When Microsoft decided to buy Rare it took many Nintendo fans by surprise. Many wondered which franchises would leave the big "N" and head over to the big "M". Once the details were banged out, many Xbox gamers couldn't wait for Rare's first Xbox appearance. Would we see Perfect Dark? Banjo-Kazooie? Perhaps even Conker first? The answer was no. Rare decided on a little title that was showed at E3 last May called Grabbed by the Ghoulies. The only question left was: would Rare retain the charm and quality that Nintendo fans have enjoyed for so many years?

The story is the simple, old cliché video game story of boy meets girl, girl gets kidnapped, boy must rescue girl. You take on the role of Cooper, a teenage-looking boy who is lost in the woods with his girlfriend Amber. At a crossroads, in front of an old haunted mansion, Cooper takes a look at his map. As he looks away Amber is grabbed by the ghoulies and kidnapped, hence the name.

The story is told through a book that is set in frames. Each frame shows a little piece of the story. As you progress through the game, the story is recorded within the pages of the book.

I must say, after a few hours test driving the game, it is quite charming. It has gotten plenty of "awwws" from my wife. The graphics are done extremely well in a cel-shaded style, and the way the story is told is adequate, not great, but it gets the job done. You meet a butler at the door who acts more as a training guide, as you battle your way through the mansion. He will occasionally pop up on the screen to give you hints, fill in a story, or just let you know what button to press.

As soon as you enter the mansion you begin battling the ghoulies. The battle system so far is awkward. You control Cooper with the left control stick and point the right control stick in the direction you want to attack. It seems pretty straight forward, but it's not. At times it seems that Cooper just isn't attacking in the direction you want him to. This is in part due to the camera system that I will explain in a moment and in part due to the sensitivity of the control stick. At times you feel that you are attacking the enemy dead on, only to miss because you didn't push the stick in the exact direction of the enemy. Perhaps overtime this will become more intuitive, but after a few hours of play it has become more frustrating than anything.

As I mentioned above, the camera could be the game's biggest flaw. You can swing the camera left or right by using the triggers on the Xbox controller. Having to swing the camera and attack with the control stick makes things very frustrating. It's not difficult, but it takes a bit getting used too. Obviously if you change direction of the camera, while you're attacking to the left...well your not attacking to Cooper's left anymore. A better control system would seem to have been to control the camera with the left stick, similar to the "free camera system" in Super Mario Sunshine, and attack with the triggers. As I have progressed through the game, I have gotten more used to the system Rare has incorporated, but it just doesn't seem intuitive. I am constantly thinking about the camera thus far.

Besides the above, the game seems to be good beat-em' up fun. I am having a great time beating up on the ghoulies. The rooms are very immersive; many objects can be used for battle, and they deteriorate in your hands through beatings. Many of the objects in the rooms can be broken to reveal treats as well as bad guys. The only complaint I can see is it may get repetitive. I have not progressed enough to give a final verdict on that however. So far it has been very similar going from room to room beating up bad guys. Perhaps that will change.

All in all I am having fun with the game so far, and that's what counts the most, right? I will be back with a full review of the game in the coming days.