Before I start the review, I have a small advice to all Indian gamers. Please don’t compare this game to Max Payne (gameplay-vice). It would be an insult to a master piece! It is as ridiculous as comparing Agni to Crysis, you get the drift?
I managed to lay my hands on Ghajini a week back, two weeks after it was released to be precise. Ever since I started playing this game, people have been asking me what I thought about it. Not just Indians mind you, but even a few “friends” abroad who are interested in Indian gaming scene.
After all, India is supposed to be pretty good at churning out cheap yet good stuff. My previous article on Ghajini only added to the interest. But all I have said about the game is that it was kind of ironical.
“Ironical?” that was the return question I got. You, too, may be wondering why I am giving this game, such a vague description. Yes, ironical is the word I was looking for, and ironical is what I meant. Why? Because this game, by no means deserves the attention it is getting. Ghajini is recommended only to members of Amir Khan fan club, to people who seriously consider a profession in game quality testing and definitely not recommended for 12 year old Indians as the ratings say.
The game begins in Sanjay’s (Amir Khan) apartment which is a maze of reminders, all strategically placed, so he doesn’t forget to do anything. You soon get on to the first mission of stealing documents from the CBI building. Strangely, all the guards around the building walk and at times drift in the air with a limp. Oh no, they haven’t employed people with such a disability in Mumbai police force, it’s just very poor in-game animation.
I didn’t have any weapon with me, so naturally I started wondering if it’s a stealth game, a la Hitman. I sneaked around like a snake while avoiding the watchful eyes of the cops but it’s only human to make mistakes. So as I crouched around a policeman passed by under normal circumstances I would have “figured” my fate and reloaded the game.
But this time somehow I decided to stay the way I was and the police just let me be! Now that says something about the game’s AI. It’s not just the police, but all the enemies I encountered through the game where equally reactionless. I encountered gundas armed with metal and wooden rods and surprisingly they were easier to kill than rats. They will charge you like bulls and then all you have to do is give them a well-timed kick. As if stunned by Sanjay’s reflex, they stand there staring at you. If I took a screenshot and showed it to someone who didn’t have any idea about the game, they would have thought they were having a serious discussion. You just need to keep hitting them till they fall dead on the floor. Not too tough ay? Well it isn’t. But it took a lot of time for me to finish it than it should have mainly because of the many bugs in the game which makes this game a torture to play through.
You will fall through walls, floors and well, once or twice, get killed by petrol bombs! The levels are challenging, but they can be equally putting off because, they tend to get repetitive and boring after a while.
Nothing impressive on the graphic front, apart from the high system requirements which are required to get the low-poly models to appear with a decent frame-rate! The character models are pretty decent, so is the environment.
The game would have been more impressive if only the environment was more interactive. Also, I found it ridiculous that Ghajini couldn’t jump over small obstacles like drums and bars. I mean really, it’s just a bar. If you can’t jump over it, crawl under it. Or did Sanjay forget how to crawl too?
Controls too are pretty much screwed up. At times, you will struggle to turn Sanjay in the direction you want. A few times I ran into a corner and couldn’t get out, he just wouldn’t budge! I had to finally reload after ten minutes of frustration. Also, the controls couldn’t be configured according to my personnel choice. Why is that a problem? Because most gamers are used to using E for action, but in Ghajini it was F. For what joy?
But there is something that’s been nagging me, the price of the game, Rs. 200. Does the price justify the many bugs and poor graphics? I am not sure. But I have to admit that low-cost strategy is the only way to get foothold for companies in the Indian market. That’s one reason I did not mind those huge in-game hoardings. As long as they are making enough money to bring out games at $4 price-point, let’s not crib about in-game ads!
Rating: 3.5/10.
- By Danton Brown