[360/PS3] Ghostbusters Review

[AgtFox]

Ghostbusters Review

Title: Ghostbusters
Platform: 360/PS3/Wii/PC
Developer: Terminal Reality
Publisher: Atari
ESRB: Teen
MSRP: $59.99 (360/PS3), $39.99 (Wii), $29.99 (PC)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: The writing by Aykroyd and Ramis; the voice acting by most of the original cast members; the nostalgia factor; the various weapons tied to the backpack; the capturing of ghosts in the traps

What's Not: Overall game is average at best; relatively short; could use a lock-on button; fellow Ghostbusters constantly going down

Right off the bat I’ll let you know that I consider Ghostbusters to be an average game at best brought up a few notches by the story writing of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, the additional weapons tied to the backpack, the voiceovers from most of the original cast and the pure nostalgia factor it gives me. This is a brand new story told during Thanksgiving 1991, so it is based after both of the movies. There are several references to both movies in the game, but the story is based mostly around the first movie with the re-entry of Gozer into our plane of existence, but there is far more to the story of Gozer than meets the eye.

You play as the fifth Ghostbuster, a new guy commonly referred to as “The Rookie” or “New Guy” or “The Recruit” or several other nicknames given out mostly by Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray). The name tag on your outfit even says “The Rookie” on it. For the past couple years the Ghostbusters have been considered heroes to the citizens of New York after disposing of Vigo the Carpathian with the tandem of the happy slime and the power of the positive people of New York City in the Ghostbusters II movie. The game opens with Dr. Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) continuing his quest to figure out the Grey Lady from the first movie, a ghost the team never caught, and capture a newly escaped Slimer. Slimer has once again holed himself up in the Sedgewick Hotel, eating all their wonderful food. Capturing Slimer is your entrance into how to handle the proton stream as well as the ghost traps. You find out that you can only fire the proton stream for so long before the backpack overheats, so be sure to press the right button to vent out the heat. Using a capture stream does not affect the heat expended, so as you move a ghost into the trap cone you are not gaining any heat that you need to dispense. As always, crossing the streams will give both you and the other Ghostbuster(s) painful feedback.

After capturing Slimer and bantering with the hotel concierge the team figures out there is another ghost at work in the hotel and they go to find him. You will find the hotel flooded and you separated from Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis). There will be many times in the game where you are joined with one or more of the Ghostbusters or you are left alone, so get used to it. Luckily you won’t get too lost when you are alone. It is rather odd that I can think of only one and maybe two sections of the game where all five Ghostbusters are together fighting the same enemy. After you get through this section you face the boss, one of many in this game. After that the real fun begins.

Soon enough you find out you can upgrade your equipment (for a price, you raise money as you beat ghosts and pick up artifacts) and the guys give you some new weapons to test out. Each weapon has a primary and secondary firing capability. The proton pack can send out a Boson dart with the left trigger. The stasis beam can fire out multiple blue blades that work well on smaller ghosts at close range. The slime gun can fire out a slime tether that will be used multiple times during the game to join things together. Finally the meson gun can fire a collider pulse. Each weapon will be used through the game, so don’t get too hung on just one. Each one is available on a different direction on the d-pad.

Also of note is the PKE meter that you will use throughout the game to find hidden ghosts as well as possessed artifacts. You will press the Y button to get into the PKE night vision mode and just like in the movie the tones will hasten and the arms will rise up as you get closer to a PK powered ghost or artifacts. There are a lot of artifacts strewn about the game and it is often fun to find them. The PKE screen can also be used to scan enemies via the right trigger. It will often note their weaknesses and what class and type of ghost they are. Oftentimes once you know the weapon weakness it becomes much easier to dispatch of them.

Next thing you know Gozer is somehow back on Earth and has taken residence in the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man yet again, reaching back into the first movie. First you fight him on the ground alongside the Ecto-1, now equipped with a super trap on the top. Eventually you get into a building and climb up to the roof where you find yourself falling over and one of the Ghostbusters holding your legs as you shoot at Stay Puft. It’s one of the best sections in the whole game, even though the overall fight is rather easy since all you use is your proton beam and the boson dart whenever you can. This is the start of the rest of the story and you’ll be faced with many ghosts from the first movie like the aforementioned Grey Lady as well as some new ghosts in Gozer’s army and a fleshing out of the whole Gozer storyline.

During the game good old Peck will pop up as will the mayor. Peck is voiced by the original actor along with all the Ghostbusters and the secretary, so the aura of authenticity certainly plays a major role in the game. In fact, the writing done by Aykroyd and Ramis for the game really captures the nostalgia from the movies. Bill Murray and the rest are really at the top of their game delivering the lines with only a few odd flow problems sprinkled in. Another problem is that the voices don’t match up with the mouths moving, but that could be because I installed the game on my hard drive. I could also easily see this turn into a Ghostbusters III movie down the road, especially with Jack Black showing interest recently. He could easily fit in as the Rookie. I believe Sony has hired some other writers for the third film, but they may be smart and allow Aykroyd and Ramis to repurpose the story presented here to account for the age of the actors now and make a new film even though the actors are supposedly tied to this new movie already.

The unfortunate thing is that the game itself is average at best. Sure, it’s fun busting ghosts here and there, but the movement and aiming/shooting just seems a little off to me. The addition of a lock-on button certainly would have helped because a lot of the ghosts move really fast and you can lose sight of them. Granted, a lock-on would have made the game even shorter than it already is (took me about 6-8 hours to beat, minus multiplayer), but it also may have made the game more enjoyable than the “by the numbers” feel it gives off. There is no doubt though that the graphics, as well as the story and witty banter move this game into the above average category. However if this was a game that didn’t have the Ghostbusters in it, the actual actors voicing the characters or a good story, the simple fact is this game could have easily been in the Terminator Salvation section of gaming; one with little to no redeeming qualities.

The multiplayer and co-op sections of the game were done by a totally separate developer in Threewave. The basic gameplay is still present, but this time you are playing with other people in different sections of the game and different gametypes. From what I played this section was rather fun and will probably keep people interested well after they have completed the single-player story. For a more in-depth look at this side of the game, please check out the Co-Op Review over at our sister site Co-Optimus. Jim spent much more time playing this section than I did and explains it in much more depth than I could.

My final thought is that Ghostbusters is an average game lifted up by the all-new story written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, voiceovers by the original actors and the pure nostalgic factor of seeing things like Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Peck and other characters making a reappearance in this game. I have my problems with some of the gameplay decisions that were made by Terminal Reality, but the simple fact is that I highly enjoyed myself despite those problems. This game makes me think about back when I was almost 8 years old and saw the original movie in the theater. This game should certainly be rented, if not bought in order to hopefully produce another game backed by the original actors and creators.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, ”An average game lifted by the story, voiceovers by original actors and the pure nostalgia factor, Ghostbusters is a game you should at least rent or even buy in order to see production of another game where the problems in the gameplay might be ironed out. Also remember to pick up the 360 version over the PS3 version if you have a choice as the PS3 version compares bad graphically to the 360 version.”

*Note - Review based upon the 360 version of game

[Mot Wakorb]

In fact, the writing done by Aykroyd and Ramis for the game really captures the nostalgia from the movies. Bill Murray and the rest are really at the top of their game delivering the lines with only a few odd flow problems sprinkled in. Another problem is that the voices don’t match up with the mouths moving, but that could be because I installed the game on my hard drive.

The lip-sync is off whether or not it's installed to the HDD. Not something that bothered me, personally. That said, I'll have to beg to differ that the voices were well done in most instances. It was clear that Ernie Hudson and Dan Aykroyd were the stars here with their voiceover work - they were the only ones that truly captured the essence of their original characters. Harold Ramis sounded like he hadn't acted in two decades (mostly true), and Bill Murray was extremely quiet and sounded rather uninspired, like he just didn't care.

Of course, this is my two cents worth - it didn't take anything away from the game for me as being a Ghostbusters nut, I was laughing and smiling throughout the game.

Also - one comparison I made was the controls for this game. It was almost Gears of War with it's control scheme. A different button mapping for a couple of things, but the game itself controlled very much like Gears, and I didn't mind that at all. Your idea to have a "lock on" really would've turned this game into something that wasn't fun at all, though - make me work a little for once instead of handing me a victory. I get to stay locked when I've got my capture beam out, don't make it easier for me, thanks.

My two cents

[AgtFox]

The controls do share with Gears of War...I thought about putting that in, although I think Gears has much tighter controls. The lip syncing didn't bother me much, but I thought it needed to be pointed out. And as I pointed out, the lock-on would have made the game easier and probably shorter, but there were a lot of times during overwhelming ghosts versus Ghostbusters sections where it would have come in handy.

[Spigot]

I'd take a bit of exception with the complaint about aiming the streams. The LAST thing this game needs is a lock on button. Aiming the proton streams has always been haphazard at best, with them flailing all over the place. I think the somewhat loose aiming captures that feel to a T.

I guess I'm just a major Ghostbusters nerd, but I've been loving this game to death and it is one of the least guilt-ridden purchases I've made this year. It's not a AAA game, that is true, but it is a total blast and completely captures the feel of the franchise and hasn't been frustrating (at least, not yet, and I'm about 5 stages in out of the total 7) which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of bigger budget, higher profile games I've played of late.

There were a couple of instances when the lip-synching was noticably off, but not enough to be really annoying.

I'd also like to chime in that the co-op is a hoot. I rarely care about the multiplayer components in games like this but the few sessions I've put in of the co-op was really fun. It's just too bad you can't have 2-player co-op sessions on the same box.

[Telefrog]

The only problem that bugs the shit out of me is that there is no indication (at least not that I've seen on the 360) of reaching a checkpoint. Whenever I continue the game, it's always fun to see where exactly I wind up. Will I be back 15 minutes? Will I end up watching the same cutscene again? Whee!

[jpublic]

Some notes from a PC purchase:

1) No Co-Op.
2) The controls are screwed up on PC. ou *have* to play with an analog gamepad, they've set the mouse to behave like an analog stick, and it's stupidly hard to control.
3) Hardware requirements are a bit steep. Athlon X2 4400, 2GB, Geforce 8800 GTS 512M, WinXP, and it chugged in various areas.
4) Still a damn fun game, and I don't regret the purchase one bit.

[Virtual Pariah]

Is the Wii game the same?
I'd actually like to use the Wiimote for this one if the quality is there.

[bapenguin]

Originally Posted by Virtual Pariah

Is the Wii game the same?
I'd actually like to use the Wiimote for this one if the quality is there.

Same story, but slightly different in presentation. Plus there's true co-op in the Wii version.

[opsin]

Stupid European exclusive... I want to play this, but I want to rent it, and can't 'til Ocotber 'cause of Sony.

[Psykoboy2]

Originally Posted by opsin

Stupid European exclusive... I want to play this, but I want to rent it, and can't 'til Ocotber 'cause of Sony.

Says you have an xbox in your sig with your gamertag. It's region free on the 360, you know?

[txshurricane]

Good review, Loren, and thanks for the shout-out. I agree with most of it. The geek in me enjoyed it much more than the critic. Not the best game ever, but a fun romp for sure.

[crazyD]

Had a few shit parts, and broke on me a few times. I probably wouldn't have kept on playing if it didn't do such a great job of making me feel like a Ghostbuster.

They really should have focused more of the game on catching ghosts, though. Blowing them up isn't nearly as much fun as capturing them.

[Wolvie]

Yeah I'm with crazyD. The game is a blast when you are capturing ghost. Blasting the re-animated ones into composite molecules isn't as much fun.

I guess they did that to avoid tedium, but the mechanic of wrangling a ghost with the capture stream, and pulling them into the trap nevr got old to me. Blasting waves of throw-away baddies however did.

Then there's the unfun parts. Using the PKE meter to track spikes in energy and figuring out where to go next was just boring. The down times were just buzz kills in this game. Then there was the pissy spikes in difficulty. The "stone angels" scene is a prime example of this. It's almost as if the developers didn't play test a few sections to make sure they were fun or not.

[Zanzibar]

Originally Posted by Psykoboy2

Says you have an xbox in your sig with your gamertag. It's region free on the 360, you know?

This. Buy and enjoy, PAL people.

[Spigot]

Originally Posted by Telefrog

The only problem that bugs the shit out of me is that there is no indication (at least not that I've seen on the 360) of reaching a checkpoint. Whenever I continue the game, it's always fun to see where exactly I wind up. Will I be back 15 minutes? Will I end up watching the same cutscene again? Whee!

See, I'm with you on this. I'm much more annoyed by the archaic save system on the 360 (esp. with the way it deals with data storage when you start a game up) and the fact that you can't select your saves than I am about anything in the game proper. It's all front-end stuff that irks me.

[crazyD]

Originally Posted by Wolvie

The "stone angels" scene is a prime example of this. It's almost as if the developers didn't play test a few sections to make sure they were fun or not.

God, I hated that part. Die, sit through the cutscenes, die again, etc.

[Wolvie]

Originally Posted by crazyD

God, I hated that part. Die, sit through the cutscenes, die again, etc.

You know what was really aggravating? When I looked up a strategy,

and used the slime tether on the gate first, then on one of the angels... it took out the gate one hit.

I went through multiple re-loads, deaths, and frustration only to watch as the fight is won in seconds, easily. I was both happy and pissed at the same time.

[crazyD]

I survived for a long time just slamming the angels down before one of the Ghostbusters said something along the lines of "Maybe we should use our slime tethers." Then, several more deaths before I was able to pull it off.

[Zecon]

Played it and beat it, man I would have bought this game if it had online co-op, but having to constantly revive your teammates, especially on the next to last boss, was a real pain, had to run to other side of map, tether the crystals open, take one out, revive teammates, and repeat 3 more times.

[MachEnergy]

Great game, but mostly due to the license and talent involved. As a Ghostbusters nut, I had to play it. You know the feeling if you are in the same boat. Whether or not it's a sure-fire purchase, well that's a bit iffy. There is plenty of replayability in the campaign, going after achievements and whatnot. I have yet to try the multiplayer, and will know more about that mode tonight.

Also, it really does feel like Gears of War in terms of the inputs available. In fact, I moved the run/hop button to "A", the interact button to "X", and the throw trap button to "B", and it felt WAY more natural. If you've never played Gears before, this may not matter, but if you have, you'll love it much better this way. Although, you'll want to take cover behind things, and that's just not happenin'!