Like so many gamers, I was as waiting with baited breath to play MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT after watching the preview trailers.

Well, this game is just like those movie trailers.

The story revolves around reformed crim-turned-detective Ronan O'Connor. His latest case has him hot on the trail of a serial murderer known as the Bell Killer in his home town of Salem, Massachusetts.

Unfortunately for poor Ronan, the serial killer gets to him first by shooting him dead.

Miraculously, Ronan wakes as a ghost and comes face-to- face with his equally deceased wife, Julia, who tells Ronan he is trapped in limbo until he can find the person responsible for his death.

What ensues is a murder investigation as Ronan attempts to track down the hooded assailant who shot him.

As a ghost detective, Ronan possesses a number of ghost abilities that will help him with his investigation, including the ability to see objects of interest when he walks into a room.

You'll spend a LOT of time walking around Salem, identifying and collecting clues.

You'll find a lot of items of interest - some are genuine clues, some are not. This aspect of the gameplay is a real weak point, you simply move from one item to the next - if it's right you move on, if it's not, you pretty much move on.

Getting something wrong has no real bearing on the outcome of the game or the way the storyline plays out.

To help adjust to life as a ghost, Ronan befriends another ghost, a young girl by the name of Abigail, who instructs you in the way of ghost detectives.

The vocal acting of the lead characters is impressive, and the character of Abigail is just excellent and cleverly written.

Unfortunately, you can't really say the same thing about Ronan - his character is pretty shallow and boring.

That said, the rest of the characters you meet in Salem - the living and the dead - aren't much better.

They're superficial at best and considering how much time you'll spend watching them and interacting with them, it's a real shortcoming in the gameplay.

Aside from finding the Bell Killer, Ronan will encounter a large number of side missions along the way - most of which are ghosts in a similar situation to Ronan.

These side missions include Ronan pitching in to help them solve their raft of problems.

There are also some rather nasty soul-sucking demons to face. They can only be killed one way but I won't spoil that aspect of the gameplay here.

Needless to say, fighting off the demons is one of the best parts of the game, it's just a pity the combat system wasn't better thought out.

Visually, Murdered isn't as good as it should be for a latest gen release.

The PlayStation 4 version reviewed here looked more like a PlayStation 3 game.

Murdered: Soul Suspect could have been a stunning release, particularly on the Xbox One and PS4. Unfortunately, average graphics and some inadequacies in the gameplay let down what is an excellent and very original premise for this style of game.

WE RATE IT

Graphics: 7

Gameplay: 7

Playability: 7

OVERALL: 70%