Ghostbusters: The Video Game conjures up lots of happy memories not only from the classic films, but also key moments from our youth; receiving our first proton pack, playing with the toys, accidentally dripping slime onto the couch. With help from the films' cast, unique spirits to blast, cool firing modes and plenty of little touches cement this as one of the sweetest movie-based games ever.
Penned by Ghostbusters actor/alums Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, the story takes place in 1991, two years after the sequel. You play as a nameless rookie who joins the team and subsequently becomes Egon's guinea pig for experimental technology. Meanwhile, a mysterious force explodes from a Gozer exhibit at the museum and turns New York City into a hot bed for spectral activity. Armed with your particle accelerator, you and the boys set out to clean up the Big Apple.
In this case, the Hollywood talent went a long way to ensure the game's authenticity. Billy Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis and Ernie Hudson reprise their roles, along with Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz) and William Atherton (Walter Peck) return to their signature roles in the movie franchise without missing a beat. In addition, there's Peter Venkman's new love interest, Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, played by Alyssa Milano. While she did admirable work bringing life to this new face in the series, the love connection between both characters feels a bit forced, and despite our praise, she's no Sigourney Weaver.
That criticism aside, almost everything else falls into place. The humorous one-liners, banter between characters and well-produced cut scenes further draw you into the Ghostbusters universe, to the point that you'll feel like you've taken part in the third movie (which, coincidentally, was Aykroyd's goal).
But while the story's enjoyable, it's the gameplay and everything that goes along with it that'll hook you. First, the controls and third person perspective are easy to adjust to, especially if you played Resident Evil 5, Gears of War 2 and other shooters with an over the shoulder perspective (you move with the left stick, adjust the camera with the right stick and fire with right trigger). In addition, there's a great deal of satisfaction that comes from unleashing a proton stream and snagging ghosts or causing lots of destruction; you'll break furniture, burn walls and send books flying. And in typical Ghostbusters fashion, you'll need to weaken the ghosts and then trap them, no easy feat considering the multiple types of monsters thrown your way. You can even switch firing types with the d-pad for shotgun style blasts and a slime blower, among others.
To keep things exciting, Terminal Reality (the game's maker) mixed classic fights from the films and new content. So in one mission, you'll explore the New York Public Library and chase the "shushing" librarian, then move on to an epic battle with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But then you'll trap ghostly bellhops at the Sedgwick Hotel and fight a dead captain in a seafood restaurant, or a Gollum comprised of junk littered around the environment. In doing this, the developers/writers not only prevent the game from becoming stale, but also add new depth to the Ghostbusters mythos. You can even explore the firehouse. That includes sliding down the pole, hanging out with Janine and even speaking to the portrait of Vigo from Ghostbusters II (yes, it too is voiced by the film's original actor).
Then there's the PKE Meter, the device that allows you to pick up ghostly energy. When accessed, the game transitions to a first person perspective and you walk around waiting for the thing to go crazy. That eventually leads to a horrific discovery that also gives you an opportunity to scan ghosts and add them to your spirit guide.
We also dig the game's spooky atmosphere. Instead of relying on cornball antics, there's plenty of creepy locales to investigate, from a children's library full of handprints to a scary graveyard. And of course, there's plenty of comedy throughout the adventure.
In order to add even more value to the experience, Atari included multiplayer. Up to four players compete to see who can score the most cash trapping ghosts across six unique job types: Survival (outlast ten waves of ghosts), Containment (destroy as many ghosts as possible within a time limit), Destruction (destroy a bunch of relics before time expires), Protection (prevent ghosts from attacking three PKE Disruptors), Thief (stop ghosts from stealing various objects) and Slime Dunk (see who can "dunk" the most ghosts into the trap). You'll receive a rank at the conclusion of each game, and you can even post scores to online leader boards. As expected, some modes are better than others (we're partial to Survival and Slime Dunk), but taken as a whole, this unique package of mini-games offer something different from Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.
That said, the game's designers messed up on a few key points starting with lip-syncing. Sometimes it's spot on, while other times the words don't match up with the characters' mouths. In addition, although we appreciate the original movie's soundtrack -- hearing the same tunes gets old fast. Finally, and for whatever reason, we experienced strange spikes in difficulty where the artificial intelligence went from manageable to nearly impossible to defeat. The fact that we kept getting knocked over (everyone's slow to get up) didn't help.
None of these complaints, however, should prevent you from playing the game. Ghostbusters, despite its faults, is a wonderful journey through one of Hollywood's most beloved franchises, complete with funny dialogue, addictive shooting and buckets of slime. It's the closest you'll probably come to actually saving Manhattan from evil, aside from those imaginary adventures in your backyard.
Chris Buffa is GameDaily's senior editor. He enjoys easy achievement points, first person shooters and starting trouble. 
Reader Comments (2)
I think the controls on this game are way to complicated... how many buttons do i have to hit to use the proton pack? Anyone with me?
First GREAT Review on what should be a great game(huge fan of the franchise).. Second is when you said... "even speaking to the portrait of Vigo from Ghostbusters II (yes, it too is voiced by the film's original actor)." Im pretty sure the guy who played Vigo died a few yrs back.. so im guessing they got a really good impersonator to do the lines for vigo.