Ghostbusters: The Video Game

I have to admit that I was VERY late to the Ghostbusters party. I knew that it existed, and the special effects at that time were spectacular, and Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was the chosen Destructor- but I never saw the full film. A week before I knew the game came out already- I rented Ghostbusters and I was laughing hard at all these lines (partically Bill Murray's of course). Skipping to the end, I bought the Ghostbusters 1 & 2 Set and The Video Game.

Rarely does a video game based on a movie (franchise) actually works- Ghostbusters: The Video Game belongs in that rare group alongside GoldenEye 007, X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Uncaged, & Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader. Not only do the developers really put there heart in this latest adventure for the Ghostbusters- but the original cast and writers of the films as well. Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis writes the script as well give their voices with Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and [that guy who plays Walter Peck]. Wikipedia lied to me that Rick Moranis reprises as Louis Tully, but oh well. But does it all work? Definitely.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game has you playing as nameless, talkless Rookie who becomes the Ghostbusters' guinea pig for the gadgets besides the famous Proton Pack. Downsizing the Rookie's role is for the best since it's really about you (as the Rookie Ghostbuster) following the originals. These gadgets besides the Proton Pack are substitutes for weapons we've seen in a dozen FPS games but there's a charm. When Winston points out that the Stasis Stream is like a Freeze Ray, it's like the game is self-aware that it's mostly likely going to be compared to other shooting games. The Proton Pack gets the Proton Stream and Boson Dart (the first rocket launcher substitute). For each different type of arsenal you unlock after The Proton Pack, you get two types of weapons. There's a shotgun, machine gun, rocket launcher substitute- and there's the Slime Blower and Slime Tether. If I explain these two weapons, I'd sound like a madman. The Meson Collider (your machine gun and OTHER rocket launcher substitute) is the most useless arsenal out of all the weapons you have- makes you wonder why the developers added it there since it's similar to the Proton Pack's Boson Dart. The main feature is of course the Proton Pack- avoiding to cross the streams and trying to capture ghosts. The most fun parts of the video game is definitely zapping at ghosts, then trying to slam 'em, and capturing escaping ghosts into the trap. The second most famous item from the movie is the PKE-meter and you use it to research the ghosts you encounter so that way you know the ghosts' weaknesses and background history, and obviously a tool to move the game along.

The story takes place in 1991 (after Ghostbusters II- which I thought was good) and it involves a series of events that is just as convoluted as the whole damn Resident Evil trilogy's story. An aura-explosion happens in the History Museum, causing Slimer to get out of his cage in the Ghostbusters' Firehouse and run back to Hotel Sedgewick, then you have to fight the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, you have to hunt down the Librarian that scared Egon, Ray, and Peter, and after that the story lost me. Obviously I went with the game moved along and I understood half the time what the Ghostbusters were chattering about (Mandela nodes?) but it's either Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis lost their touch of making a good script or they didn't give a damn if the story made no sense. There are moments in Ghostbusters: The Video Game that nukes the fridge, you go to a island that appears in the middle of the ocean and you go to the parallel universe of the Public Library, you go spider-web-filled hallways in a hotel, and fight The Destructor himself. Sure, Ghostbusters obviously isn't grounded on reality but just like how I felt about Resident Evil 5, these moments felt out of place. Originally, Dan Aykroyd wanted Ghostbusters to take place in different worlds- so for the video game he took that idea and placed it here. Good for him I guess. What about the video game's humor? It's stuck between Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II- Bill Murray's Peter Venkman in the video game is a parody of his former Peter Venkman in the past, meaning more lively and sarcastic. Once again, Bill Murray is the funniest of the four Ghostbusters- obviously not a bad thing. With a video game, you obviously hear more of the plot than just the funny exchanges the Ghostbusters have with each other (still a shame). I felt that the game's ending was a bit flat and the romantic interest was forced.

The gameplay never got old even if it has some problems- what made me playing the game again and again was the process of capturing ghosts like a Ghostbuster or experimenting different types of the same weapons I've used in other games before was more fun and interesting. However, the pace of the single-player experience stumbles. Instead of dying, you get knocked out- you lay down on the floor waiting for your A.I. team-mates to pick you up. In multi-player, you only have to wait for 30 seconds- but in single-player it could take only a little bit of time or forever. If you're playing on the hardest difficulty setting, prepare to revive your team-mates more than busting ghosts. In heated boss battles or when there's a lot of enemies on screen, you're hoping the team-mates won't get knocked out more than you being knocked out. At points in the campaign there are puzzles that if you miss a certain piece of dialogue or in case there's nobody to help you out with it, you're screwed. The graphics are nowhere near the likes of Gears of War 2 or Crysis- but while the graphics make look similar to say Quantum of Solace- what's astounding is that almost everything in the environment can be broken. Do you want to break a very expensive Civil War suit at the History Museum? Do you want to break a table at Hotel Sedgewick's dining hall ("And the flowers are still standing!") ? You can do that. There are CGI-cut scenes that are amazing to look at (I'd rather see a CGI-film featuring the original Ghostbusters than a live-action film starring different Ghostbusters) but most of the time you watch cutscenes using the game's engine. To nit-pick, why not have all the cut scenes in CGI form? The most hardcore Ghostbusters fans would go crazy for the parts where your character can explore the Ghostbusters' Firehouse. The Firehouse is SO detailed- it includes obviously the pole ("You gotta try this pole!"), Janine's desk, the beds for all the Ghostbusters, and an updated version of the containment grid (which you didn't really in the second movie). With your PKE meter, there are secret artifacts that if you pick them up, they can be found in the later parts of exploring the Firehouse.

The amount of detail from the developers of Ghostbusters: The Video Game is astounding. Besides the Firehouse, the ghosts you research thanks to your PKE meter have background history that is optional to read- but it's there. The single-player offers a lot of re-playability as well as the multi-player. What I really hate about most video games is that they feel the need to add in multi-player to boost the sales. The developers could have done a half-assed version of multi-player but instead they did an online mode I found myself really enjoying. This online mode consists of six different four-player co-op "job" types, which you can attack one at a time, or in a few different three-level mini-campaigns. It's mostly just variants on arena-based multiplayer modes you're probably already familiar with, but the unique tools of the Ghostbusters put an interesting twist on them, and there's some good persistence with the money you earn and a "most wanted" list of ghosts to hunt down to keep you coming back.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is one of the most gratifying video games based on a movie or a movie franchise. Any fans of the the films should not hesitate. While there are some moments that make the experience iffy it's not enough to deteriorate the overall fun you'll get out of the deal. There's a new story, more ghosts than before, and the gameplay is unlike any other game out there.