By Clinton “dreddsix6six” O’Shea
Overview
“If there’s something strange, In your neighbourhood, Who you gonna call, (Ghostbusters)
If there’s something weird, And it don’t look good, Who you gonna call, (Ghostbusters)”
Yes, that was very predictable, but to be honest, everything about this game is drenched (with slime) in nostalgia. If you were a kid in the 80s you probably would’ve wanted to be a Ghostbuster. 25 years later, you can be. For real. Well, almost. It’s here, and it’s not the worst game you’ll ever play.
Features and Game play
Ghostbusters plays out like a third person sequel to the movies – set 2 years after the events in Ghostbusters 2. Sets, cast and enemies will be familiar to anyone you watched the 1984 original film or its 1989 sequel. However, whether the game plays a pivot point in linking the 3rd movie (rumoured for 2011/2012) remains to be seen. The game ticks all the right boxes in terms of credibility – Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the game’s script and most of the original cast reprised their roles for the voice acting. Even the original theme song makes an appearance, as does music from the original score. It really is an exercise in nostalgia. However, unlike some other entertainment goods that have a foot in the past, this one is more appealing because of it. It somehow just works brilliantly.
You play a brand new character only known as the ‘Rookie’, an ‘Experimental Equipment Technician’…the poor sucker who gets the stuff that’s almost likely to blow up. The anonymity of the name is a little bit of a flaw, as you have no connection to the protagonist – essentially the reason the other four refuse to call him by name – but thankfully, the others are there to keep you entertained and laughing. The story is, like the movies, humorous and almost totally irrelevant. Ghosts, spirits, entities, anomalies and cursed artifacts are order of the day, and it’s your job to blast, wrangle and capture them using the equipment at your disposal. So, while the story is ultimately as well written as the movies, it’s the thrill of the capture that’s most important.
After a short training mission in the Firehouse (complete with a pole that you can slide down – haven’t been able to dance around it yet), you head out in the iconic Ecto 1 on your first mission. The familiar setting that is Hotel Sedgewick follows, as does a familiar old friend…Slimer. The game may ultimately milk the familiarity angle a little too much at the beginning, but it does slowly introduce new enemies to battle – as well as different ‘weapon’ types for your Proton Pack. There is the standard blast beam, but as you earn money for capturing ghosts and scanning artifacts (with the PKE meter), you can purchase upgrades. Shock Blast, Slime Blower, Meson Collider and Ghost Trap and PKE Meter upgrades are all available, but in the end it’s really still the nostalgia of using the blast stream and trap that keeps you coming back. In the end all you need to melt Stay Puft is a steady stream of particles to make for sticky marshmallow.
One thing I really liked was the way the traditional HUD, displaying your health and “ammo” count was not visible, but displayed on your Proton Pack – the drawback of this was that your team mates were not indicated on the HUD anywhere, sometimes making it a little confusing in a battle with numerous ghosts. The only time their position is indicated is when they are downed, making it your job to revive them. Damn, not just an equipment tester, but the medic too…imagine the job description if you could dance around the fire pole…
In the end, it’s up to you and the four original Ghostbusters to stop New York (and ultimately the world) from being dragged into the supernatural abyss. Satisfyingly, this can be done via online co-op, and the game does have a Multiplayer component, although I couldn’t test it successfully. This might have been down to time of day, lack of interest or some kind of paranormal anomaly…
Bits I Loved
- Nostalgic – par excellence.
- Humorous and entertaining.
- Wrangling and capturing ghosts is immense fun.
Bits I Hated
- Graphics are adequate.
- Quite short. Although there are MP modes.
- You can too easily lose your team mates position.
Conclusion
This game is perfect for anyone who loved the movies, and a more than adequate game in its own right. Ultimately, the developer, Terminal Reality has done the franchise a great amount of justice. Not necessarily the greatest game ever made, but it will keep you entertained, as it doesn’t have too many peers in the market at the moment. I’d suggest giving the Ghostbusters a call.
Link to site for more info, screen shots and videos: Ghostbusters The Video Game
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