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Dear Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis,
Did you know you RSVPed that you were not attending the Ghostbusters 25th anniversary reunion? That's what you did by not lending your voice talents to this game. Because we have so much respect for Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz the Keymaster, we decided to let you two know what went down at the party.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game is for all intents and purposes the third Ghostbusters film. Written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, it features the voice talents of, well, everyone. Not only did they get the four main Ghostbusters, but even smaller roles like Annie Potts as Janine the secretary and William Atherton as EPA jerk Walter Peck are present. For Ghostbusters fans this is a better sequel than 1989's Ghostbusters II. The game takes place in 1991, so you would've still been hot, Sigourney. Instead you decided to shave your head for Aliens 3, but that's off topic. When we catch up with the boys, we find that they're doing pretty well. They're under contract with the city to keep the Big Apple ghost free. That is, until an exhibit of Gozer at the Museum of Natural History sets off a chain of events that logically brings back favorite enemies and brand new ones. The new bad guys will bring a smile to Ghostbusters fans because they're based on throwaway lines from the first film. Aykroyd and Ramis' script does a brilliant job of tying them all together.
Rick, you might have pointed out that this isn't a movie but a videogame. Quite right. Instead of watching the story, you play a new recruit dubbed the Rookie. Kind of non-descript. He doesn't talk, but does manage to get in some funny facial expressions. When Slimer, their pet ghost, escapes, you learn the basics of ghostbusting: weaken them with your Proton Pack's blast stream, wrangle them with your capture beam, tire them out by slamming them into solid objects, then catch ‘em in a trap. Lots of property damage ensues. This is the meat of the game. While it's wish fulfillment for a generation of kids who played at being Ghostbusters, the whole process feels sloppy. Even toward the end you don't feel like you've mastered it.
Smaller minions do not need the full capture process. Your weapons can disperse them from our plane of existence. Speaking of weapons, there's a bunch of new ones. Egon has been busy designing new additions for the Proton Pack. The rookie has the "honor" of testing them out. You know, just in case they blow up. You gain these as the story progresses. Rick, your nebbishy accountant character Louis would've been perfect for explaining that players could buy better parts with the money they get for capturing ghosts. Hope retirement's fun. But is it as fun as the shotgun-like shock blast or the puzzle-friendly slime tether?
Another big part of the game is scanning with your PKE meter. This shifts you into First-person mode with the night-vision Ghostbuster goggles. You use it to track the directions of ghosts and to scan haunted objects for reference in Tobin's Spirit Guide. Since this is 1991, in the days before Wikipedia, they pay you for adding info. You can use it to scan all the different types of ghosts too, but this can be tricky in the heat of battle. The PKE meter missions are kind of frustrating because it's not entirely accurate and will often lead you in the wrong direction.
The game doesn't have a life system per se. Instead, if you get knocked out, a fellow Ghostbuster will come and revive you. Likewise, you do the same for them. If everyone's knocked out, you have to start all over again at the last checkpoint, which this game spaces out a little far. Dropping everything to revive your coworkers is a sound strategy because as long as one of them is alive, they'll save you and keep the game going. This is absolutely important because the game does a poor job of letting you know where attacks are coming from. The single-button dodge system is kind of clunky and doesn't do much good if you don't see an attack coming. In one graveyard battle, you're attacked by flaming cherub statues from the sky that can take you out with a couple of hits. How is one supposed to know to dodge something dropping from the sky above you?
Sigourney and Rick, if you two are really feeling left out, you can get together and play this game online. I was dubious about online Ghostbusters multiplayer, but it's actually kind of fun. They wisely left out any kind of deathmatch or shooting each other kind of mode. You two, and two other online gamers, will have to work as a team against the ghosts. So make sure to use those headsets to coordinate. The winner is determined by who made the most money. Multiplayer has six different modes or "jobs" as Janine calls them. There's an online ranking system which keeps track of how much money you've made in your career. I'm betting on you, Sigourney. Rick seems like too much of a spaz.
The bottom line is that you guys missed one hell of a party. Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a gorgeous game. It just looks great. The game's CGI strikes a nice balance of realistic- and caricature-looking, with facial expressions that are subtly impressive. Especially when the lines are delivered by a cast that sounds like they're actually having fun doing this. The story will make you appreciate the original movie all over again when you realize that little references in it have been fleshed out. A lot of love was put into every part of this game. The levels are huge and feel like a big-budget movie. Even the icons for the achievements (using the little Ghostbuster's symbol ghost) are cute and clever. There were a few party fouls, like a ghost merging with a Ghostbuster or the screen freezing up – minor technical glitches that popped up once in a while forcing a game reset. Not enough to cancel the event, but the DJ stopped the music if you know what I mean. Sigourney and Rick, we wished you could've been there, but the rest of us had a blast.
Fun factor: Really high if you're a fan of Ghostbusters, but who isn't?
Game length: The single-player is a little on the short side, 10-15 hours, but you can revisit missions to play at harder difficulties or scan all the objects you missed the first time. The multiplayer is surprisingly good and should keep you coming back for more.
Difficulty: Does a nice job of easing the learning curve. The controls will baffle casual gaming fans, but those used to shooters should adapt fairly easily.
On the negative side: Loose controls. Confusing off-screen enemy attacks. Minor technical bugs that should've been caught in QA (Quality Assurance testing).
Bang for your buck: If you have no interest in multiplayer, this might be better as a rental. It's too short, but if you play online or are a really big Ghostbusters fan, then this is recommended.
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