Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

PUBLISHER: Atari
DEVELOPER: Terminal Reality
Played on: PS3
Initial impression: Though lacking in a few things, awesome game.

Liked:
- Locations
- Weapons and upgrades
- Witty dialog

Disliked:
- Cutscene lighting
- Most of Bill Murray's dialog
- Ambiguous Puzzles

On The Fence:
- Seeking out Cursed Artifacts
- Extremely short game
- DLC Flight Suit's Purpose

I'm not a Ghostbusters fanboy by any stretch of the imagination. I loved it in the 80's, have watched it maybe 2-3 times since it came out on DVD (not Blu-Ray, but the original DVD release) and really haven't gone all too crazy over the game. I pre-ordered it for the shirt which is too large to wear, so it's now another bedtime shirt for the wife. The game, though incredibly short, is fun. I beat it in about 4-5 hours, and most of that time was spent wandering around and looking at the environments. Most of the NPC banter is appropriate and funny, the weapons feel 'right' and the missions are interesting. Also, the title of this game makes me think of Spaceballs.

As for the game: It's 1991, and the Ghostbusters are adding a new member to their team -- you! Well, not really you, but a generic, mute character named "Rookie" (it even says that on his flight suit) who they'll use as a guinea pig for their new, untested equipment. In the meantime, the Gozer exhibit at the museum has stirred up the paranormal baddies. Your first assignment (the tutorial) involves Slimer and another fat, slow ghost creeping around the Ghostbusters HQ's sub-basement. From there you make your way to the Sedgewick Hotel (Slimer's original haunting location). Chaos ensues.

You visit a lot of the old haunts...

The experimental equipment is a blast, no pun intended. There's a Stasis Beam that slows down ghosts, a Slime cannon that shoots 'positively charged' slime that weakens ghosts and neutralizes black slime that can kill you/spawn enemies, and a pulse-type cannon that reminds me of the main Chimera gun in Resistance. You can shoot out a beacon, then all shots will seek to hit that beacon. Add on to that a handful of upgrades for each that stabalize the beams and strengthen their effectiveness, as well as a few upgrades for the trap such as making it possible to slam ghosts into it rather than carefully guide them over and down and you have quite the arsenal.

I didn't really try MP, though I did log into the lobby for it. Looks like there's a Last Man Standing mode, and you can declare your weapon specialty and choose which 'Buster you want to be. I'll have to play around in there to see what it's like.

Disliked
I only have a few gripes with the game.

On a technical standpoint, the cutscenes have really bad lighting. The scenes are far too bright, as if someone is using the default lighting in 3DS Max 2. This is distracting because the rest of the game has brilliant use of lighting and shadow as you play through. Why these were different is beyond me - I mean they're injected right in the middle of the locations and scenarios you're playing, so why does the lighting change? I've read up on it that the cutscenes were done as pre-renders instead of just using in-game engine and cameras to play out. Pity, because this one aspect's difference is glaringly obvious and makes the game look unfinished.

I'd read that Bill Murray essentially "threw out" his script and ad-libbed all his lines. While this works in the movies, it doesn't quite work in video games. Timing is everything for comedy and I felt that a lot of Murray's lines fell flat and came off more as dickish than being the comedy gold he normally produces. I will admit there were a handful of times where what he said was hilarious because of his sarcastic, deadpan delivery, but overall the voice acting from him specifically felt it was lacking.

One thing that is never really explained is how the hell you get money from destroying property. It's fun as all hell to do - shoot the proton beam at the ghost and slam it into everything you can find like tables, chairs, mirrors, light fixtures, etc - and the game tallies up how much damage you're doing, but how does that translate into cash in my pocket? No idea.

On The Fence
There are a few annoying 'this is a game' moments like waves of minor enemies coming at you, but those aren't as annoying as some other reviewers make it sound. Also, failing a mission and reloading (which I only did twice) isn't all that bad. It's a jarring lull in the action but chances are a hasty move got you there to begin with. Also when you use your PKE meter the screen switches to night vision (complete with a view from inside the goggles) while you study the scanner. Get used to how this looks -- it's how you'll play about 75% of the game as you seek out cursed artifacts and hidden ghosts.

Oh, before I forget... I preordered at EB/Gamestop and apparently I also get this DLC dark grey flightsuit from GB2. It said something like 'get it while supplies last' (really? limited supply on DLC?) so I nabbed it before installing the game. Bad move apparently, because GB had to 'repair data' when I went to install it. I had to redownload the flight suit. The option to use it is under the Gameplay Options, but I found all it really does is make you stand out more as a recruit. Nice free DLC, but bland. I wonder if it can be used in MP?

8/10. Worth playing.