I was five years old during the summer of 1984 when Ghostbusters the movie was released. To a five year old, the Ghostbusters were the coolest guys in the world. I remember going on a family vacation that summer and begging my dad to turn up the radio anytime the theme song came on the radio. When the movie was released on VHS, my brothers and I watched the tape so many times we could repeat every line in the movie from beginning to end. When I first heard that a Ghostbusters game was in production and the story was being written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, that five year old kid inside of me was filled with excitement all over again.
Ghostbusters: The Video Games story takes place in the year 1991, two years after the setting for the second movie. Gozer the Gozerian, the shape shifting destruction god from the original movie, is stirring up the paranormal activity in the Big Apple once again. You play the role of a new recruit that has been hired as an experimental weapons tester. [...] Not uncommon in video games, and as much as I hate writing it, your character is the silent protagonist throughout the game. As generic as it sounds it does seem like a smart design choice in the case of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Do you really want to hear from the new guy when you have a cast of voice actors featuring Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and a handful of other actors from the original Ghostbusters cast?
Ghostbusters: The Video Game, from the second you pop the disk into the drive, uses the popularity of the movies to keep you engrossed in the ghost busting experience. One of the first things to display on screen is the Columbia Pictures screen and accompanied by the sound of the opening score used in the original movie as the game loads.
This is a theme that is continued throughout the course of the game. One of the first places you get to visit during the game is the infamous Ghostbusters Firehouse. During the game, the Firehouse acts as a hub world you visit between levels. Having watched the original movie more times than I can count, I really enjoyed the attention to detail that was put into creating the Firehouse. The place is full of items that are recognizable from the previous two movies. Some of the easily spotted items would be the painting of Vigo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters 2 and everyone’s favorite ghost, Slimmer, who is on display in a small containment unit in the lobby.
Even the achievements in the game were designed to keep the you thinking of the original movie as you play. One of the first achievements I unlocked came up when I was wandering around the Firehouse. I slid down one of the fire poles and an achievement popped up named “You Gotta Try This Pole! .” Small things like this really helped maintain the nostalgia factor that is a very important part of this game.
Trapping your first ghost in the game feels very rewarding. Watching the movies as a kid I always got the feeling that trapping a ghost is not as easy as it looks. With that in mind, it feels like the developers really nailed the feeling of trying to control an unlicensed nuclear accelerator. That is not to say that wrangling ghosts is difficult, but its not as easy as point and shoot. You will quickly learn that crossing the streams is a bad thing, at least until you earn enough money to buy the Cross The Streams upgrade.
Once you bag your first ghost you quickly find yourself in Hotel Sedgwick with an opportunity to throw down in the Ballroom and experience the capture of Slimmer from the original movie. Progressing through the story will give you a chance to take a shot at trapping other ghosts you might remember. The two that stick out the most are the Grey Lady from the Library and the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.
Playing the Rookie also gives you chance to utilize several new tools that Egon has been developing. The new weapons are fun and each one has it advantages against certain spooks you will be facing during the game. Each of these weapons have primary and secondary fire, including the original proton pack and all weapons have a handful of updates that can be purchased with experience points earned during the campaign. The Boson Dart, the secondary function of the Proton pack, shoots a blast of energy that push enemies back and does significant damage will be one of the first upgrades you will receive. Other weapons include the Shock Blast, Strasis Stream, Meson Collider, and the Slime Blower.
Similar to weapon used in the movie Ghostbusters 2, the Slime Blower does exactly that, it blows slime. Its secondary feature is referred to as the Slime Tether which proved to be a multipurpose tool. It can be used to pull objects together to solve environment puzzles and, with a little practice, is a great tool for trapping ghosts quickly.
The Proton packs are also used to display your health and weapons charge on the back of your character keeping the presentation clutter free. Your character also comes equipped with a PKE meter. It functions as a ghost tracker and night vision rolled into one. The game is full of collectible objects in the form of haunted relics hidden around the world. These objects are only identifiable while you are wearing the PKE meter. Its not a bad thing, but collection and achievement junkies will likely find themselves playing the majority of the game wearing the PKE meter. The game developers worked hard to make the game pleasing to look at and I cant help but think most people are going to miss out on all that detail because they are looking for an enchanted chair or possessed disco pants.
The PKE meter does more than help find objects. It also sports a camera function which is very helpful in determining which weapon will prove the most useful against your enemies. Once you snap a photo of a ghost, it will be cross referenced with the infamous Tobins Spirit Guide and added to your list of enemies available through the start menu. Once entered, you can check to see which of your ghost busting tools will be most effective against this specter during combat.
During combat, not all ghosts will need to be zapped and trapped. There are lots of little minions that will attack you that only need to be blasted into dust as opposed to contained. Let me start by saying I found these little guys annoying and fighting them was more of a pain than fun, but a game built around the sole mechanic of trapping ghosts would have lost steam very quickly. During heavy action moments, eliminating these smaller spooks to free up space is a good idea. If not, you might find yourself on the floor calling for help from one of your Ghost busting companions.
Its not hard to get hurt in Ghostbusters, but its a little harder to die. If you take too much damage you will become stunned and unable to move. Your character will call out for help and if all goes right one of your AI companions will come over and help you up, restoring your health. This also works vice-versa, meaning you spend a lot of time during boss battles reviving your partners instead of wearing down the paranormal phenomenon Gozer is challenging you with. You always have the option of leaving them down, but if everyone in your crew is lying on the ground and you get hurt be prepared to sit through a loading screen that returns you to your last checkpoint.
Ghostbusters: The Videogame has a lot to offer fans of the movies for the first few hours but it seemed to loose some of its ghostbusting magic halfway through. The narrative starts off strong but chasing ghosts and hopping into parallel dimensions feels a little far fetched, even in a world that has poltergeist plaguing the streets of New York City. In addition, the progression of the story starts to feel like you are watching chopped up bits of a movie that act as lengthy loading screens between levels. Around the halfway mark the script starts to show signs of falling victim to the limitations of narrative in games when compared to their Hollywood counter parts.
Outside of issues with the story the gameplay runs into problems about the same time. Fighting off ghosts starts to become repetitive and encounters begin to pose nothing more than another hurdle that needs to be overcome to reach the next cutscene. As the battle fatigue sets in the constant struggle to fend off waves of ghosts and keep your teammates alive adds unneeded frustration to the ending chapters of the game. Like so many games released this generation the development team included a multiplayer component to accompany the single player content that felt unnecessary. I spent an evening trying out the various game modes but I didn’t find anything to warrant a second play session. Looking back, unless you are a die hard Ghostbuster fan, I think that Ghostbusters: The Video Game would make a great weekend rental for most players. Its the kind of game you can pick up on Friday night, have few laughs, and return it Monday ready to move on to the next game on your wish list.
Always looking for something new to own. Looks like this might be it.