There is also an occasional requirement of putting on Sam Fisher-esque goggles, albeit those that detect paranormal activity, which puts the game into a night-mode first person perspective to find hidden ghosts or collectibles ‘artefacts’. These Ghost Hunters-like sequences provide some thrilling moments when certain inanimate objects suddenly become alive and start to go bump in the night. Certain puzzles thrown in the course of the single player campaign involve interacting with the environment, but these puzzles can get a little frustrating when it is not entirely clear which elements needs to be interacted with. There are tons of collectibles scattered around the levels, which contribute to the in-game money and unlockable trophies.
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A variety of multiplayer modes are available, which consist of defeating horde after horde of phantoms, trying to capture the harmless Slimer, defending artefacts, and taking down evil relics which sequentially appear throughout the levels. These modes are all co-operative and score-based with the money earned having no in-game value other than to rank up, which results in upgrading weapons and unlocking alternate costumes. The match-finding doesn’t work all that smoothly (perhaps due to not enough people playing this fine game) and there appears to be a little lag intermittently, which screws up the reeling-in of ghosts, but apart from these minor issues, the multiplayer, like the story mode, is a lot of fun.
Sharp character models and massively destructible levels act as the saving grace for the otherwise disappointing visual department. The characters look remarkably similar to their movie counterparts and feel alive, especially in the CIVG cutscenes. The graphics of the PS3 version, however, comprise mostly of low resolution textures and overly generous blur effects. Moreover, presence of screen-tearing and occasional drops in frame rate, especially when hordes of ghosts attack, make the visuals nothing to write home about. Having been spoilt by such marvels such as Killzone 2, MGS4 and Uncharted, PS3 owners would find these issues glaringly evident. Clearly, the developers should have put in efforts equivalent to the rest of those contributing to the game.
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The voice acting is spot on and the music is catchy, which feels just right for most part. The famous ‘Who you gonna call?!’ song is also included, but gets a little repetitive since it keeps playing during the loading screens. There is an abundance of sly humour carried off very well by the veteran actors, which makes even moments of relatively less activity very amusing.
Conclusion
The terms “movie-based-game” and “mediocre” often go hand in hand, thanks largely to the developers who are given a very narrow time frame in which to turn in the game. In recent history, only a handful of such games would have managed to retain the interest of the franchise’s gamer fans long enough to go unnoticed. However, Ghostbusters: The Video Game manages to free itself from the slimy hands of mediocrity and blast its way to the realm of Good Videogame Reality to emerge as the dictionary definition of ‘quality entertainment’. Surely, it would be impossible for fans of the original movies and those looking for some casual ghostbusting fun to be disappointed.
(+) Busting ghosts, especially Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
(+) The return of the original Ghostbusters quartet
(+) Frequent checkpoints and unlimited ammo
(+) Massively destructible environments
(-) Graphics (PS3 version)
(-) No offline split-screen co-op mode
(-) Lack of true competitive online multi-player
Title: Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Developer/Publisher: Terminal Reality/Atari
Genre: Action
Rating: 12+
Platforms: PS3 (Rs 2,499), Xbox 360 (Rs 2,499), Wii (Rs 1,999), PS2 (Rs 999), PC (Rs 999)
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