Ghostbusters: Gargantuan Slugfest With A Proton Pack
For any of you who've seen the films, you won't be surprised to see that Ghostbusters The Video Game attempts to be humorous. I was actually somewhat surprised to find out that the script was written by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, primarily because the game overall just isn't that funny. Sure, there's a few good lines randomly stuffed into various parts of the game. However, most of these lines are torn right from the films themselves, and they (while funny) aren't as funny as they were in the films. Everything else is merely a cluttered mish-mash of lame attempts at being funny, and while these dialogue sequences may appear to younger children (for all I know, that might well be the goal), (I'm talking around 10 years old or younger) most of the people buying this game are probably much, much older than middle-schoolers. The second part of the game is more original than the first, but the attempts at humor by then feel dried up and, well, not very funny to say the least.
The year is 1991. You play as an unnamed rookie who feels it's necessary to keep his mouth shut and not talk nor scream despite when he in some cases is in a different dimension fighting off fifteen-foot golems all by himself. The other Ghostbusters feel it's necessary to not get to know him should he perish while fighting off ghosts or blow himself out while testing their equipment. Speaking of the other Ghostbusters, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson reprise their roles, though some of their voice work occasionally sounds voiced in. Basically some unknown mastermind is letting loose tons of ghosts throughout the city and your job is to stop them. Like I said before, the second half...scratch that, a majority of the campaign (aka Career mode) features original locales and enemies. I would've just preferred Career mode featuring missions entirely from the films, and then maybe add on some original ideas, but the reason why I wouldn't want original content featured in this game is because it could either make or break a major part of the game, and unfortunately it completely misfired.
The first few missions in Career mode are great. The first mission of the game takes place at the Sedgewick Hotel to try to capture Slimer. Followed by blowing up the giant Stay Puft Marshmellow man, followed by a return to the New York Public Library from the beginning of the first film. These missions are fun and exciting, but some things aren't explained. Since this is supposed to take place after the end of the second film, why is Vego's painting in the Ghostbusters' firehouse and no one seems to care about him? How did the Marshmellow man come back to life? It seems that while Dan Aykroyd was busy attempting to make this a third Ghostbusters film, he didn't seem to care about the story's loose ends that much.
The gameplay feels somewhat familiar with that of Gears of War. But unlike Marcus Fenix, the guy you play as can't take cover, can't aim down the sights, has limited view and can only sprint for a limited time. Perhaps this was made to make you and the other Ghostbusters feel like out-of-shape Canucks. If there's more than one ghost in a room or area (which there will be 99% of the time) chances are you're going to get knocked down from an enemy that's off-camera, making your character lie down for a few seconds before getting back up, and he'll likely get knocked right back down in a matter of seconds. If all your health gets depleted, you remain in a physically-impaired state on the ground until one of your teammates walks over and revives you. Despite how much you might get knocked down on the normal difficulty setting, your teammates will do so twice as often, making the game feel like a gargantuan slugfest or watching a bunch of seniors attempt to breakdance in the middle of a well-populated night club.
The only weapon you use in the game is the famous Proton Pack that differentiates the Ghostbusters from your typical Marine or Commando. You start off using a laser beam and then Egon will remember out of the blue that he happened to install another weapon earlier that same day. The only reason you'll using anything other than proton beam is because green slime somehow disintegrates deadly black slime. Yeah, that sure makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Normal enemies will blow up but larger enemies, usually ones that fly, have to be captured and this where the game starts to feel similar to an arcade fishing game instead of Gears of War. First you drain it's health down just like any other enemy, then you hold LB down while holding RT to put them in your "capture beam," then you slam them against walls and floors using LT and then move them near the trap you threw on the floor and then finally watch as they resist being sucked into the small metal contraption. The aiming is a bit annoying because you can't aim down the sights like Gears of War to get a more accurate shot off. Also, enemies tend to get snagged against a wall or column or something while you're trying to get them into the trap. Fighting bosses isn't even a whole lot of fun, because you'll often be running around in circles trying to hit its weak spot. A lot of the things in the environments are destructible, making it somewhat less frustrating to miss your enemy. However, nearly every ghost fight is the same, and add that in with the banal environments towards the end of the game and the gameplay will certainly feel sour once you've beaten the game.
The game isn't always completely action-packed throughout the whole game. Actually, a whole lot of your time is spent wandering around hallways looking for where to go. The game is also pretty heavily scripted, meaning the game tries to be scary when it's really not. While the game may seem linear, often times you'll wandering all over the particular area for the place you have to stand in to trigger the next sequence. Once you finally find that sweet spot, the result of it could be something as trivial as your team talking amongst themselves or someone opening a door. Most doors you can't even open, and a lot of the time you have to wait for your teammate(s) to come over and kick the door open. You have the option to use what's called the "PKE Meter," which puts you in a goggled first-person view of your surroundings while you look at bars on your screen that spike up when you're close to a hidden door or ghost. I didn't really like using this because it didn't actually help much, and when it did, the view switches back to third-person, causing the pre-scripted event to be immersion-shattering. Also, there are a few puzzle elements that don't really fit in with the rest of the game all that well. Most of these involve using your slime tether to pull items together or two drag keys using the capture beam method to their keyholes.
The campaign takes about 7 to 8 hours to complete, and once you've beaten the first few missions, you've already experienced the best of what the campaign has to offer. There are a few multiplayer modes to check out, though they aren't all that great, especially if you've already beaten the long campaign. Most of them involve capturing ghosts as quickly as possible, survive as long as you can, or prevent the ghosts from stealing precious artifacts. You can also play the campaign cooperatively, adding a whole new layer of depth to the campaign. It really depends if you've gotten fed up with the ghost-catching mechanic to enjoy the multiplayer. The graphics are pretty good. A lot of the environment objects are breakable, and watching tables shatter and chandeliers fall never really gets old. The cutscenes look good, but most of the time the game will use the in-game graphics for most scenes, and they remind me of Spider-Man 3 for the PS2, and that's definitely not a good thing. The voice work sometimes feels phoned in, but they do a good job for the majority of the game. The soundtrack is great, but it isn't meant to hold up an 8 hour experience, so you'll probably get bored of it after a couple of hours.
Overall, I think Ghostbusters The Video Game is a solid package. The first few campaign missions are great, but the second half of it gets boring and just isn't very interesting. By the time you've finished the campaign, multiplayer probably won't be too appealing if you're fed up with the ghost-catching mechanic. For die-hard Ghostbusters fans who somehow are hesitant about buying this game, It wouldn't be bad to get it at the full price of $65, but I'd recommend waiting a couple months until the price drops into the $40-$50 range. For everyone else, I suggest you rent it for a couple days because it does give you an easy 500 points. I certainly didn't hate this game, nor did I love it, either. It's a solid game, but it feels like the developers got lazy towards the end of the game. Hopefully the die-hard Ghostbusters fans won't take this mixed review with anger or disappointment, because you'll probably love this game to death no matter what. Just don't recommend it to any friends who don't understand what the deal is about crossing the streams.