We haven't heard much about Geist, the ghostly first-person shooter in development for the GameCube at n-Space, since it was announced at E3 2003. That is until recently, when we got a chance to go hands-on with the game to find out just what makes Geist's supernatural gameplay tick. The game features some pretty cool mechanics that you won't see in just any FPS, and a handful of adventure game elements ought to make the game appeal to a wider audience than those who simply like to run-and-gun everything in sight.

　　Geist casts you as John Raimi, a soldier investigating the shadowy Volks Corporation. Volks apparently specializes in paranormal research, and at some point in his investigation Raimi's spirit is separated from his body. You'll spend most of Geist playing as Raimi's spirit from the first-person perspective as you attempt to traverse the Volks Corporation's compounds and manipulate the environment and people in it as you try to retrieve your corporeal self. This isn't your typical first-person shooter. However, though there's some shooting involved, you'll do just as much adventure-style exploring and puzzle-solving as you progress through the game.

　　The gameplay in Geist revolves around your ability to possess both living things and inanimate objects. People and animals can't just be overtaken at any time, though; you'll be able to possess them only when they're sufficiently frightened. This is where you'll want to mess with objects in the environment. In the level we played, we dove into a spotlight and made it flicker and move around in an attempt to scare a nearby guard. This guard wasn't so easily frightened, though; instead, he simply walked over and unplugged the lamp. Afterward, we possessed a dog's food bowl and then made the food pop out of the bowl when the dog went to take a bite. This scared the dog enough that we were able to possess it and run around (complete with snout protruding from the bottom of the screen) to accomplish our goal. You'll be able to possess many Volks agents and use their abilities and weaponry to advance as well, though just as often you'll have to be a little creative to find a way to get through a particular situation.

　　Geist's look has evolved nicely during its development, and it has a visual style that's a little different from anything else you'll find on the Cube. When you're in spirit form, the game uses a number of filters to give your surroundings a washed-out, ethereal look that's quite effective. Once you possess a character, you'll of course see things from that character's perspective. The environments that we saw had a dingy look to them that fit in well with the setting.

　　Geist will also feature a split-screen multiplayer mode for four people. One mode we were able to look at had players choosing to be either a ghost or a human soldier at the outset. The ghost players' goal was to possess the soldiers, while the soldiers' goal was, of course, to repel the ghosts. This multiplayer mode, coupled with the interesting adventure game/FPS hybrid story mode, ought to make Geist have a considerable impact when it finally hits the GameCube. Stay tuned--we'll bring you more on the game from E3 and beyond.