By Edge Staff
And when you’re basing a game on a movie almost entirely populated by comedians, it can’t be good to have an unremarkable mute in the leading role. Even next to rampaging spirits he’s the deadest thing in the room.
As a nerd dressed up as a nuclear-powered, pest-controlling saviour of humanity, Harold Ramis played a good impostor in Ghostbusters. He plays a bad one in Ghostbusters: The Video Game – the actor cast in a role that no longer suits him.
If dusting off the proton pack gives him any joy at all, it doesn’t show. So it went for Robert Duvall in The Godfather: The Game and Sean Connery in EA’s From Russia With Love. But not for David Esch, a Harrison Ford impersonator who shone in Indiana Jones And The Emperor’s Tomb. It makes you wonder whether the best you’re going to get is a bad impression, isn’t it better to get a good impressionist?
Of course, it’s unlikely developer Terminal Reality had much say in the matter. Having the names of Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson on the bill might triple this game’s sales – and who knows, maybe they loved the idea of a reunion. Aykroyd, for sure, seems indefatigable in his return as Ray Stanz, not that it helps Ramis’ cause one bit.
There wasn’t much say over the title, either, we’re told during a preview of the game’s New York Public Library level. The developer would rather simply ‘Ghostbusters’ or even ‘Ghostbusters III’, but the latter was reserved for an on/off movie sequel. Nor could it avoid making concessions to a family-friendly rating in the US. So stamp out that cigar, Stanz, and mind the colourful language. Venkman, keep the smutty remarks to yourself. And Zeddemore, go do whatever you spend half those movies doing.
In Ghostbusters: The Video Game, then, the biggest impostor of all turns out to be you. As a featureless fifth Ghostbuster charged with testing the latest field equipment, you’re little more than a cipher. You set out from the company’s firehouse to a series of encounters with troublesome spirits, some invoked from the movies, others made for the game. As your cowardly colleagues flee to safety, it falls to you to tap the ghosts on the shoulder (or go in blasting) and ask kindly that they leave this dimension, which of course they never do.
So into the trap they must go. If the idea was to free the actors of clunky videogame dialogue by turning them into escort NPCs, it doesn’t really work. There’s just as much “Look at that” and “Shoot him” as you’d get from any Marcus Fenix, and the AI isn’t able yet to stop everyone looking a bit simple.
And when you’re basing a game on a movie almost entirely populated by comedians, it can’t be good to have an unremarkable mute in the leading role. Even next to rampaging spirits he’s the deadest thing in the room.
Thankfully, things liven up when you switch on the proton pack – to that signature chug and whine – and get down to business. The influence of Gears Of War runs deep into Ghostbusters, levels sending you and your employers through ghoul-infested corridors, chambers and spectral plains. Most of the combat is mid-to-close range, as dictated by the movie’s weapons, and sees you regularly knocked down to await revival by your squadmates. If everyone goes down at once, it’s game over. It’s neither as tight nor sophisticated as Epic’s game, though the technology is there. This is the Terminal Reality that made 3D trailblazer Terminal Velocity on PC, not to mention the underrated Aeon Flux, and its Infernal engine throws books, masonry and decent textures around with little complaint.
The bosses made out of whirling objects are more Super NES than supernatural, but otherwise this is a respectful, practical and frequently clever tie-in. New York, we’re told, will be as essential a character as the Ghostbusters themselves, and while there won’t be any driving of Ecto-1, it still plays an important role. Also, while some levels hop over to the spirit dimension, even that stays true to Dana Barrett’s refrigerator.
But trapping ghosts is where it’s at, right? Good thing, too, as it’s where the game is best. You whip them about with your utterly authentic positron collider, the whole act being a tug-of-war against real-world physics. Each has a hidden energy bar, successive whacks against pillar and post stunning them enough to be sucked into the trap. The pillar and post then collapse, Stranglehold-style, with the bill sent to your employer, the city of New York. Collateral damage is what these guys do best, the developer and the Ghostbusters, and it only gets better as your pack gets upgraded.
With appearances promised from Slimer and Mr Stay Puft – old enemies in the same environments but new contexts – the game manages to evoke the movies without tarnishing them, which is no mean feat.
William Atherton also returns as sleazy bureaucrat Walter Peck, now brilliantly promoted (or demoted) as your new boss, along with Annie Potts as daffy secretary Janine. Notably absent, however, are Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis.
There is co-op, furthermore, but only in isolated score-attack missions on 360 and PS3; Wii gets the complete package. In all, there’s little question that Ghostbusters rekindles a fondness for its source. Whether it makes further new material more appealing, be it a movie, TV series or second game, is another matter.
Bill Murray’s performance has yet to be heard at length, and we can only hope it’s more Ray than Egon. As for the action, more of the same should be satisfying enough.
