iSpooks: The Manor by The Interactive Institute II AB is quite a fascinating immersive audio experience, that is truly unique! Starting out as nothing more then an audio focused project and ending up as an iPhone and iPod Touch game like no other. With a premise that is much different from most games you have ever played. “iSpooks: The less you see, the more you know!” as it’s said on the iSpooks’ App Store description page. And after some time with this experience (calling it a game doesn’t do it enough justice) I can say that I’m extremely interested in seeing more experiences like this, particularly one’s that truly push the envelope in terms of audio and/or immersive experiences.

If nothing else, for $0.99 cents you will get an app that will fill you with inspiration, and a craving for more. But for those of you who have a “glass is always half empty” state of mind, for $0.99 cents you will most likely be left with general disappointment, especially if you jump into iSpooks, with the typical expectations or assumptions of what a game should be like.

Noteworthy Features:

• Remarkable immersive audio experience
• Amazing atmosphere

Major Complaints:

• Amateurish visual polish & GUI
• Lacking interactivity

First of all iSpooks: The Manor is not like most games. In fact it’s more of an audio driven mystery game, not that much different from games like Myst, albeit with a tightly focused haunted house theme,  some stripped down amateurish art assets, and super high quality binary audio experience.

When playing the game it’s hard not to get drawn into the atmosphere here due in part to the games massive amount of high quality sounds. These sounds quite literally bring the experience to life, even though technically you only see a 2D floor plan. Unfortunately the setting itself just happens to be a nameless and somewhat generic haunted house without much history from the on set, not to mention the player being there without a clear purpose and without any imposed identity; a la you’re not an exorcist or on a ghost hunter mission, you’re just a white dot there to explore.

On one hand I can understand the reason the developer choose to drop the player in an unknown house, for an unknown reason after an extremely vague video intro, leaving everything a complete mystery to solve via gameplay. However on the other hand I feel that in this case a little bit of prerequisite lore or a tiny tidbit of context during the intro would have went a long way to draw the player in during their first couple minutes into the game.  Besides, I was getting this whole Ghost Hunter vibe when playing anyways – not that I would prefer it be tied to a somewhat popular television series – but more like I really wanted to have some kind of identity or a purpose within the game. Nothing dramatic, just something to grasp perhaps a commissioned exorcist, or ghost hunter – just something. Although to be honest that’s really more of a personal preference then a flaw in the games overall design.

While wandering around the manor, you will come across objects of interests and very talkative ghosts. In fact these ghosts (if you find the right spot) love to talk, and on several occasions I was left wondering why the ghosts were so out in the open and talkative rather then illusive and require a bit of investigative work via hunting them down by pulling out a trusty EMF meter perhaps.

Which brings me to another point, the games lack of interactivity. Sure you can walk around, pick up items (which just randomly appear), talk to random ghosts – each with a unique personality and presence, and give items to ghosts – in order to get more information, or unlock a previously locked door, but that’s about it. The reason I mentioned an EMF meter above is that ghost hunting from a scientific perspective, could have added a whole lot of interactivity to the experience. Since the environment itself (visually speaking) is nothing more then an old dusty and stained 2D floor plan that you move around on. Meaning you don’t turn on/off lights, you don’t have to open/close doors, find keys, search drawers, activate switches, and other typical interactive elements that make games like Myst so enjoyable. Instead all you really do is move, collect, talk to ghosts and give items that match up with what you think the ghost may desire.

Price

The experience of iSpooks: The Manor will set you back a cool $0.99 cents. It doesn’t get more cheaper then that, especially when considering this game has a massive collection of audio recordings that really bring the manor to life even though you cant really see it.

Score 3/5

iSpooks: The Manor‘s experience on the merits of its impressive audio and atmosphere is absolutely amazing. The sounds of exploring the house are chillingly realistic, not to mention it’s full of ghosts each with a unique personality and demeanor. After my time with this game, I was deeply inspired, but at the same time left wanting more substance; namely a bit more context, some more interactive elements and a fully realized 3D world to compliment the incredible sound recordings packed into this game… even though I realize the whole project was primarily focused on audio.

iSpooks: The Manor on the App Store.