If it wasn't a Ghostbusters game....
....I'm not 100% sure I would have sat through the whole thing. It certainly would have received a lower score.
I love the movies; yes, I am one of the seemingly few who actually likes the second and watches both from time to time. I had a proton pack as a kid, and remember going to the drive-in movies three or four times to watch the second movie and Batman back to back. I even watched the cartoon religiously during its run.....those were the days.
Like many, I heard that this game was supposed to be something like "Ghostbusters 3", as Ramis and Akroyd penned the script, and most everyone from the original cast is back. I wanted to believe almost religiously that this was not hype. Well, Ghostbusters 3 this is very much not. 2 1/4 perhaps. For those of us stuck on the old movies, 3 will probably never happen. However, what we do get in the video game is like a nice (albeit bumpy) trip down memory lane.
The script is alright, not much and certainly not more. Uninspired would describe it fairly well. Tacked-together would work too. The story, unfortunately, was what I was looking forward to the most with this game. There are some funny lines, its true, but the best ones are usually pulled right out of the movies. In fact, most of the plot points are stretches of recurring movie themes; not much effort was put into creating a completely new Ghostbusters experience. In the game's defense, it would have been an awful idea to try to simply recreate the movies, and I for one am glad they didn't. It was great to revisit familiar locations and characters under different but similar circumstances, but it would have been even better for us GB geeks to have a substantial new story (or even a deeper development of the one they used) to sink our teeth into.
The gameplay does not exactly stand out in the game as anything special; however, it does not ruin the game either. I had low expectations, and the game exceeded them by far, even if many improvements could be made. Wrangling ghosts is pretty fun; it really feels like the movies make it look. Blowing away the little ground enemies, though, gets old quick. So does the at times infuriating knockback, and the need to tend to your buddies really often, especially at higher difficulties. While these things are frustrating, as I said they do not completely ruin the playing experience. I did have fun playing the game most of the time.
The visuals in the game are fantastic; the city and all of the environments are rich and pop off the screen. I noticed a couple of slight tears, and had the framerate stutter once or twice, but all in all it is gorgeous.
The voice acting sounds like the Ghostbusters as it should, considering the talent. The acting, though, often sounds wooden, and I imagine there are a couple of possibilities for reasons. One, the majority of the actors have no voice over acting experience, and video game work is too foreign. Or, they didn't really care too much about the project, and only did it for a friend (Ramis/Akroyd) and the almighty dollar. Either way, I expected to hear more enthusiasm in the voices of those involved, rather than sleepy, monotone recitations. Not that all lines were such, but Ive heard the term "phoned-in" used to describe some of the dialogue, and that fits.
In conclusion, this game was worth playing as a fan of the Ghostbusters series, though I was kind of hoping to see a little more love put into the project. I do realize that as far as video game adaptations of movies go, this one is definitely one of the best. I did have a blast playing it, and would certainly recommend playing it to anyone familiar with the movies. That said, I would also recommend only paying full retail if youre a die-hard (no regrets here), as there are many stand-alone games that do what this one does, and better. Like I said, if it wasn't a Ghostbusters game....
Cheers, y'all
