Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters on the NES is abysmal. Nothing about it is good. Not even average. All the important aspects in a video game are not present in Ghostbusters. If you haven't experience Ghostbusters on the NES, you're one lucky sonnafa gun. Ghostbusters is a very very boring game with limited sound effects, repetitive music, dull graphics and broken controls. 
 

The moment you boot up Ghostbusters to your console and see the title screen, you'll know you're in for an awful trip to hell. You push start and you'll see a map and...what do you do? You see a map of poorly drawn and coloured New York City with you as a Ghostbusters logo on the road. You can move around but you can't enter buildings. Why? Because you have to buy your equipment. Yes, you heard me right. The Ghostbusters do not have (Or even make) their own equipment so instead, you have to go to a store to buy them. What kind of a ridiculous idea is that? Like any other Ghostbusters game, the NES version has the famed Ray Parker, Jr theme song featured in the game but there's one problem. It's the only song and it never ever stops. My advice; mute the TV screen and crank up those tunes in your iTunes.
       

After entering the store and buying all the necessary gear, you can now do some ghostbusting. But wait, you can't just enter any building. You have to enter the ones that are blinking red. Once you see a blinking building, you move your Ghostbusters cursor to the desired area and click it. However, you don't just go there instantly. You have to drive to the building as well, so selecting the building isn't the same as entering the building. Going to the desired location will bring you to the driving scene where you have to invade inconsiderate drivers and floating ghosts. You can catch the ghosts if you purchase the ghost vacuum to give you some extra cash. You can also run out of gas in the process. I have no comment.   
 
 

Once you've reached the building, you control two unrecognizable Ghostbusters and start zapping ghosts. The procedure is to drop the trap, drag the ghosts to their doom and collect your fee. You then have to send the captured ghosts back to the Firehouse and repeat the process. The idea is to keep catching ghosts until you accumulate enough cash and ghosts to enter the Zuul building where Dana Barrett from the movie lives.  
 

Once a message appears that summons you to the Zuul building, you have to get your gear ready and head to the building. This takes you to another stage where the game tests your button mashing skills. You have to climb the staircase in the Zuul building like in the movie but in order to move your characters, you have to tap the A button repeatedly. You have to keep tapping the button until you reached the 22nd Floor. And if that's not crazy enough, you have to avoid ghosts at the same time. Getting hit by the ghosts a few times and it's game over. Honestly, there's absolutely no way you can get pass this stage without using a cheat.  
 

The final part is the rooftop area where the Ghostbusters have to defeat Gozer and her minions (Now why isn't the building named after the leader I have no clue). This is where you actually feel like you're playing a game because you're dodging projectiles and shooting enemies. You have to beat Gozer quickly though before Mr. Stay Puft Marshmallow Man reaches to the top which ends the game prematurely. After beating Gozer, you'd think you're treated for a short and sweet cutscene for an ending but instead you'll receive the infamous ending screen that has nonsensical meaning with lots of spelling and punctuation errors. 
  

What more can I say about Ghostbusters that hasn't been said already? Nothing. Ghostbusters for the NES is an absolute joke which makes you wonder, how the hell did this game get the Nintendo's Seal of Quality Approval? It makes no sense at all. This game has no stages from the movie it was based on. I was expecting to have stages like the library, the Sedgewick Hotel, Dana's apartment but sadly, none of them surfaced. 
 
Thankfully, other Ghostbusters games are much much better than this worthless piece of crap, including the recent Ghostbusters: The Video Game that was released this year in 2009. That game is 110% better and it has everything done correctly and perfectly. It even made a tribute to the NES game by having the ending screen on a monitor at the Firehouse. 

To wrap this up, Ghostbusters is a complete joke and it has been ridiculed numerous times by critics and gamers alike. The developers were obviously very lazy in making this game and didn't even make an effort to make it good or even proof read the damn credits sequence. Not only it has no instructions in what you're supposed to do, but It has one of the worst graphics on the NES with nothing but pale gray and dull white. A little more colour would be nice. The sound effects could've use more audio with some original music instead of just the Ghostbusters theme song being played repeatedly. Speaking of the Ghostbusters, the game doesn't even acknowledge Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston. What good is a game if you can't tell who you're playing as? And last but not least, the gameplay could've been better with more stages, more fun and less punishing difficulty. The store, the driving scene, the button mashing at the stairwell and especially the gas station should NOT be in the game at all.
 
As a fan of the Ghostbusters, I urge you to stay away from this game. It's not worth a purchase, a rental or even your time. Try imagine all life forms as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. And that's bad. 
 
 
Score:
Gameplay: 1.5 Star
Graphics: 0 Star
Sounds: 0 Star
Replay Value: 0 Star 
Overall: 0 Star
Total Score: 1.5 out of 5 Stars