Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

Author's note: No time was spent with playing the multiplayer, so the score and review will not reflect that particular aspect of the game.

When the prospect of a Ghostbusters game was first introduced, it was met with a lot of skepticism. After all, why take a 20+ year old movie franchise and make a next-generation game out of it now? Fortunately, with an excellent engine, nearly the entire cast brought back to voice the characters, and the script written by Harold Ramis and Dan Akryod, all doubts can now be extinguished. Ghostbusters is a very solid movie-based game.

Ghostbusters is not based on either the first or second movie. Rather, it follows the events after the second movie. You take on the roll of a newly recruited Ghostbuster simply referred to as, "Rookie". The game starts you off at Ghostbusters HQ to show you the ropes of using the proton pack. After you capture your first ghost that has escaped its containment unit, the game really starts to take off.

A massive wave of supernatural energy has spread throughout New York causing ghosts to appear all over the place. Some spirits that the Ghostbusters have caught before have also been released, so although the game isn't based directly on either movie, you will see many things and visit several areas from those two movies. One such reencounter is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. You'll spend an entire level chasing him down, and eventually taking the fight to the confectionous collossus.

Speaking of levels, they take center stage. There are only eight levels, but they are long, well-planned out levels. They're designed with a steady pace, not too much exploring, not too much action, and they contain a good deal of excellent scripted events. Also, you can use your PKE meter and goggles to explore throughout the levels for possessed and cursed knicknacks that give you a bit of history about the area, or a bit of movie nostaligia.

The PKE meter and goggles also play a larger part. Aside from finding artificats, they're also used to locate ghosts. Just as in the movie, the closer you get to a ghost, the more noise it makes and the wider spread its attenae becomes. You can also use the PKE meter to guide yourself to certain objectives, such as locating a switch, or finding a hidden door. You can also scan ghosts to learn more about them, such as their history and their weaknesses. The game's also pretty good with prompting you to pull out your PKE meter when there's something of interest to find.

What's a Ghostbuster without a 100 pound nuclear charged proton pack? Your tool of ghostbusting goes further than just a simple proton beam from the movies. It also gets upgraded with new enhancemens and features. Among these upgrades are powerful blasts of energy called boson darts, a stasis beam that slows ghosts down, a slime gun that sprays a neutralizing jet of slime as well as a rubbery tether that you can use to manipulate objects, and a tracking beam that makes your shots home in on your target regardless of where you stand.

And what's a proton pack without a ghost trap? You guessed it; you use your proton pack along with your traps to capture those ghostly ghoulies. In order to capture a ghost, you have to wear it down enough with your beam that you can entangle it and slam it around. Once you've weakened it enough, you throw out a trap and move the entity over the trap until it opens and gets sucked down. It's a great gameplay mechanic that works well and is easy to learn. You'll also come across enemies you can simple destroy without having to trap. Combat is the life blood of an action game, and it is quite a lot of fun in Ghostbusters.

Since this is called Ghostbusters and not Ghostbuster, you'll be working with all the original Ghostbusters. That means Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore. You all work together exploring the different levels. When you get hurt, they'll come to your aid and get you back up on your feet, and vice versa. Think Gears of War and that's pretty much what the teamwork is like. Although they are quite capable of capturing their own ghosts, they aren't as competent as they should be. Sometimes, they're slow to revive each other, along with you. At times, they won't use strong enough attacks or go for exploitable weaknesses. Still, they're much better than just AI characters that stand around doodling their thumbs.

The first thing that will probably be noticed about Ghostbusters is the spectacular visuals. Not only is everything rendered well from the environment to the characters, the special effects are also pretty good themselves. The ghosts have that glowing translucent effect to them that just gets under your skin. The proton beams are bright and lively, just like they should be. Also, after a battle, take a look around you and soak in all the destruction you caused. Just about everything is breakable, at least a few times, and scortch marks will be left behind from your beams. If only all movie based games could look this good.

The audio is just as terrific. The sound effects are exactly what you'd except from the movies. Just turning on the proton pack for the first time should cause a wave of nostalgia to roll over any Ghostbusters fan. Then of course, the sound of the beams itself is thrilling, along with the crumbling and crunching sounds of anything that gets in its way being reduced to rubble. The music of course is just as good as the music from the movies. Since the same cast has returned to voice the characters, you can expect the voice acting to be top notch as well.

Didn't think a Ghostbusters game made for today's gamer would be any good? Did you immediately write it off as a cheap cash-in? Well, think again. This is more than just a lame movie-based game. This is one of the best movie-licensed games to come along in a long while. Every core feature of a game from the graphics to the gameplay to the writing right up to the voice acting is solid. It's got the humor, it's got the ghosts, and most importantly, it's got Slimer! The only drawback is that there is a strange lack of Rick Moranis, and that's a crying shame. Anything can always benefit from a bit more comedic relief. If you are a fan of the movies, you owe it to yourself to own this game!