GAMETIME - Ghostbusters
Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:52 am
GAMETIME - Ghostbusters: The Videogame
By Cody Webb
Trapping ghosts is an absolute blast; you can practically feel the power behind the proton beam that you use.
The famous Ghostbusters are back, and this time they need help! It’s Thanksgiving of 1991 in New York and a strange paranormal shockwave has unleashed ghosts upon the whole city. This leads the Ghostbusters to hire a new recruit: you. You’re simply called the Rookie and you’re in charge of trying out new, experimental, and often dangerous equipment.
Ghostbusters: The Videogame was developed by Terminal Reality, and was released for the Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360. There’s also a version for the Wii, but it features wacky character models and just isn’t the same Ghostbusters experience as the other two versions. I’ll be focusing on the versions for the PS3 and the 360. All three versions are rated T for Teen.
While the Wii version has bland graphics and odd character models, the PS3 and 360 versions are faithfully realistic. It’s amazing how much work went into making each of the heroes look perfect down to the smallest detail. It’s obvious that the same amount of work went into recreating the proton pack and the new gadgets that spring from it. The environments look great as well, even after you and the crew get finished with them.
Trapping ghosts is an absolute blast; you can practically feel the power behind the proton beam that you use. The beam will rip through furniture and scorch the walls of the rooms you’ll fight ghosts in. Capturing the ectoplasmic beasties is simple: first you weaken them by hitting them with the beam until you can rope them with a capture beam. The mechanics behind catching and then leading them to your trap is very similar to Luigi’s Mansion, so fans of that game will be right at home here.
It’s a shame you don’t spend the entire game fighting trappable ghosts, because the game will throw other creatures at you that don’t need to be, or can’t be, captured. These you just shoot until they disappear or until you can rip out their weak point, but it’s just not as much fun as trapping the ghosts. Speaking of disappointments, the ghosts tend to get in a lot of cheap shots, which can lead you, or the Ghostbusters, to being knocked down and incapacitated. The health meter doesn’t do a good enough job of making itself noticed, and your AI buddies aren’t any better at avoiding these cheap shots. So, more often than not, you’ll have a game over screen in front of your eyes.
The game redeems itself by giving players a great story to play through, and with the original Ghostbusters lending their voice talents to the game, it really comes to life. Whether it’s Venkman making his sarcastic remarks, or Ray flipping out over the paranormal experiences, they go a long way to making the story fun to sit through. In my opinion, this game’s script would make an excellent third movie, but only if it was a bit longer than it ended up being.
If you don’t want to play as the nameless recruit, you can step into the boots of the Ghostbusters themselves in multiplayer modes. You’ll be playing against other players to see who can capture the most ghosts, or working together to survive as many waves of enemies as you can. It’s loads of fun, and does a good job of extending the game’s playtime past the story.
So would I recommend this entry into the Ghostbusters series? I definitely would; fans of the movies would love to be able to fight ghosts alongside their favorite ghost hunters. People new to the Ghostbusters would find a good game here, but it really helps to have seen their movies. There are a lot of references that get thrown out that’ll make any fan smile. I’ll give Ghostbusters: The Videogame a B, and wish newbie ghost hunters luck with saving New York!
By Cody Webb
Trapping ghosts is an absolute blast; you can practically feel the power behind the proton beam that you use.
The famous Ghostbusters are back, and this time they need help! It’s Thanksgiving of 1991 in New York and a strange paranormal shockwave has unleashed ghosts upon the whole city. This leads the Ghostbusters to hire a new recruit: you. You’re simply called the Rookie and you’re in charge of trying out new, experimental, and often dangerous equipment.
Ghostbusters: The Videogame was developed by Terminal Reality, and was released for the Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360. There’s also a version for the Wii, but it features wacky character models and just isn’t the same Ghostbusters experience as the other two versions. I’ll be focusing on the versions for the PS3 and the 360. All three versions are rated T for Teen.
While the Wii version has bland graphics and odd character models, the PS3 and 360 versions are faithfully realistic. It’s amazing how much work went into making each of the heroes look perfect down to the smallest detail. It’s obvious that the same amount of work went into recreating the proton pack and the new gadgets that spring from it. The environments look great as well, even after you and the crew get finished with them.
Trapping ghosts is an absolute blast; you can practically feel the power behind the proton beam that you use. The beam will rip through furniture and scorch the walls of the rooms you’ll fight ghosts in. Capturing the ectoplasmic beasties is simple: first you weaken them by hitting them with the beam until you can rope them with a capture beam. The mechanics behind catching and then leading them to your trap is very similar to Luigi’s Mansion, so fans of that game will be right at home here.
It’s a shame you don’t spend the entire game fighting trappable ghosts, because the game will throw other creatures at you that don’t need to be, or can’t be, captured. These you just shoot until they disappear or until you can rip out their weak point, but it’s just not as much fun as trapping the ghosts. Speaking of disappointments, the ghosts tend to get in a lot of cheap shots, which can lead you, or the Ghostbusters, to being knocked down and incapacitated. The health meter doesn’t do a good enough job of making itself noticed, and your AI buddies aren’t any better at avoiding these cheap shots. So, more often than not, you’ll have a game over screen in front of your eyes.
The game redeems itself by giving players a great story to play through, and with the original Ghostbusters lending their voice talents to the game, it really comes to life. Whether it’s Venkman making his sarcastic remarks, or Ray flipping out over the paranormal experiences, they go a long way to making the story fun to sit through. In my opinion, this game’s script would make an excellent third movie, but only if it was a bit longer than it ended up being.
If you don’t want to play as the nameless recruit, you can step into the boots of the Ghostbusters themselves in multiplayer modes. You’ll be playing against other players to see who can capture the most ghosts, or working together to survive as many waves of enemies as you can. It’s loads of fun, and does a good job of extending the game’s playtime past the story.
So would I recommend this entry into the Ghostbusters series? I definitely would; fans of the movies would love to be able to fight ghosts alongside their favorite ghost hunters. People new to the Ghostbusters would find a good game here, but it really helps to have seen their movies. There are a lot of references that get thrown out that’ll make any fan smile. I’ll give Ghostbusters: The Videogame a B, and wish newbie ghost hunters luck with saving New York!
