Haunt Review

Following in the footsteps, quite literally in Kinect’s case, of Sega’s Rise Of Nightmares, comes Microsoft’s Haunt. A lighter take on the haunted house theme seen in Sega’s ‘mature’ gore fest, Haunt has more in common with Ghostbusters or Luigi’s Mansion and has found itself at the forefront of XBLA, set to become something of a poster child for Kinect’s capabilities.

At 800 Microsoft Points it should go some way to convince many Kinect has the potential to grow beyond dance games and fluffy animal sims, too.

It could be argued that its cheap price and XBLA status lend Haunt something of proof-of-concept feel, but what is presented is charming and engaging in ways many Kinect titles fail to be.

Trapped inside the eccentric Benjy’s mansion, players are tasked with restoring functionality to his ghost-trapping machinery and retrieve the ghastly ghouls that are terrorising his property.

Not that he should mind, considering he’s a spirit himself, capable of speaking to you through the paintings – he guides you through taking on the varying ghosts and puzzles and helps you through Haunt’s creepy hallways.

What helps make Haunt such an enjoyable Kinect experience is the inventive and concise ways in which it utilises Microsoft’s motion controller.

The torch is your best friend and will rather smartly act as your primary input into Haunt’s environments. 

Players control a torch in one hand, which acts like a cursor for what has to be the easiest-to-understand of setups, and movement is simplified to a single track, controlled by walking on the spot.

Immediately, it removes most of the nasty issues raised in Rise Of Nightmares and builds on many of the ideas already seen there.

You’ll fight a range of ghosts, each with unique attacks, and every one of them will force you to defend yourself in a different way. Some attack with sound, forcing you to cover you ears, others hinder your sight making you cover your eyes, and some, more traditionally, just throw household objects your way, making you duck out of their path.

It’s not long before the tables are turned, though, and inheriting some of their abilities leads to some of Haunt’s more inventive ideas.

Shouting to inflict damage and hearing your own voice bounce off Benjy’s decrepit walls helps Kinect give a greater sense of connection to the world than it has managed with any game before.

That doesn’t necessarily mean all of Kinect’s issues are relieved, though. Haunt still manages to confuse with some convoluted gameplay that gives the impression of movement through porridge, like a game played at half speed.

It can also feel as if Kinect is slow to read your responses, compensating too much as a result, and rarely does it feel like an environment you can truly interact with without the game’s approval.