Ghostbusters: The Video Game

A third film in the Ghostbusters series has been a long time coming, but no one really expected it to end up in the form of a videogame. Alas, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is very much the next chapter in the trilogy according to Dan Aykroyd who, along with Harold Ramis, reprised his role as lead writer. This dynamic creative duo is joined by their ghostbustin' brethren (Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson) as well as the original voice actors for supporting roles such as the team's acerbic receptionist (Annie Potts) and vile nemesis, Walter Peck (William Atherton).

High quality voice work and spot-on actor likeness lends a great deal of credibility to the game and authenticity to the experience, immediately elevating Ghostbusters above the vast majority of movie games which publishers are notorious for unloading onto unsuspecting parents and eager fans alongside the film's theatrical release. Like GoldenEye and Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, Ghostbusters: The Video Game does not succumb to any such greedy, corporate pitfalls.

Taking place two years after the events of the second film and seven years since the team first crossed the streams, players will jump into the shoes of the nameless, speechless rookie, brought on as an experimental weapons technician that Egon uses as a lab rat to test his latest Proton Pack modifications. This offers the writers/developers a twin advantage in creating an intriguing new chapter in the Ghostbusters universe while still delivering all the humour and classic characters that made it so popular to begin with. First, the soulless player character is essentially a camera from which the player views the game. Not talking (at all) allows Egon, Venkman, Stantz, and Zeddmore to banter back and forth naturally while occassionally using the rookie as a means for exposition and gameplay tutorials. Thankfully the voice acting and writing is clever enough to recapture the charming spirit of the movies, so being what basically amounts to a virtual tourist strapped to a Proton Pack isn't necessarily a bad thing, even if it is something of a lazy choice.

Second, the introduction of new technology greatly augments what would have otherwise been a particularly bland adventure; the Proton Packs may be cool when used sparingly throughout a 90-minute movie, but when they're being used almost constantly in an eight to ten hour game, it gets old very quickly. Over the course of the game the rookie will get equipped with three experimental attachments for his man-portable particle accelerator system. Aside from the Proton Stream, the Shock Blaster, Boson Dart, and a Slime Blower also become available. These alternative weapons, each with a secondary fire mode built in, add much-needed variety to the standard Ghostbuster arsenal, and ingeniously work shooter paradigms such as shotgun-type weapons into the mix. Many ghosts need to be weakened by the Proton Pack and then pulled into an active Ghost Trap, while lesser enemies can just be blasted into oblivion. Swarms of possessed Book Bats and Candelabrum Crawlers (animated light fixtures) are all dispersible with a little brute force, but full-roaming phantoms such as the Opera Diva Ghost and bi-dimensional attractors like the Kitchen Golem will need a bit of protonic finesse. Equipment upgrades can be purchased through the game's arbitrary financial rewards system to increase the efficiency of your weaponry and gadgets, and to unlock a few nice tricks such as Slam Dunk Trapping which allows a ghost to be instantly captured if the player slams them directly into a Ghost Trap.

The PKE Meter also plays a substantial role in the game, and when not in third-person shooter mode players will be in first-person, investigating clues and searching for traces of spectral residue through a warmer/colder system as indicated by the sensors. The gameplay switches almost 50/50 between the two modes which is usually a nice change of pace from just blasting everything in sight.

Like Dead Space, Ghostbusters eschews a cluttered HUD for in-game status indicators. The Proton Pack will denote both health and weapon temperature, but can be hard to see during chaotic firefights (and let's face it, what firefight involving the Ghostbusters isn't chaotic?). Weapons can overheat with continued use causing them to stall for a short period of time before being useable again. In boss fights and especially on the hardest difficulty, this can quickly lead to a total wipe and checkpoint restart. Players should use their Proton Pack wisely, and vent it manually as often as possible to keep from getting caught with no way to defend themselves; receive too much damage and characters will get knocked down. The player can revive fallen comrades and vice versa, but if all of the Ghostbusters end up face down it's game over. Health replenishes over time so avoiding combat after getting slapped around by a Class V Manifesting Outworlder is key to survival.

In both atmosphere and aesthetics, Ghostbusters is surprisingly well-made. Terminal Reality's work on BloodRayne has clearly helped it hone its third-person action adventure-making expertise. There are a few hiccups in the visual department, particularly during certain cut-scenes, but overall the game looks great. The soundtrack is lifted directly from the first Ghostbusters movie which, while satisfyingly feel good and nostalgic at first, will become frustratingly redundant by the climax of the game. There are also a number of curious fan service decisions which conflict with the continuity such as the inexplicable reappearance of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and the Vigo painting (the one that was destroyed at the end of the second movie).

Worse yet is the omission of console-exclusive features, including the entire multiplayer portion which was surprisingly good, the ability to choose between a male or female rookie, and the co-operative mode for the single-player campaign (Wii only).