You're going to say Ghost Master is a clone of the Dungeon Keeper games. Don't. They're similar in that the player takes what's traditionally a bad-guy role. Aside from that, Dungeon Keeper and its sequel are very, very good building games. Ghost Master is... well, like I wrote, unusual. It's part resource management, part strategy, part puzzle, part role-playing.

Let's just dive in. Welcome to the town of Gravenville. For no reason really given - maybe just by virtue of its name - the spirit world has decided to pay close, personal attention to Gravenville. They've assigned you, as a newbie Ghost Master, to coordinate various projects in the town.

Here's another way in which Ghost Master is unusual (in a good sense): These "projects" often involve scaring away all the mortals in a certain area. But not every time. Sometimes, you want the mortals to stay, as in one early mission where three ghosts' former shells must be revealed to the cops so as to free their souls. Other missions involve using ghostly powers to get mortals to accomplish goals unattainable by ethereal hands. And every mission features at least one ghost trapped at the location - you can free these troubled spirits and then use them in later missions, but the solutions range from easy (causing a pinball machine to spark) to hard (discovering the identity of a cop on the take). Each of these trapped spirits has a short monologue with hints on how to release it.

The folks at Sick Puppies are obviously horror fans. Missions are funny riffs on the classics (and not just in the horror genre): Evil Dead, Poltergeist, Arsenic and Old Lace, Hill Street Blues, Ghostbusters, every single slasher fic involving sorority girls... that's just to name a few. You'd only find more pop-culture references in The Simpsons.

Mortals have three basic meters: terror, madness and belief. Once a mortal's terror meter fills up, they flee the location. Once madness fills up, they go insane (and frighten other, saner mortals). As belief rises, that mortal is more susceptible to otherworldly displays. Some ghosts' powers affect belief; others prompt terror or madness. Mortals also have specific fears, which when played on increase their terror or madness even faster.

The mortals do eventually fight back. They'll phone in psychics and "ghost breakers" (a nod to the 1940 Bob Hope film that inspired Ghostbusters). These folks can be scared, of course, but they can also banish your minions, which means those ghosts won't be available for the duration of the mission.

So how is Ghost Master partly a resource-management sim? Everything costs plasm. The more impressive a power, the more plasm charged. Fear and madness feed plasm, so scaring mortals makes it easier to scare mortals. If a mortal flees, you get a whole lotta plasm. Just watch it, because plasm slowly decreases over time, and on those don't-scare-mortals levels, you'll need to wisely use powers so as not to run out and lose the level.

As for the RPG aspect, winning missions nets you gold plasm. This can be used to buy new powers for ghosts between missions (at the Ghoul Room). Plus, a ghost becomes a little more experienced with each mission they're on. With experience comes greater payoff for scares as well an increased available number of orders. (If you want a ghost to pick on a specific mortal, for example, or only use a specific power.)

This leveling-up mostly comes into play when revisiting a previously won mission. You get gold plasm for replaying (and rewinning) a mission, if you can do it under a certain time goal. Thing is, you can only use the ghosts that were available when the mission was originally unlocked. The solution? Power up those creaky old spirits so they can more quickly win, earning more gold plasm to power up more creaky old spirits to more quickly win other missions to earn more gold plasm… You get the idea.

Gameplay, then, can be complicated. Each ghost has specific fetters; that is, a murdered ghost can generally only be attached to some sort of object involved in murder or violence. (Luckily, all prospective fetters display their types with a quick mouseover.) Only some ghosts can roam free of their fetters, so it takes some careful thinking to effectively place ghosts.

The graphics are a nice mix of The Sims with not-really-terrifying ghosts like Slimer. These aren't horrifying haunts like in The Shining. Sometimes they're even a little too cutesy; there could be more of an edge here. Even the Terror Incarnate power is a little tame: Ghastly rips himself in half, but there's nary a drop of blood; Blue Murder turns into a vomiting version of Large Marge (from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure), but even that feels inoffensive.

The music in Ghost Master is superb. It's done in the sort of calliope pipe organ style so prevalent in spooky radio serials and early films. That's cool enough, but then you'll hear flourishes inspired by classic scores like the themes from Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice. Best of all? As the haunting action in a location increases, the music goes from slow and safe to frenetic - a perfect accompaniment to the mortals running screaming from swarms of spiders or a rain of fish.

I think I'm done with faux-Sims talk. I know, it's cheaper to record nonsensical babbling than real conversations, but I sure would've loved to know just what the poor mortals were discussing after having walked through a room echoing with the sound of rattling chains.

Anyway, have I raved enough? Don't buy Ghost Master if you want a retread of Dungeon Keeper. There's too much thought here; with only a very few exceptions, the levels require careful planning and sometimes a dash of inspired morbidity. I'd love to see more out of the Ghost Master team - a sequel? an expansion pack? Here's hoping it scares up at least a cult following.