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Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Who You Gonna Call?

On the most basic level this new Ghostbusters game is a third-person action game set two years after the events of the second Ghostbusters movie. You play as the fifth member of the team - anew guy, referred only as "rookie". Apparently the old gang is trying hard not to get attached to their new recruits and it is implicated that you are not the first new guy to be hired since the events of the movies. You see, Ghostbusters use their fifth member as a guinea pig for all the latest ghost busting gizmos and that turns out not to be the safest job on earth.

This bit of backstory fits the serious-but-silly setting perfectly and there is plenty of dialogue that plays off the fact that you are effectively the expendable "red shirt" of the team. The action follows the linear story through a number of levels that in turn recreate famous locations and characters from the movies while also expanding the Ghostbusters lore with new places and paranormal enemies. Between missions you get to hang out at the Ghostbusters HQ bursting with great detail - there isn't much in terms of gameplay as the HQ serves mostly as a set for dialogue but it brings tons of atmosphere to the game and helps set the stage for the actual levels.

Task: Recapture Slimer. Probability of collateral damage: High.

Big ticket guests from the first movie are brought in early.

In many places you fight against the paranormal as part of the whole Ghostbusters team with the AI controlling rest of the gang. In other spots the story splits the team and you end up working alone or as a pair to one of the original team. The bits where you wrestle down multiple ghosts and co-operate as a full team brings a question - why isn't Ghostbusters playable as a four (or five) player co-op - like Left 4 Dead? It would have been the perfect multiplayer mode for the game. Instead we get no multiplayer whatsoever on the PC and even on the consoles the whole multiplayer bit is tacked on with separate maps and objectives - and it has nothing to do with the storyline.

The New Gizmos

You start out with the bog standard Proton Pack but the new upgrades are bolted on at a rapid pace. The basic proton stream first gets an alternate fire mode and is then upgraded with Stasis Stream, Slime Blower and Meson Collider as the story progresses. All four weapon modes and their alternate firing modes fit the setting very well and each is useful against specific enemies. There is no "ammo" as such, but if you fire continuously for too long without manually venting heat off your pack (a "reload" of sorts) it will overheat, vent itself automatically and leave you defenseless for a couple of seconds.

Capture Stream is used to wrestle the weakened ghosts into the trap.

Ghosts are only able to knock you down so as long as you keep your mates on their feet, they'll save you.

Ghosts come in two basic varieties - "trash" ghosts that you simply blast away and full-fledged ghosts that won't give up until you have wrestled them into a trap. You do that with a capture beam - a third firing mode of the basic proton stream - which becomes useful once the ghost has been blasted to below 25%. Once in the capture beam, ghosts will still struggle and fight back so to pacify the phantoms before steering them into a trap you can smash them against the scenery. Couple of bashes and a quick twist towards a waiting trap and you have a ghost in the bag. Don't forget to retrieve the trap. Very authentic and fun.

Capture beam can also be used to manipulate objects. In theory this allows trickery similar to the gravity gun in Half-Life 2 but unfortunately the physics model of the engine used is... a bit crap. Objects often behave like beach balls and in practice this functionality of the proton pack is used only to clear the way of excess junk in a couple of places.

Goggles and the PKE Meter at work to determine the weakness of a manifestation.

Hunt for Cursed Artifacts provides some additional gameplay. Note the aspect ratio goof with the goggles on 4:3 monitors.

To figure out what tool works best against a particular enemy you can put on goggles and break out the PKE meter. The PKE meter will highlight any paranormal bits, helps you locate and collect cursed artifacts and allows you to scan any ghosts to find out which type of weapon works best against them. Both cursed artifacts and scans of ghosts act as collectibles and provide a (weak) reason to re-play the story to find all the bits you missed first time around.

Tallying The Bill

Ghostbusters is a business and like in the ancient C64 game you are awarded money for capturing ghosts. You don't get to write a bill for the owner of the property - it's all coming from a contract with the city. Cash is used to purchase additional minor upgrades to your equipment. Damage done to the surroundings is also tallied up mostly for comic purposes. Story goes that the city has taken out a comprehensive insurance policy to cover any "accidental" damage that may or may not occur during ghost busting activities. In other words, Ghostbusters tend to trash the place every time. In theory you can try to minimize the damage but who are we kidding here - the destructible interiors are there so you can smash everything!

Pretty library with priceless books...

...and the same library after the gang is done!

Page 1: IntroductionPage 2: GameplayPage 3: Performance, VisualsPage 4: Summary, Scores

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