"Bustin' makes me feel good!": Ghostbusters: The Video Game Review
It's been 25 years since the "Ghostbusters" was first introduced to the world by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. In those 25 years since the film there has been a sequel, three cartoon series (if I'm correct), and countless video games. Now there is yet another video game simply called "Ghostbusters: The Video Game." The game has been released on virtually every console currently on the market. The exception being the PSP. However there are rumors that there may possibly be a PSP incarnation in the near future. This review will focus on there PS3 version since the games do differ depending on, which platform you choose to play it on.
When I was a child "The Real Ghostbusters" was my all time favorite cartoon. I had all the action figures, the proton pack and even the trap. When I first heard about a next gen Ghostbusters game I was excited beyond belief. However when the first gameplay videos surfaced on the internet they looked like a generic third person shooter with a proton pack replacing the standard assault rifle and my excitement faded. But the week the game was released a bout of nostalgia compelled me to purchase the game. Is it a game that will haunt my collection? (see what I did there :p )
The game was developed by Terminal Reality and published by Atari. The script for the game was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Although there are rumors that the two might not have actually written the script but rather only had veto power. But that's neither here nor there. The story takes place in 1991, two years after the events of "Ghostbusters 2." You play as a nameless 5th ghostbuster, who tests new equipment. The game follows the ghostbusters as a string of ghosts begin to once again haunt New York City and Gozer the Gozerian returns to finish what he once started. That's about as far as I want to go with the plot because I would hate to ruin any of it. You can expect the same witty humor the original movies had as well as the same story formula. By far the best part of the entire experience is that all four of the original actors return to reprise their roles. Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz, Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler, and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddmore. Other retuning actors include Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz) and William Atherton (Walter Peck).
The gameplay is essentially that of a third person shooter. But the proton pack really has a unique feel. Terminal Reality did a very good job at making the proton pack feel different that an assault rifle or any other gun. To me it feels like I imagined a proton pack would feel. You have to "vent" the proton pack to prevent it from overheating, which is actually not anywhere near as annoying as it sounds. When the pack nears overheating the controller will begin to rumble and get more intense as it nears the limit. I personally loved this mechanic. I know there are tons of games with the rumble feature but this one particularly helped to put me in the game so to speak. I actually felt like a ghostbuster, which is a bit silly to say but it's true. I was in fact living out my childhood fantasy.
The game does take some liberties with regards to the proton pack by adding different types of weapons on the pack. There is a shotgun type blast with a secondary fire that freezes ghosts, a slime sprayer with a tethering secondary fire, and finally a weapon that is similar to the needler from the Halo games (it shoots a tracker then the rest of the blasts automatically hit the target for those not in the know). Honestly the new weapons were not all that unbelievable. I mean come on the fact that the proton pack is a backpack sized "unlicensed nuclear accelerators" is already a pretty far out idea. When a ghost is weakened enough it needs to be wrangled into a trap. The wrangling is also dead on. The ghosts feel like they are trying to escape from your proton stream and sometimes they do manage to thwart your attempt at trapping them.
Many people on the internet complain that the campaign is short, clocking in at around 8 hours. Some even say that the plot is very abrupt. But I think the story is very satisfying. I mean honestly it feels no different from any of the two previous movies in terms of pacing and climax. $60 is a lot to pay for 8 hours of gameplay but there is an online component, which is surprisingly fun when it isn't being completely frustrating.
The online component has 4 players teaming up to capture ghosts in several different game modes. Like "thief," when the players have to prevent ghosts from stealing 4 artifacts in an allotted amount of time. There are a few other modes but the gameplay for all of them are very similar. It usually boils down to the players working together to capture ghosts. This is really fun if you get a team that knows what they are doing, which is actually few and far between. The servers also have a hard time joining games there are many occasions when I spend about 5-10 minutes just trying to get into a game. But when things do go right the multiplayer is quite fun. The cooperative aspect is cool to see in an online mode in a time when many games are just super competitive and have everyone just killing each other. My suggestion is to get a few friends together and give it a go. You'll have a blast but remember "Don't cross the streams!" Seriously if you do you will take damage in the game.
The game is by no means perfect. There are shortcomings like everything in the world. The game has nice graphics but in no way are they breathtaking. I mean the environments all look realistic but are not really crisp. The lip syncing is off but that's really not a huge deal. It can also sometimes get creepy because the characters facial expressions can look waxy and robotic at times. There are some graphical hitches. I reached a point in the campaign when I had to kick open a non existent door in order to proceed.
This can also be seen as a shortcoming although I wasn't terrible bothered by it. The game is very linear. There are really no places to explore. The game basically leads you from place to place. Also the unlockables for beating the game are pretty lame. You get a few videos many of which are just the cut scenes from the game the best probably being the restoration of Ecto-1 for the 25th anniversary of the film in which they talk about restoring the car. The lamest unlock has got to be the shameless plug for the film "Year One." You actually unlock the trailer for the movie by beating the game. Yeah it's an unlock I'm not kidding. Cross promotion at it's finest or worst depending on who you are.
Overall I personally loved the game. I thought the story was intriguing and kept me playing to find out what would happen next. The game feels like it would have been a better sequel to the first film rather than "Ghostbusters 2." If you are a fan of the films or the cartoons you will adore the game I guarantee it. If you are just a passing gamer with no love for the "Ghostbusters" franchise this game probably won't be for you. It's not really anything you haven't seen before gameplay wise. This game really is an absolute treat for any Ghostbusters fan. It really is the third movie we never got.
I give it an 8.8/10
EDIT--Upon playing the multiplayer extensively it's a bit buggy so I've decided to amend the score to an 8.6. That is all :)
When I was a child "The Real Ghostbusters" was my all time favorite cartoon. I had all the action figures, the proton pack and even the trap. When I first heard about a next gen Ghostbusters game I was excited beyond belief. However when the first gameplay videos surfaced on the internet they looked like a generic third person shooter with a proton pack replacing the standard assault rifle and my excitement faded. But the week the game was released a bout of nostalgia compelled me to purchase the game. Is it a game that will haunt my collection? (see what I did there :p )
The game was developed by Terminal Reality and published by Atari. The script for the game was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Although there are rumors that the two might not have actually written the script but rather only had veto power. But that's neither here nor there. The story takes place in 1991, two years after the events of "Ghostbusters 2." You play as a nameless 5th ghostbuster, who tests new equipment. The game follows the ghostbusters as a string of ghosts begin to once again haunt New York City and Gozer the Gozerian returns to finish what he once started. That's about as far as I want to go with the plot because I would hate to ruin any of it. You can expect the same witty humor the original movies had as well as the same story formula. By far the best part of the entire experience is that all four of the original actors return to reprise their roles. Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz, Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler, and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddmore. Other retuning actors include Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz) and William Atherton (Walter Peck).
The gameplay is essentially that of a third person shooter. But the proton pack really has a unique feel. Terminal Reality did a very good job at making the proton pack feel different that an assault rifle or any other gun. To me it feels like I imagined a proton pack would feel. You have to "vent" the proton pack to prevent it from overheating, which is actually not anywhere near as annoying as it sounds. When the pack nears overheating the controller will begin to rumble and get more intense as it nears the limit. I personally loved this mechanic. I know there are tons of games with the rumble feature but this one particularly helped to put me in the game so to speak. I actually felt like a ghostbuster, which is a bit silly to say but it's true. I was in fact living out my childhood fantasy.
The game does take some liberties with regards to the proton pack by adding different types of weapons on the pack. There is a shotgun type blast with a secondary fire that freezes ghosts, a slime sprayer with a tethering secondary fire, and finally a weapon that is similar to the needler from the Halo games (it shoots a tracker then the rest of the blasts automatically hit the target for those not in the know). Honestly the new weapons were not all that unbelievable. I mean come on the fact that the proton pack is a backpack sized "unlicensed nuclear accelerators" is already a pretty far out idea. When a ghost is weakened enough it needs to be wrangled into a trap. The wrangling is also dead on. The ghosts feel like they are trying to escape from your proton stream and sometimes they do manage to thwart your attempt at trapping them.
Many people on the internet complain that the campaign is short, clocking in at around 8 hours. Some even say that the plot is very abrupt. But I think the story is very satisfying. I mean honestly it feels no different from any of the two previous movies in terms of pacing and climax. $60 is a lot to pay for 8 hours of gameplay but there is an online component, which is surprisingly fun when it isn't being completely frustrating.
The online component has 4 players teaming up to capture ghosts in several different game modes. Like "thief," when the players have to prevent ghosts from stealing 4 artifacts in an allotted amount of time. There are a few other modes but the gameplay for all of them are very similar. It usually boils down to the players working together to capture ghosts. This is really fun if you get a team that knows what they are doing, which is actually few and far between. The servers also have a hard time joining games there are many occasions when I spend about 5-10 minutes just trying to get into a game. But when things do go right the multiplayer is quite fun. The cooperative aspect is cool to see in an online mode in a time when many games are just super competitive and have everyone just killing each other. My suggestion is to get a few friends together and give it a go. You'll have a blast but remember "Don't cross the streams!" Seriously if you do you will take damage in the game.
The game is by no means perfect. There are shortcomings like everything in the world. The game has nice graphics but in no way are they breathtaking. I mean the environments all look realistic but are not really crisp. The lip syncing is off but that's really not a huge deal. It can also sometimes get creepy because the characters facial expressions can look waxy and robotic at times. There are some graphical hitches. I reached a point in the campaign when I had to kick open a non existent door in order to proceed.
This can also be seen as a shortcoming although I wasn't terrible bothered by it. The game is very linear. There are really no places to explore. The game basically leads you from place to place. Also the unlockables for beating the game are pretty lame. You get a few videos many of which are just the cut scenes from the game the best probably being the restoration of Ecto-1 for the 25th anniversary of the film in which they talk about restoring the car. The lamest unlock has got to be the shameless plug for the film "Year One." You actually unlock the trailer for the movie by beating the game. Yeah it's an unlock I'm not kidding. Cross promotion at it's finest or worst depending on who you are.
Overall I personally loved the game. I thought the story was intriguing and kept me playing to find out what would happen next. The game feels like it would have been a better sequel to the first film rather than "Ghostbusters 2." If you are a fan of the films or the cartoons you will adore the game I guarantee it. If you are just a passing gamer with no love for the "Ghostbusters" franchise this game probably won't be for you. It's not really anything you haven't seen before gameplay wise. This game really is an absolute treat for any Ghostbusters fan. It really is the third movie we never got.
I give it an 8.8/10
EDIT--Upon playing the multiplayer extensively it's a bit buggy so I've decided to amend the score to an 8.6. That is all :)
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