Охотник за привидениями: Polterguy и месть из потустороннего мира

1993 video game

Haunting Starring Polterguy is a comedy horror video game released for the Mega Drive/Genesis by Electronic Arts in 1993. Taking control of a ghost named 'Polterguy', the player must bring various household items to life in order to frighten a family away from their home. A port for the PlayStation Portable was released in 2006 on EA Replay.

The protagonist, Polterguy, is a rebellious punk teenager who was killed in an accident involving defective skateboards manufactured by business mogul Vito Sardini. As a ghost, Polterguy seeks revenge by haunting Vito's home and tormenting him and his family. During the game, Polterguy frightens the Sardini family out of four different homes, following which the family chihuahua transforms into a grotesque blob monster known as 'Ecto Beast', which Polterguy must confront in battle.

There are four houses which Polterguy must drive the Sardini family from. Over the four houses Polterguy will encounter approximately 400 objects which he can possess and interact with. When Polterguy is in a house his ecto slowly decreases. His ecto "tank", as Polterguy affectionately refers to it as, can be further decreased by the barks of the family's dog, as well as by taking damage from the ecto beasts.

In these stages, Polterguy must collect all ecto drops to escape. Only one ecto drop appears at a time. If the ecto or exit is off screen, an arrow will point to it. Once the exit is found Polterguy is returned to the house at the exact point where he left off. The dungeon is also the place where Polterguy may find special spells; these drop from the roof like ecto but disappear much faster. There are various hazards that can harm Polterguy in the Underworld, such as bats, bouncing skulls and arms from the walls and floor. Polterguy's health is represented by a portrait in the lower left corner. The portrait will shrink when Polterguy takes damage until only the eyes remain. When all health is depleted, the game is over. Health does not replenish between Underworld stages but very rarely a star shaped ecto drop will appear and fully heal Polterguy when picked up. There are twelve dungeon paths; once these have all been played they repeat.

In this mode (which is accessed by pressing the 2nd player's start button at the title screen), each player takes turns at scaring the family. Player one starts by default and continues until their ecto tank is depleted, where player two takes over. When both players' turns are finished they play head to head simultaneously in the underworld stage and try to grab as much ecto as they can before the other player. The player that hits the "finish" spot at the end gets first turn back in the house. If one player dies in the underworld, the game reverts to single player for the remaining player.

In the dungeon levels there are several hazards that may reduce Polterguy's life portrait: these include steam vents, disembodied hands, bats, and bouncing skulls. The Ecto Beasts are attracted to the Ecto that appears after Polterguy chases a family member out of a room. These green, ghostly creatures will pick up the Ecto dropped from the frightened family member, stopping Polterguy from replenishing his own Ecto Tank, after which they will attack Polterguy and reduce his Ecto meter further. At later levels in the game, these enemies appear more frequently. Polterguy is armed with two different kick attacks to defeat these enemies. One being a fast kick that does little damage, and another being a charge kick that will defeat the Ecto Beasts with one hit. The family dog, a Chinese crested whose name is unknown, is the only living creature in the game that can detect Polterguy in the house. When the dog barks at Polterguy, the ecto meter substantially drops, and the fear levels of any family members in the room go down, since the dog is said to "comfort" the Sardinis, effectively calming them down from the fear Polterguy induces. Once all the members of the family have left the final house, the dog moves to a square vacant room which has no objects that Polterguy may possess. At this point the dog transforms into a giant Ecto Beast, which Polterguy must defeat to complete the game.

Haunting met with positive reception upon release. GamePro stated that it was "One of the most unique vidgames [sic] of the year!" Game Players stated "This game's so fun, it's scary! ", with both quotes being printed as blurbs directly on the North American release's box art.