Rumor has it that both Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd had plotted a third Ghostbusters film shortly after the release of the slime time sequel "Ghostbusters 2". For reasons unknown this plot has never seen the silver screen, but has now been released on video game systems world wide. "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" was released 25 years after the first film and over 2 years after the game's announcement. It wasn't an easy two years of development, Activision dropped the game a few months before its first scheduled release date of last holiday season, but even before that Bill Murray was not signed on to come back to provide the voice of Peter Venkman. Luckily for all, Bill Murray realized he had nothing better to do with his time and got to a recording studio and another star from the 80's stepped up to publish "Ghostbusters", Atari.
The promise of more ghostbusting is something I think few of us children of the 80's could pass. "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" takes place in 1991, one year after "Ghostbusters 2". You take on the role of a new buster, whom is referred to only as "kid" "rookie" and other assorted nicknames. As luck would have it, on your first day a strange paranormal wave sweeps through the Big Apple, making a ghostly mess only the Ghostbusters can clean.
I have to say this game falls below the 1984 classic film, but well above the horrid 1997 cartoon "Extreme Ghostbusters". Most of the voice acting comes across as a mailed-in effort at worst or a "Ghostbusters" the experience ride at Universal Studios at best. Adding to the feel of an amusement park ride verses a whole new movie, is the fact the first 3 levels are locations from the first film. The hotel we first saw "Slimmer", another fight with the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man, and lastly the public library where the ghostbusting trio failed to "Get her". Maybe I was looking for a gentle nod to the past instead of a full drag down memory lane, since I can pop in the DVD and see those scenes and places at anytime. The is no real death mechanic in this game, there is however, the doom of acting like a turtle flipped on its back (those proton packs are heavy mother pussers). When your teammates start shouting "Help I've fallen and I can't get up" the player has to go around and pick-up each other. If the whole party is knocked over then game over. Expect your teammates to get knocked over a bunch, leaving most boss battles to be running from one fallen friend to the next fallen man. That makes the game feel more like babysitting then ghostbusting.
On the plus side, the wrangling and trapping ghosts feels exactly like it should, like catching fish, a real big heavy ugly undead fish... It feels good. It feels good enough to keep me playing through one controller throwing aggravation filled boss battle to the next. The moments where I was along side some of my childhood heroes, zapping away at ghosts were awesome. Come on, I even got to try the fire pole. Isn't that what I was really looking for, that feeling of empowerment I once got when I strapped that Kenner toy plastic proton pack to my back and press the trigger to send a piece of yellow Styrofoam a spinning? Yes, yes it is.
My advice is if you are like me and you bought the game new, order some Chinese take out and chew slowly, cause you just spent a little too much of the petty cash. I'm not seeing all that much in replay value. The game also, does not work out well as a pass the controller party game, as it is a little too frustrating for a complete casual gamer to have fun playing. This game is a real strong rental or a wait for a price drop.
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