Ghostbusters - The Videogame Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 24th June 2009

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I ain't afraid of no ghost!

Ghostbusters - The Videogame Details:

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	Action
	PlayStation 3/PSP
	Terminal Reality
	Sony

12+

Out Now

Ghostbusters is a movie loved by many and as it’s celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year what better way to mark the occasion then to turn it into a videogame. But will Ghostbusters – The videogame live up to the expectation of fans or will it leave them feeling like they’ve just been slimed?

Well a bit of both really! Ghostbusters – The Videogame is set two years after the second movie. You take up the role of a new recruit who joins Ray, Egon, Peter and Winston as they do battle once again to free Manhattan from Goza, who is threatening to destroy the world!

The game is a third person action affair but unlike other recent additions to the genre Ghostbusters isn’t set in an open world environment. Instead the game follows a very linear path through the levels. In fact so much, areas that look accessible aren’t, due to cleverly placed bin bags or other debris which is a little disappointing. This approach to Ghostbusters level design gives the game a some what dated and restrictive feeling. Levels also follow a set formula of staged action then dialogue or a cut-scene, followed by more action and yes more dialogue. It is a very story intense experience which will annoy some gamers whilst appealing to others, especially fans of the movie. The game follows this formula all the way through until the end which in all honesty I found a little annoying especially when you have to sit through the same dialogue over and over after reaching a point you have difficulty with.

Despite this though when the action does come it is very, very good! Ghosts, ghouls and the various spawn of hell you encounter throughout the game are varied and pose a good challenge. Before you can capture a ghost they first must be weakened using the proton stream, once they have sufficiently been weakened they will then have to be wrangled into a trap. However, no ghosts want to be caught and they will try their hardest to get away and you will have to wrestle them into the trap. This system has been implemented absolutely brilliantly, as you struggle to capture a ghost you will often find yourself wrestling with your controller and feel like you’re fighting an enemy that really doesn’t want to be caught. On the whole the game serves up something of a mixed challenge. The game can go long periods in which you are simply wandering about. Hardly encountering any enemies, or in some case none at all. You will of course then come to an area in which there is a very large or formidable enemy presence. This give the game a very unbalanced feel and more often then not makes Ghostbusters very frustrating to play. As you can have periods of rapid progression followed prolonged periods of constant death, which is often preceded by long dialogue sequences that make it even more frustrating.

Of course to really make the game appeal to fans of the movies Terminal Reality has included all the equipment you would expect any Ghostbuster to have, letting you get your hands on the much famed proton pack, traps and PKE Meter. However, playing as the new recruit you get to test out all the highly dangerous and potentially lethal experimental equipment Egon and Ray have been creating. These come in the form of attachments for the Proton pack, each with two modes of fire. First is the standard Proton stream we have all seen in the movies, this has the alternate fire function of Boson Darts which inflict a lot of damage on a spirit. Next up is the Slime Gun, this fires green slime and slime tethers that can be used to manipulate the environment as well as pin ghosts in position. Next up is the Shock Blast, a shotgun style weapon that comes in useful against enemies that can’t be captured such as Golems. The alternate fire of this weapon is the stasis stream which immobilises ghosts. The final experimental weapon you get your hands on is the Meson Collider. This is highly powerful but doesn’t last long, it also allows you to tag a ghost so you can shoot it down with the weapons Overload Pulse which will home-in on the ghost that is tagged. As well as these weapons there are also various upgrades you can purchase as you would expect in any action shooter.

It’s not just the equipment that has been recreated for the game, Ecto-1 and the firehouse are all present. The game also features many references from the films, which is to be expected since the game was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. A lot of characters from the movies also make appearances, as do some of the baddies, most notably Slimer and Stay Puft Marshmallow man.

The games multiplayer experience feels a little like an after thought if I’m honest and it’s obvious the main attention was on the story driven single player campaign. The multiplayer aspect supports up to fours players who can play in various game types competing to earn the most money, stop ghosts stealing artefacts and so on. It’s not the most appealing multiplayer experience ever featured in a game so don’t expect it to hold your attention for long.

Graphics wise Ghostbusters is very impressive. Characters are excellent representations of their on-screen counterparts. Ghost effects are also brilliant as are the effects used for the Proton stream. Everything in the game looks absolutely fantastic. The only real weakness is that some of the games environments look a bit boring, especially when compared to some others featured in the game. Sound is top drawer to, voice acting is performed by all the stars of the movie who have once again taken up their respective roles for the game. As the game is licensed as well sound effects and music are of course exactly how they are in the films.

Ghostbusters – The Videogame is a strange one to call, there are some things I loved about the game and equally the same amount of things I found irritating. It’s hard to recommend to fans of third person shooters in general. But, fans of the movies and story driven games will definitely find the game more appealing. Not the greatest game around but still worth playing.