Review: Ghostbusters (PS3 and Xbox 360)

Allow me to share my opinion of the new Ghostbusters game with you…

It’s awesome. Go get it.

…what? You want more? Ah, hell. Fine.

Back in 2006, when developer Zootfly showed off some footage of unofficial Ghostbusters game they’d worked up a demo for, it set the internet on fire. Gamers all over the world drooled at the idea of getting their hands on a Proton Pack and kicking some non-corporeal ass.  All eyes turned to Zootfly, to see what they would come up with next. Sadly, they hadn’t actually bothered to ask Columbia Pictures, or its parent company Sony for permission to start working on a Ghostbusters game. They were quickly slapped upside the head with a Cease and Desist order. By some strange coincidence, a completely unrelated concept game was later pitched to Sony by developer Terminal Reality. Fueled by the buzz created by the Zootfly trailer, the game was greenlit, and now two years later we get to enjoy the finished product.

The first thing you’ll notice when you start up Ghostbusters is that it very authentically recreates the movie experience. It feels like an honest to god Ghostbusters movie. All the stars of the original films reprise their roles, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Bill Murray all lend their voice talent (and some script revisions) to the game. Several other actors reprise their roles, including William Atherton (EPA Agent Walter Peck), Annie Pots (Janine), and David Margulies (the Mayor of New York.) This, combined with the game’s detailed character models create an atmosphere that makes the game feel like a major Hollywood production. As you go through the game, you are almost always paired up with at least one other Ghostbuster, and the constant stream of dialogue really sells the concept that you’re part of the team. The game frequently calls upon the lore of the first two films, using familiar places, characters, and easter eggs, like the sardonic portrait of Vigo. The end result is a compelling new chapter in the Ghostbusters saga. It really feels like the first two Ghostbusters movies were part of a trilogy, with the game being the final act.

The game takes place in New York in 1991, two years after Ghostbusters 2. You play “The Rookie“, a new character hired to aid the Ghostbusters in the course of their duties, and to test new experimental (and potentially unstable) equipment. The game begins with you chasing Slimer around the firehouse as you receive your first hands on training with the Proton Pack. As the plot advances, you and the other Ghostbusters find yourselves investigating several unusual paranormal events, events that are strange even by Ghostbuster standards. As you uncover more of this mystery, it becomes clear that New York’s ancient history might be coming back to literally haunt it. The story is well constructed, and full of twists and turns that you can guess at, but it’s far from predictable. And while the pacing is a little abrupt at times, overall it’s a great adventure tale, full of surprises and laughs.

Along the way, you’ll visit a wide variety of locations, some of them familiar, some brand new. Several locations from the films make a return appearance, including the Firehouse, the Sedgewick hotel, and the New York City Streets (not the modern New York, but the ‘urban blight’ New York of the early 90s!). Each of the areas is highly detailed, and full of destroyable objects. And thanks to a gratuitous insurance policy payed for by the city, not only are you not penalized for destroying rooms full of furniture, there are actually several achievements in place for doing so! The game’s physics engine lends itself nicely to whipping objects (or ghosts) around the room, and it can be highly amusing to look around at a room after a successful bust and see all the damage. The levels are fairly linear, but there are a decent amount of secrets and easter eggs for the most exploitative of players. Occasionally it can be difficult to figure out where to go next, but for the most part you can find your way through the game by following your teammates, who are usually on hand to pick you up should you get slimed. Even if they fail you, you can always whip our your trusty PKE Meter to look for clues or secrets.

In addition the  PKE Meter and the ghost traps, the Rookie gets outfitted with four weapons, each with an alternate fire mode. Your Proton Pack has been upgraded to fire green slime for hosing down enemies and tethering objects together, a rapid fire spray of yellow bullets that can home in on an enemy, and a blue shotgun like weapon that doubles as a ghostly freeze-ray in addition to the Pack’s standard red “Capture Stream” mode. Mastering the various weapons can be crucial to success, as each ghost has a unique weakness which can be discovered by scanning them with the PKE meter. Attacking a ghostly foe with any of the given weapons saps its strength, but hitting it with its weakness does the most damage, and when there are multiple ghouls whirling around and attacking, the faster you can trap them, the better. Once the ghost’s health is critical, you can switch to the Proton Stream, lasso a capture beam around him, and drag him into a trap. Each ghost so caught earns you money which can be used to purchase upgrades for your equipment.

Ghostbusters also enjoys a high replay value thanks to a full fledged multiplayer mode. You can choose to either play a single mission, or a campaign, which consists of multiple “jobs”. Objectives in each stage vary from trapping all the ghosts in the area, to trapping or destroying as many as possible with a countdown clock, to protecting an objective from ghosts who are trying to cart of some important item or another. Busting alongside your friends is already fun, but as you play the multiplayer mode, you unlock new weapons and abilities. This gives the game a sort of RPG feel, and keeps you coming back for more. Oh. And did I mention that you can cross the streams?

Despite all its good sides, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is not without issues. At times, the difficulty jumps sharply, and load times between deaths can be long. Worse, checkpoints are occasionally placed before a scripted sequence that leads into a battle, so you might end up hearing the same dialogue quite a few times before finally achieving victory. The PS3’s mandatory install is as disagreeable as ever, and does nothing to lessen the load times. On occasion, the frame rate dips sharply, even freezing the screen altogether, but I only every saw this happen once on the PS3 version. And despite the fact that the developers said that the PS3 was the lead development platform, that version seems to be at a graphical disadvantage to the Xbox 360 release. But I’m sure the dev team’s announcement that they were using the PS3 as the lead platform has nothing to do with the fact that the rights to Ghostbusters are owned by Sony. At all.

Technical anomalies aside, both versions of the game are highly enjoyable action romps. I have to admit, when the game was annouced I expected that it might be fun. I didn’t figure it would be as good as it is. The game is full of funny dialogue, great gameplay, and enjoys a high degree of presentation. I would quite seriously put it up against any other title released this year. Add to this a multiplayer mode that extends the replay value significantly, and you’ve got a winner on your hands.

Love

+ The story is great, and really fits in place well with the other movies.
+ The original cast reprises their roles.
+ The weapons are varied and interesting, and the destructive effects are great.
+ The games locales are different and varied.
+ Gameplay is fun, and enemies are varied enough to keep you on your toes.
+ Multiplayer keeps you coming back for more.

Hate

- Long post death load times.
- Occasional frame rate glitch.
- PS3 version seems to have lower resolution textures.

Available now on PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360
Rated T (Teen)
Players: 1
Final Verdict: If you’re a fan of the Ghostbusters movies, you’ll love this game. Go buy it. If you aren’t a fan of the Ghostbusters movie, you have no soul. Go gargle with Slimer Toothpaste and Ecto Cooler. Come back when you can quote at least three scenes from the movie.