Grab Rare's Ghoulies from XBLA

Cute and cuddly British developer Rare has plenty of enthusiasm for a Grabbed by the Ghoulies sequel, but needs an equal amount of enthusiasm from you to warrant one.

"Yes, we had plans in place for a sequel which was actually quite different and probably would have had an openworld setting," said Rare's Gavin Price during an enlightening and light-hearted retrospective of Ghoulies' development.

"I'd make one tomorrow!" chirped artist Ed Bryan, before software bod James Thomas blurted: "Personally I love the thought of that. Just imagine how much more we could do with it!"

"No," stamped a sombre Gregg Mayles. "The lack of sales and promise of worldwide fame that I was certain Ghoulies would bring has reduced me to a spiritually broken recluse."

Grabbed by the Ghoulies - a silly, haunted-house beat-'em-up - recently joined the ranks of Xbox Originals for sale on Xbox Live. These cost 1200 Microsoft Points (GBP 10.20 / EUR 14.40), which is quite a lot.

But, when asked why people should bother, Gavin Price added: "You could trigger a sequel."

"Here's a fourth reason, too: there's a finished copy of Killer Instinct 3 hidden in the game that will only unlock once a million people have downloaded Ghoulies," he teased, tip-toeing along the is-it-isn't-it-in-development Killer Instinct 3 tightrope.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies was Rare's first piece of work for Microsoft, which we thought was very good.

"[Grabbed by the Ghoulies is] a rollercoaster ride through a zombie-infested house, battling over-friendly vampire chicks and Ninja Imps with help from a rather camp skeleton and a shifty-looking groundskeeper," surmised Ed Bryan, succinctly.