Review: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Fans of the Ghostbusters franchise would remember the 1980s movies with a broad smile on their faces. The films introduced some of the most memorable characters to grace the silver screen – the tech wizard Egon, the eccentric mad scientist Peter, the relatively sane Ray and the down-to-Earth Winston – who formed the original ghostbusting quartet and embraced fame for their quirky quotes and strange career choice – that of hunting ghosts. With some colourful ghosts and interesting side characters and villains, such as the 200-foot Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (made up entirely of, you guessed it, marshmallow), thrown in, the movies more than earned their legendary status.

Fortunately, Ghostbusters: The Video Game sticks to the same formulae. Written by the original writers, the game feeds on the same familiar universe created by the movies and features the same star cast lending voices to the main characters. Add some locations lifted straight off the original material and a few recognisable un-dead faces, and the game seemingly manages to strike all the right chords.

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The game starts off with the player assuming the role of a new cadet, the 5th Ghostbuster referred to as ‘Rookie’ throughout the game. The non-customisable appearance and lack of speech and personality would have left a pretty sour taste in the mouth had the other characters who surround him not been overflowing with their own quirky styles. Halfway through the game, it becomes obvious that having the player replace one of the original veterans would have been blasphemy.

The story is the usual run-of-the-mill affair which starts off with some familiar spectres, previously encountered by the Ghostbusters (in the movies), reappearing all over Manhattan. In dealing with these spooks, the Ghostbusters realise that the alternate dimension of Ghost World is trying to cross over into the ‘real’ world, and a young female museum curator is somehow related to the paranormal activities surrounding this event. In the course of the single player story campaign, which lasts 8 hours or so, the ‘Rookie’ would linearly traverse multiple gorgeous locations which include a slimy sewer system, an ancient castle, and a cemetery, and try to unravel the mystery of the grand architect of all things that go bump in the night. What appears to be a drab and linear narration turns out to be pretty entertaining nevertheless with subtle moments of brilliance thrown in.

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The gameplay is a mix of a typical coverless third-person shooter, with the cumbersome heavy sprinting sequences included, and some very interesting lasso controls. The former is used to hammer ghosts into oblivion and latter is used to capture some of the more reluctant ones once they are beaten and bruised. The mini-nuclear proton pack saddled on the player’s back serves as the lock, stock and barrel of the ghost-busting arsenal. With 4 different proton pack beams, each having dual upgradable modes, equivalent of shotguns, machine guns and rocket launchers, unlocked through the single player campaign, there is more than enough variety in the gameplay to tackle all sorts of pesky ghouls who fly by.

What makes the game a little less challenging is the fact that, apart from frequent checkpoints, there is unlimited ammo for each beam, making the player an endless source of ghost busting nuclear power. Capturing ghosts involves throwing a lasso around a weakened ghost and then trying to reel him into a mini tractor beam. Slamming the rebellious apparitions around or pulling them back as they amusingly try their best to escape the proton beams is pure unadulterated fun. Also, apart from the wacky ghosts, ranging from dead opera singers to kitchen chefs, there are numerous gigantic bosses who keep popping up often enough. Taking down these mammoths at the end of each chapter feels extremely satisfying and adds to the grand delusion of truly walking in the shoes of the Ghostbusters.

Next page: The verdict

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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