Doctor Marcus Grimalkin (played by Christopher Lee) has devoted his life to the study of ghosts and paranormal occurrences. However, feeling he is still no closer to uncovering the truth, he decides to spend a weekend researching the evidence he has compiled. What better place to do this than Hobbs Manor, reputedly the world's most haunted house?
Dare you join Dr Grimalkin and discover answers for yourself? Help him uncover the truth about the paranormal - use the material you will find around the house to make up your own mind. Exploring the house will uncover objects which access factual content such as spirit photographs, poltergeist recordings and testimonials, dramatized ghost stories and real life experiences.
Although Dr Grimalkin is a fictional character, all other contributors are real-life experts and witnesses. The investigations in Ghosts are not reconstructions, but genuine research into the phenomena.
- Free movement through a 3D rendered haunted house
- Exclusive interviews with many of the world's leading parapsychologists and investigators
- Extensively researched historical information
- Over 90 minutes of specially filmed video
- Over 1000 color photographs and illustrations
- Specially made for CD-ROM, Ghosts offers much more than any book or tape conversation
~ from the back of the box
Released in 1994 by Media Design Interactive, Ghosts is one of the better edutainment titles that sneak in some classic adventure elements. Not only can you dig up archive footage and evidence of things that go bump in the night, but you are also treated to a fictional side story hosted by the inimitable Christopher Lee.
Lee plays Dr Grimalkin, a man who seeks proof of ghosts by taking residence in the most haunted house in the country. You explore this house, gathering testimonials and information from a number of experts and witnesses. Pictures of the subject will glow green if there's an audio clip to accompany it while some larger framed portraits give you a video response of a particular question from experts.
Among those interviewed are a Parapsychologist, a Ghost Hunter and a Catholic Priest so there's a wide variety of beliefs on display. They're not the most charismatic of people, though, and without the editing of a documentary feature or programme, it comes off rather dry.
The gaming part is pretty bare-bones too, with the only real reward for solving them being more clips. I would've thought thee would be more spooky scenes or attempts at a jump scares, but what there is is woefully underwhelming. A still of a man pulling a face popping up at the back of a wardrobe is not scary.
That being said, the information side of Ghosts is rather well put together. Each room has large amounts of well-written and researched documentation to scour through. Original users could've exported the text to Windows to print off too. It's an overall decent package with an engaging subject matter that is a little unpolished in parts.
To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses DOSBox running Microsoft Windows 3.1 to get the game working on modern systems. Tested on Windows 10.
File Size: 570 Mb. Install Size: 784 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ
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Ghosts is © Media Design Interactive
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me
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It's lovely to see and hear Christopher Lee again, so thanks for this. The recordings with his voice sound a bit crackly, but I assume that is deliberate, since the recordings featuring the experts have no crackle. I ain't scared of no ghosts! -- but the ghost stories are still informative and good fun.
ReplyDeleteI've just checked and that's an issue with the original files as well. The videos are AVIs and found in the DATA/MOVIES folder of the CD. Having filmed talking heads in my professional life before, I suspect it was an issue / oversight during recording.
DeleteWould it be possible to configure true colors in the win 3.11 so the game looks a bit better? I guess now Win 3.11 uses 256 colors, hence the dots in the video's and graphics. I guess it will be smoother / nicer with true (16 million) colors.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely sure Ghosts was programmed in True Colour. This pre-dates Windows '95 after all. If you edit the Autoexec at the bottom of the DOSBOX.conf to boot you into Windows 3.1 directly(add a # at beginning of second-to-last line and remove the one just above it), you can change the settings there if you want to try it (Program Manager-Windows Setup-Options-Change System Settings). Be prepared for it not to work though.
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