After our first taste of playing Ghostbusters: The Video Game, we're happy to report that saving NYC from ghosts in-game lives up to the film franchise's fun. As a new recruit, we learned the ins and outs of capturing spirits, caused tons of property damage and took fellow co-worker Peter Venkman's verbal abuse. But after trapping a few slime balls managing to avoid crossing the streams, we can't wait to signup for the full Ghostbusters adventure.

We began our new career on the second floor of the Ghostbusters firehouse, where Peter, Ray and Egon (voiced by Billy Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, respectively) congratulated us on making the team. Of course, that privilege began after we strapped a proton pack onto our back and discovered that we'd be their guinea pig for testing new equipment; they also mentioned that said equipment may explode.

We dare you to make out with Slimer.

While the last time we explored this familiar firehouse was back when we owned the toy play set. we discovered a detailed and accurate Ghostbusters HQ that's been brought to life. With various pieces of equipment lining the shelves, arcade machines (we spied Q*Bert, but were unable to play) and the fire pole that we rode to the main floor, picking up an Xbox 360 achievement/PlayStation 3 trophy in the process; the game spits trophies and achievements, at least in the first 60 minutes.

From there, we learned that Slimer, the flying green glob of goop from the movies and cartoon series, had escaped. This enjoyable scenario functions as the game's tutorial and is infinitely cooler than ones in other shooters, thanks to the banter between the characters. Before we took part in it, however, we made sure to look over the Ecto-1 parked in the garage, listened to a few calls taken by sexy receptionist Janine Melnitz (once again played by Annie Potts) and absorbed a few insults by the large painting of Vigo from Ghostbusters II (voiced by the same actor, Wilhelm von Homburg). Suffice to say, we spent a good 10 minutes wandering around.

To begin the tutorial, we made our way to the basement, where Slimer had some fascination with the containment unit, possibly because Egon had installed a window to peer inside. That's when Ray instructed us to squeeze right trigger/R2 to give the slime ball a proton jolt. Doing so felt incredibly satisfying and brought back lots of memories as the red and blue energy blast erupted from our weapon with the familiar zapping sound. Doing so damaged the containment unit, thus allowing a fat sloth ghost to escape, but Ray assured us that Egon would fix it pronto.

In the basement, we went over the steps to capturing ghosts as well as how to monitor our proton packs. Terminal Reality (the game's developer) captured all of the assorted details of the Proton Packs including the flashing lights, then one upped the design by adding our character's health meter along the side as well as a means to tell when the pack's about to overheat (we manually cooled it with RB/R1).

Atari did an excellent job nailing each character's likeness.

After admiring the eye candy for a few seconds, we unleashed a wave of proton energy at our fat friend and in the process, splintered wood and scarred the walls; you can do a boatload of damage with this thing. After weakening the sloth ghost, we tapped Left trigger/L2 to slam it into the ground (this makes it woozy) and then pressed X/Square to throw the ghost trap that immediately opens, revealing a yellow beam of energy. Then we wrangling the ghost into it, something that'll be easy or difficult depending on how knocked out it is. Since this is the tutorial, the little bugger went in without much of a fight, and we concluded this part of the game by walking over and picking up the trap.

Slimer, unfortunately, had escaped to the Sedgewick Hotel, the place where he first appeared in the original film. With the night manager warning us about property damage, we made our way to the 12th floor intending to cause lots of mayhem.

This entire section is all about trapping ghosts and the PKE Meter, the useful gadget that allows us to scan spectral activity (thus adding it to our pocket spirit guide for reference) and discovering new enemies. Tapping Y/Triangle engages the PKE Meter, and we explored from a first person perspective. While not as much fun as blasting ghosts, the scanning mechanic reminded us of the Metroid Prime series, and since the designers pumped the game full of different ghosts, the challenge of scanning and blasting them piqued our interests.

During the course of this hotel chapter, Slimer slimes Peter (again), we tore apart the Alhambra Ballroom (we incinerated tablecloths and shattered a chandelier) and ran into Winston (played by Ernie Hudson). In addition, new ghosts entered the fray in the form of deceased bellhops and a fisherman named Pappy Sargassi that floods one of the hotel floors with seawater and sea cucumbers. Chasing him down was amusing, in part because he resembles an old and crusty Gorton's Fisherman, but also because we battled possessed candelabras (dubbed Candelabrum Crawlers).

Eventually, everyone convenes at the Sargassi Restaurant, and Atari uses this opportunity to introduce us to the game's first Golem, a ghost with the power to create a huge monster using objects from the environment. In this case, it took a ton of proton energy to weaken this guy, as we tore off pieces and sidestepped his attacks (he managed to incapacitate Ray and we immediately revived him). From a safe distance, we wrangled the head and just tore that sucker off, revealing the nefarious Sargassi and launching the real battle sequence where we trapped the sucker and bounced from the hotel.

If the first hour's any indication, Ghostbusters will be one heck of an adventure when it arrives on June 16th. Now excuse us while we discipline the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Related Links

Ghostbusters: The Video Game Xbox 360 Game Guide

Ghostbusters: The Video Game PS3 Game Guide