quick work of the vampire chickens in the roost. Yes, you read correctly: vampire chickens. It’s a Rare game, don’t pretend to be so surprised. Some enemies take special strategy to be killed. For example, Mummies can only be killed by fire, and so you must find the proper means to dispose of them. You’ll find yourself navigating through the mansion and it’s grounds through over 50 rooms, beating and bashing on hordes of monsters the whole way.

It wouldn’t be a Rare game without some puzzle element, so the good boys have put on in almost every single room. You will find yourself having to find a key, kill every enemy in the room, kill only certain enemies, or other such goals throughout the game in order to progress. Sometimes the game throws a curve ball at you by putting in a timer that will count down, or a stipulation that cannot be broken, and if you either let the time run out or disobey the stipulation, you will get a visit from the Grim Reaper. He’ll chase you through whatever room in the house you may be in, finger stretched out, ready for the kill. If you come in contact with the Reaper, you end up dead, naturally. So it’s usually a good idea to just stay away from him whenever possible.

The game boasts tons of different power ups, such as speed boosts, invulnerability, unbreakable weapons, or really cool ones such as the ‘clone cooper’ which creates a mini version of Cooper that runs around on it’s own and aids you in your Ghoulie swatting activities. There are also reverse power ups that will damage your health, make you dizzy, and other such effects.

The game has a nice visual appeal almost in the same vein as Banjo-Kazzoie. It’s not that every item you pick up in the game has eyes, it’s just that the characters look very animated and appealing. It’s a good thing, honest. Cooper animates very smoothly, and plays very well, while the Ghoulies look great, animate just as well, and vary in appearance well enough that each type of crazy monstrosity is immediately identifiable in a crowd. The whole game has that light hearted, yet dastardly feel to it that we all know and love.

One of the things that keeps Rare’s games on the top is audio, good audio. Ghoulies is no different. It boasts a suiting, catchy set of tunes to accompany your Ghoulie busting, and while there’s no real voice acting to be spoken of, you really don’t notice, because the game is told in the style of a story, and well… stories don’t speak…right? Each of the games enemies have their own unique sounds and groans that are just as recognizable as the actual physical monster itself, which is an excellent job by Rare. The games sound effects also hold that light hearted feel, and sound great.

The game is part Streets of Rage, part Banjo-Kazzoie, part Resident Evil. How Rare ever came up with the idea for vampire chickens is still a mystery, but all that can be said right now is this: While some people may be disappointed that Rare didn’t supply Xbox with a Perfect Dark or Banjo-Kazzoie as it’s first title, Grabbed by the Ghoulies is still a solid entry into the Xbox library that is just oozing with the usual Rare appeal. Give it a look.