A great game for a great franchise.
I had the action figures, and even a plastic toy Ecto-1. God I wish I still had that thing. Not for eBay or anything like that, just to sit and stare at it on a shelf or something because the Ecto-1 is a bad ass car. No offense to the Delorean from Back to the Future of course.
And I remember wonndering why the characters in the cartoon didn't look a damned thing like they did in the movie. But that's irrelevant. My childhood with the Ghostbusters was great. The gaming part of it … not so good. NONE of the Ghostbusters games for the classic systems I knew and loved were any good. The only one that came even close to being good was the Sega Genesis version of the game, and that was still pretty damn horrible.
Now enter 2009. A new Ghostbusters game is released for the current generation systems … with the exception of the PSP for whatever reason. I'm going to be talking about the Xbox 360 version in specific here. I'm sure you could apply it to the PS3 and PC versions (well, the PC version doesn't have ANY multiplayer of any kind, but that's the only difference), but do that on your own.
Anyway, this is not only the newest Ghostbusters GAME, but the story is the third MOVIE as well with all the camp and humor written by Ramis and Aykroyd, as well as most of the original cast (missing Sigourney Weaver as Dana and Rick Moranis as Louis). Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis all return to reprise their roles. As well as Annie Potts voicing the ever sexy Janine Melnitz, and someone I wasn't really expecting at all, William Atherton who played the EPA a**hole Walter Peck in Ghostbusters 2. As the player, you come in as the new guy 5th Ghostbuster to test out Egon's new equipment. The stuff that could potentially knock you to New Jersey. Luckily your character never utters a word … hell, he's never even given a name. Just nicknames thrown about by the guys. It lets you get into going around busting the hell outta ghosts with the guys that much easier.
The game plays a lot like Gears of War, albeit without the cover mechanic because it would be completely useless in a game like this. It even has the "roadie run", although that's pretty worthless for the most part because you'll be fighting ghosts and monsters and the like in pretty small confined spaces (anyone remember the Sedgewick Hotel they wrecked from the first movie?). Handling the proton gun is just like I always envisioned it after watching the movies. since it's set 2 years after the 2nd movie in 1991, you've got some new toys to play with. Not only do you have the regular capture stream, but there's also a powerful single ball of energy called a Bosom Dart that I use constantly. You also have the slime gun that has the added ability of tethering objects in the environment for the few puzzles that are in the game. And also two weapons that we fans haven't seen before : the Stasis Beam that will slow the ghosts down and a shock blast that's kinda like the Flak Cannon in Unreal Tournament. And finally a Meson Collider that lets you put a mark on the ghosts then rapid-fire beams will home in on them. But throughout the game, I found myself using the regular default stream and the slime gun the most. It is a BLAST slamming ghosts into the ground to weaken them and wrangle them into the trap. And just tearing the levels to hell and back with the various weapons, oh man … it's an amazing feeling. Now some of that fun is pulled back by a lot of cheap knockdowns that are in the game. And after getting knocked down so many times, one of your CPU allies has to come revive you, again, like Gears of War. Getting one's ass kicked by a candleabra is rather humiliating. And the difficulty seems to spike in one area of the game, but once you figure it out it's not too bad.
The levels are varied and look great, from the firehouse Ghostbusters headquarters to the Sedgewick Hotel all the way to the ghost world. But there's a lot of needless clutter to a lot of them as well that makes the environments seem a lot more confined than they seem to be. This is not by any stretch an open world game, and thank heavens for it. Personally, I can't stand most open world games, and I like it when a game is linear. This game is linear the same way something like Call of Duty or Gears of War is. And you can also destroy, or at least damage almost everything in the environments with no punishment whatsoever. On the second playthrough of the game I find myself just taking time out and completely decimating a room while looking for the various hidden cursed artifacts throughout the game using the PKE meter. Moving through the firehouse headquarters is real fun too just going down the pole feeling the same excitement that Ray felt the first time he went down it. Seeing the containment grid, and the huge painting of Vigo that actually talks to you. And of course the dancing toaster among other little things. It would've been better if you could interact with the Ghostbusters themselves, but alas can't win 'em all. The characters in game look almost just like their movie counterparts, except that the lips don't sync to what they're saying and they occasionally have that blank, creepy stare. The game uses CG cutscenes for some of the story, and that's where the characters really shine, but then it shifts over into in-game cut scenes,and it just kinda looks strange. The animation is pretty stiff and robotic at times as well, and there are some pretty bad flow between movement sometimes as well. It takes away from the experience somewhat, but not in a game killing way. The ghosts themselves look great, and are a great representation of the kind of ghosts you expect to see from the Ghostbusters series. No creepy little girls with hair in their eyes running around here, you get multicolored hideous, yet hilarious looking ghosts everywhere. And Slimer makes his comeback as well.
The iconic theme is still there … man, just think of how weird it would be if it wasn't. Along with the catchy piano tune during the more lighthearted parts. As long as all the other music that's made it's way into the hearts of fans everywhere. The actors do their characters well, even if Bill Murray sounds a bit strange. It's almost like he's been doing Garfield for too long. But even with that small gripe, it's great to hear them again. The sounds for the weapons are spot on and really add to the overall feeling of the game. The only problem is that you'll be hearing a lot of the same music over and over again throughout the game. And hearing this game in surround sound is something else, and it's great.
Overall, the story isn't quite as good as the 1984 film, there are some problems here and there wtih the gameplay and level design … and the music gets a bit old after a while. But that doesn't mean this isn't a good game. It's a blast from start to finish, and is the best Ghostbusters game ever made. If you're like me and you've been waiting for the third movie and had given up hope because … well let's face it. They aren't getting any younger people. OR you've been waiting for a good Ghostbusters game that's actually worth a damn, pick this up immediately. No horrid movie licensed crap here, this is the real deal and the most fun I've had with a game in a long time.
8/10 – It has it's slight problems, but those are almost completely crushed by the sheer enjoyment this game has to offer.
UPDATE - The only thing bad I can say about the multiplayer for this game is the fact there is NO matchmaking. At all. It's all random. Otherwise it's great fun, and definitely a lot of fun slamming Slimers into people. If you want to know more about the multiplayer, I'm sure there are other reviews out there that go into it due to the fact I'm adding this so late. When I originally wrote this, it was when Xbox Live was down and I couldn't play it at all.