Yu Yu Hakusho: Spirit Detective

Unfortunately the Spirit Detective’s adventures translates very poorly on the Game Boy Advance. 

Imagine finding out that you are dead and that the cause of your death was so heroic that the Prince of the Spirit World has granted you an extra chance to live again but under one condition: you help bring down evil spirits that are earthbound.  This is the situation that has made Yu Yu Hakusho Ghost Files: Spirit Detective something of a fan favorite among those loyal fans of Japanese anime.  Atari not only brings us all the characters from the animated series but also allows gamers to relive all the major scenes from the show.  Does this make for an action-packed Spirit Detective adventure fit for the Game Boy Advance, though? Ah, this is a mystery that can only be solved by reading on. 

If you’re not familiar with the series’ premise, allow me to give you a brief synopsis.  The series revolves around 14-year-old Yusuke Urameshi, something of a rebellious youth that is a jerk with everyone he meets and is a street brawler who is out to prove that he’s the toughest kid in town.  Suddenly his life changes when he bravely pushes a little boy out of the way of a speeding car and is killed in the process.  He is awarded a chance to become Earth’s Spirit Detective as he fights to rid the world of renegade spirits that haunt the Earth.  He teams up with a number of characters that include his Junior High rival, the girl he likes and the Grim Reaper that has taken the form of an attractive girl.

Spirit Detective’s beginnings were always about brawling, whether its Yusuke’s constant fistfights with local rival Kuwabara to the thugs that surround the renegade spirits he’s trying to bring down.  So the first few missions revolve around you brawling your way around the neighborhood, often fighting enemies that seem to attack for no apparent reason at all.  In fact, the story -- roughly translated -- doesn’t really go into the reasons why thugs often come out of nowhere to put the hurt on Yusuke or the other main characters you get to control.  For example, when you take up the role of Yusuke’s love interest, Kayko, you’ll be wondering why thugs are trying to beat her up while attempting to cross the street.

Yet what makes the series so intriguing is the fact that many of the characters have been blessed with special supernatural attacks.  Yusuke uses his finger to fire a blast of energy (known by fans as his Spirit Gun) while Kuwabara focuses his Spirit Energy to form a flaming sword of energy.  These things come in handy whenever you’re overwhelmed by the number of enemies that surround you (trust me, this occurrence is often in this game) or during boss fights in the later missions.  The special attacks have their limits, though, and you can spend Spirit Energy fairly easy.  Thankfully you can collect Power-Up items such as orbs or potions to revive your Spirit Energy.

Unfortunately, while it might be fun to play as fan-favorite characters, the game’s action is extremely repetitive.  The characters move through the environments well enough but the battles start becoming more of a nuisance rather than an entertaining challenge.  And yes the game brings to life the entire major plot points and character origins from the animated series but the retelling is so chopped up that it hardly makes much sense.  Still, the game does attempt to offer a variety and this comes in the form of unique levels.  For example, one level has you collecting the scattered pages of Kuwabara’s homework before the time runs out or brave the fires as Kayko who attempts to rescue Yusuke’s body as his house goes up in flames.

Visually, Spirit Detective is not a very good-looking game . . . in fact; it’s a pretty horrible-looking game.  This is highly unfortunate since the environments are massive and can be explored when you’re not being timed. The problem, though, is that the environments are pretty plain and boring to look at since the details are pretty sparse.  The same can be said about the characters, but watching them punch or use specialty attacks makes up for it.  The game could have also used some animated stills straight from the show.

Unfortunately the game’s score doesn’t make up for the awful graphics and, while it is a pretty good rendition of the score found in the animated series, it becomes too repetitive to bear for very long.  Each character, though, has his or her own music and this adds more variety to the mix, but it really isn’t heard enough.  There are some good sound effects and listening to the characters slam their fists into bad guys works well here but its the spirit attacks that sound really cool.

Yu Yu Hakusho Ghost Files: Spirit Detective is not a bad game, but its repetitive action and poor retelling of a great story keep this game from being a fan favorite.  There are some great moments worthy of playing, and plentiful characters to control offer some variety, but even this is not enough to cover up the fact that the game lacks intense action worthy of the animated series. 

Gameplay: 5.0
Brawling is the name of the game and you’ll be doing a lot of that, but thankfully the game also follows the animated series by including particular character attacks that will be familiar to those who are fans of the show.  The game also puts you in situations that will be familiar since they come straight from the series, including the dialogue that sets the story as well as introduces the key characters.  Too bad that the action becomes too repetitive to be fun for very long.

Graphics: 4.0
It’s sad to see such a beautifully drawn animated series look so awful on the Game Boy Advance.  Our beloved little handheld system is capable of rendering beautiful graphics and could have given us better looking animation screen than this.  The environments are very plain to look at and this is unfortunate since you can pretty much explore your vast surroundings, which include streets with traffic and plenty of buildings.  The characters look plain as well, but once they start using their specialty attacks the effects make up for it.

Sound: 5.0
The game attempts to bring the series music to the GBA and, for the most part, it does a pretty decent job of it.  Unfortunately it also becomes so repetitive that gamers will be lowering the volume just to avoid listening to the same lively tune over and over again.  Thankfully each character has his or her own theme music and that helps offer a variety, but it also grows too repetitive to fully enjoy.

Difficulty: Hard
You’ll be constantly up against a number of villains and thugs so often that you’ll wonder what the characters did to deserve to be hunted down this viciously.  In the early stages, characters will be brawling their way just to collect things.  If you decide to run away from fights, the number of thugs increase to the point that you’ll be up against literally dozens of characters who attack at the same time.

Concept: 6.0
It’s always a joy to play as favorite characters, especially if the characters come from a beloved Japanese anime series.  After all, who wouldn’t want to kick tail as Yusuke Urameshi?  Fans of the Spirit Detective will love the fact that they can take control of many of the main characters and use their signature specialty attacks such as Kuwabara’s Spirit Sword attack.  The game also takes you through segments seen in the series, but they are so roughly translated that the story suffers because of it.

Overall: 5.0
Unfortunately the Spirit Detective’s adventures translates very poorly on the Game Boy Advance.  There are a few great moments in the game that fans of the series will truly enjoy, but these moments are scattered far and between to make gamers want to stick with the game for a long period of time.  If you’re a big fan of the animated series, it might be worth your while just to get to play through key moments of the series.  Other than that, keep away from this one.