Ghostbusters: The Video Game - Reviewed

Hello again. Sorry for the slight delay in my post this week. The internet decided to crap out on me last night and just would not let me do anything online. But here I am with a new review for your viewing pleasure.

Now anyone who knows me knows I am a hardcore Ghostbusters fan. I have been all of my life. And as such I always wanted a game that truly reflected the movies both in spirit as well as game play. The closest (good) incarnation to this vision was the Ghostbusters game from the Sega Genesis. That is until June 16, 2009.
About three years ago Terminal reality was approached by Sony to produce a GB game, having been impressed by their Infernal Physics engine. TR hashed out a demo of the famous ballroom scene from the 1st film. Sony was so impressed they gave a green light to proceed with the project. Then Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis got involved with writing the script and helping with the tech, the original team was back to voice their characters, and to long story short, got an authentic cannon Ghostbusters experience.
Set 2 years after GB 2 (1991 if ya needed to know) the Ghostbusters are taking on a new recruit (This is you) to train you to be one of the team as they are not only a city sanction enterprise now, but they also accept government contracts and all incidents involving the Ghostbusters are covered by an extensive insurance policy by the city. But it’s not long before a massive paranormal phenomenon strikes and the Ghostbusters are sent across the city with you getting on the job training through several unique locations, both throwbacks to the original films and original locations.

In this review I’m not going to be as strict in the grading as I was with Watchmen, so to give myself a little liberty to write up on stuff I like and stuff I don’t.
The story. For what is essentially the 3rd movie approximately 8hr long the story holds together well. I think if you’re paying attention you’ll never be lost on the actual story that’s developing. That said there are some hiccups here and there that might jar you. Such things I will point out such as the rookie conveniently having a line attached to his belt when he falls. Other bits I’ll cover in additional sections below.

Game Design: Overall the game play mechanics and visual representation of the product is solid. Character models are accurate to the actors they are portraying (I’ve spent almost ten minutes looking over the different Ghostbusters just to be wowed by how well they are rendered). Keep in mind that the character models were not scanned off the aged performer counterparts – they were created using scenes from the movies in order to give their age a little more authenticity, instead of having to retrograde the age counterparts to look young.
Playing the game is a whole lot of fun. The new equipment Egon implements into the proton pack feels like authentic devices you would put into a pack (thanks a lot to Mr. Ackroyds involvement) and as simple as the operation of the pack is, it’s fun as hell as is satisfying when you trap a spook. They took a couple liberties for the games sake (having to vent the pack for instance) but overall it’s a fresh addition to this 25 year old franchise. Getting to use a PKE meter to track spectral trails and gather information into your portable Tobins Spirit Guide is also immersive and helps with replay value, as you get unlockables for scanning all the marked ghosts in the level you’re playing, as well as hidden items throughout the level.
However the game design isn’t without its minor hiccups either. And when I say minor, I mean nothing was so mind blowing that it pulled me out of the game experience. Little things like character models proton pack hoses would go through the gun, or flinch when cutting to a new angle. Part of this was from cutting a section of the game, and they have to import the in game cut scenes to another environment and that’s probably what did it. My single biggest complaint I would have is that sometimes I would feel like I was playing a demo, sometimes it would go from the firehouse, fade out, then immediately cut to where we were going, which can feel a bit jarring. IF you get knocked out and have to restart, a screen displaying the pack, and the trap and its upgrades feels a little demo-y to me. But again, didn’t break the experience for me.

Voice Overs: Let’s face it busting ghosts next to the original cast is a dream come true. The planets aligned, everyone was happy, and we got Stantz, Spengler, Venkman, and Zeddamore. For the most part the dialogue is fresh and authentic to the characters. The only possible gripe I would have is that some of Venkman’s lines are reused at different points (Owe. That’s…. that’s owe there. ) Also, if you move too fast certain dialogue bits will get cut off before they are finished. Also sometimes the lip syncing would be quite off from the dialogue, but I recall only one part where that was a major issue.

Replay ability: This is where being a hardcore fan does it for me, I could replay certain levels over and over again just to have the thrill of trapping a lv. 7 possessor over and over again. Some might not like that so much. It’s important to note the game is only about 8-something hrs long, varying on how fast you’re able to progress through it. The game does allow you to replay levels of each mission you go on (you lose current storyline progress though) and if you’re into collecting the ghost scans and trophies adds to this too.

There is also online multiplayer (unfortunately I have no hookup for my ps3 for this, but I have played on the 360) which can be fun with its variety of modes. However the game can become predictable after awhile and this could turn non-hardcore fans off.

Overall, this game was amazing especially when you think of the typical movie inspired video game crap that comes out. They set out with one goal – to have a full authentic Ghostbusters experience. And they achieved it with flying colors. Details, Details, Details. I was impressed with the amount of cool nods they had to the previous films, and even to some well known fan films of the GB community. Solid game play with a new spin on the 3rd person shooter, and the original cast back to add to a canonical story make this a must have for GB fans. Casual gamers will find the game an interesting play. So when people ask if the Ghostbusters franchise has a game worthy of its movie counterparts they can say….
We got one.

The next review might either be a game or a movie, not sure yet. There might be a bonus rant post this weekend detailing thoughts of my recent birthday, and why nobody likes you when you’re 23.
Until Next time…