Although comic fans will jump at the chance to control Ghost Rider - surely Marvels moodiest, most enigmatic hero - if you remove the flaming skull, ghostly hog and snug leathers from this nippy movie spin-off, all youre left with is a nagging sense of déjà vu.
Most of the adventure sees the eponymous hero strutting through a series uninspiring levels, using chains to whip his infernal foes and recalling the gleeful brutality of Devil May Cry or God Of War. But while GOWs flagellation was punctuated by dramatic set pieces and the occasional puzzle, the on-foot action in Ghost Rider is stiflingly dull, amounting to little more than entering a room, slaughtering everything that moves, shuffling to the next area and repeating the whole sorry mess ad nauseam.
Things dont get any better when you jump on the Big Gs bike, either. Like Road Rage staged on the fringes of Hades, the pacy driving sequences see the flaming hero rocketing along endless roads and twatting flying devils, skidding from time to time to slide under obstacles or jumping over chasms in the highway to hell. And while its all fun for a while, after an hour youll have seen all the enemies the game has to offer - and theres only so many times you can bullwhip demonic buzzards before boredom creeps in.
Even a script penned by Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti cant save the game from mediocrity, rightly consigning Ghost Rider to the ill-advised film tie-in dumpster where it belongs.