Ghost Tales is a Flash based Facebook game I saw advertised again and again in my sidebar while on Facebook. So, I figured I would try it out. I am not sorry I did either! While the gameplay may seem rather simplistic, the depth and story is where this game really shines.
Take Zynga’s Cityville, The Sims, and throw in some battle, a decent ghost story and you seem to have what makes for a great Facebook game. This is the story of a town in trouble.
I don’t play a lot of Facebook games on a regular basis and when I do, they have to be good. There are so many cookie cutter, clone, unoriginal games on Facebook, it is truly staggering! As such, it takes a lot to impress me.
My first impression of Ghost Tales was that it was going to be more of the same old “Sims style” game that are a dime a dozen on Facebook. That was, until I got to fight too. Something many City builder style games do not have. This element intrigued me, so I continued on.
This is where the story comes in. Though it gets off to a bit of a slow start, the progression of the game and story start to pick up as soon as you start to level up and reveal what is truly going on in this city. There is a villian and his name is The Dramatist.
The Dramatist has put masks on everyone in the city, which control their thoughts and actions. You mission is to help each townsperson sever that control from him and remove the masks, by completing different tasks. You will need friends for this game as it has a heavy social help element to it. Fortunately the game has a lot of fans so far and there are a few Ghost Tales “Add Me” pages on Facebook where you can find all kinds of neighbors! I went from 3 neighbors to 20 in only a couple of days. 
I was impressed with it enough to recommend it to my wife and she really likes the game now too. While the “combat” aspect is rather simplistic in the sense that you can’t really get killed by an enemy. It is still kind of fun to whack them for goodies and adds a more interesting element to something that otherwise might be considered as just another boring builder game.
There are quests and LOTS of them, but not boring ones. The nice part is, that they all more or less tie together with the main story. This game really manages to stay on track, even though it veers off track every now and then with a few “odd” quests. For the most part the story has “cohesion” and I like that. Anyone who knows me and my reviews know I am big on story/game progression. The reason is, that no matter how good a game is in other elements, if it lacks progression, it is dead in the water, no question.
The graphics are very nicely done, albeit a bit on the cartoonish/comic book style. Maybe that’s why I like it? I totally reminds me of solving an old Scooby Doo mystery. It takes me back to that feeling I had as a kid and loved stuff like this. It’s like a big kids mystery. If anything, it is bound to put a smile on your face. If you really like mysteries, then another game almost identical to this except different called Detective Tales is pretty good too.
The writing in the game is actually quite good with some good comedy thrown in too. There are a couple of grammatical errors in a few of the written dialogues (I think the writers might be foreign) but overall it is rather well written and progresses quite effectively. It truly is a game of “Ghost Tales”. Lots of stories wrapped up into one main objective. Save the town and it’s people. It works well as an overall theme.
There is usually something to do and it fits nicely into the typical 15-30 min. Facebook game session. After that you might as well move on to your other games though because it has one very annoying drawback. Requests for items are limited to 2 items per hour. It is something that a lot of people don’t like about the game and a reason some have quite it. I find myself coming back a few times a day to get what I need.
I think that what gets me coming back is I am curious to know where it is going next. If you want something casual (but not overly casual so as to be totally boring) Ghost Tales is a fun romp that is strangly addictive.
The game has “in game” purchases you can make to progress faster, but unlike some money grab games, this one is not a “pay to win” type game. You can advance without being limited to paying at some point. Just make sure to have lots of neighbors and your progress will go quicker.
Published: Dec 28, 2014 01:30 pm