Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider for PSP is a 2007 third-person action game from Climax Solent, published by 2K Games. Based on Marvel's supernatural antihero and released alongside the Ghost Rider film, it tells a new story set after the movie rather than retelling its events. Stunt rider Johnny Blaze again becomes the flaming-skulled Ghost Rider, and Mephisto presses him into hunting demons that have escaped Hell. The portable game combines close-quarters combat on foot with missions aboard the Hellcycle, placing comic-book characters and threats alongside the film's world.

Most of Ghost Rider's story mode is built around clearing hostile areas as the Rider. Johnny attacks with fists and the hellfire chain, linking strikes into combos while facing demons and larger boss opponents. A Vengeance meter rewards sustained, varied offense and avoiding damage; building it increases the souls collected from defeated enemies. Those souls can be spent on further moves and unlockable content, giving the campaign a progression system beyond simply reaching the next encounter. The Spirit Gauge, charged through combat, supports special attacks including the shotgun, while certain shielded enemies require enough Vengeance before they can be harmed.

The campaign follows Blaze from Mephisto's demand to contain the demonic outbreak. His motive is personal as well as reluctant: the threat to Roxanne Simpson leaves him little room to refuse. The story takes him against foes drawn from Ghost Rider comics as well as the film's mythology, including Lilith, Blackout, Deathwatch and Scarecrow. Marvel writers Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti wrote the game's storyline, making it an extension of the screen adventure that also reaches into the wider comic continuity. The Caretaker/Phantom Rider and Blade appear during the quest, and completing the game under certain conditions can unlock alternate playable characters and looks, including Blade, Vengeance and different Ghost Rider incarnations.

Hellcycle sections change the pace from arena combat to high-speed supernatural riding. Ghost Rider races through dangerous routes, dodging obstacles and attacking while in motion with chains and hellfire. These sequences are part of the story campaign, but the PSP version also adds its own racing-focused Challenge mode. Its elimination and survival variations ask racers to keep moving through checkpoints, with survival using a draining life bar that checkpoints replenish. This PSP release also features an Ad Hoc multiplayer racing mode for up to four players. Players choose from a roster of Ghost Rider-related characters and compete over combat-oriented tracks, using pick-ups for boosts, traps, and alternate projectiles.

That multiplayer racing component distinguishes Ghost Rider on PSP from the console version, even though its central design remains a single-player hack-and-slash adventure. The handheld edition arrived in North America on February 13, 2007, with a United Kingdom release following later that month. It shares its basic premise and on-foot/Hellcycle structure with the PlayStation 2 release, while the Game Boy Advance game is a separate adaptation with a different format and developer. An Xbox version was announced during development but did not reach release.

For players looking at Ghost Rider PSP as a Marvel game of its era, its appeal lies in the mixture of demonic chain fighting, upgradeable combat techniques and motorcycle action. It presents Johnny Blaze as both a fighter on foot and a rider whose Hellcycle becomes a combat tool, while its post-film plot gives familiar characters another conflict to face. The additional PSP races turn the license's signature vehicle into more than an occasional set piece, offering a local competitive mode alongside the main supernatural campaign.