Parents' Guide to Ghost Parade

People say that looks aren't everything, and they're absolutely right. If they were, then Ghost Parade would be a spectacular piece of work. There's no denying that the colorful adventure has a certain whimsical fun to its art style and it's an absolute treat for the eyes. Unfortunately, this isn't some static piece of art hanging on display. Peel away its colorful exterior and look at it as the game it's supposed to be and, well, the whole things comes crashing down into an almost unplayable and certainly unenjoyable mess.

Challenge in a video game can be a lot of fun. Some of the most entertaining games on the market are difficult by design. The key words there, though, are "by design." Ghost Parade isn't trying to be difficult. The problem is nearly ever gameplay element feels like it's meant to work against the player. The controls, for example, are anything but precise. This alone can be a death knell in a platform adventure like Ghost Parade. There's nothing more frustrating than dying over and over again because you're meant to make a near perfect jump, but can't because the controls are so bad, you'd have better luck playing blindfolded. Of course, that only comes into play after you figure out exactly what you're supposed to be doing. That's a pain because the game doesn't bother to explain anything until well into the story. All of this, plus the occasional technical bug or design snafu, makes Ghost Parade a scary title to play for all the wrong reasons.