Ghostbusters The Video Game

"20 Years of Waiting"

Most people make it sound like a crime when franchises do fan service. All the fan service Square does with its Final Fantasy franchise. Well, by far this is the biggest piece of Fan Service to ever grace the gameing world... and its freaking fantastic! This isn't your typical movie to video game adaptation. No, its a beast all its own. At first I was disappointed that there wouldn't be a Third film and we'd just get a video game. And for those of you who are familiar with the past Ghostbusters video games, well, you can see why at first I wasn't thrilled. Now I'll warn you know, yes I gave this game a high score because it does indeed deserve it... though I enjoy playing Devil's Advocate and pointing out what needs improving.

My biggest gripe is the so small amount of catchable ghosts. At first yeah, alot of Ghosts you run into ARE catchable, but then as you play on, more and more of the enemies become simply destructable. Aside from Staypuft and Vigo, exactly how many "Destructable" enemies have the guys faced in the past? Zip. And the so few levels. I mean, I know the game was written to be like a movie... but each movie during the little music montage, between major points of the plot, the guys were VERY busy. Well, this is a video game... we have the time now. Give us these side missions, give us some extra ghosts! The Library hardly counts, as it eventually ends up giving a big piece of plot in the end. I just feel that between major parts of the missions, you should of had mini-missions, where you go out into New York and grab the other ghosts that mostly likely WERE around, as the Psi-Blast stirred up all the Ghosts.

Another thing... some defensive power ups would of been nice. I mean, some points of this game if you're not playing Casual, are pretty rough. I mean, I can understand trying to distance this game from the other Ghostbusters games, but you're already doing the item power ups... and even those games gave you something for defense. Like a uniform that helps lessen the damage from ectoplasm attacks. I mean its cool and all that if you know what your doing its nearly impossible to get a gameover, but that little simplicity could of been forgone with some better options to defend ourselves.

Another major problem I'd have to say is the music. Ok, yes its straight from the movies. Bravo... but we've been listening to this music for the past 25 years, we don't need to really hear it for hours on end (depending on how long you play of course.) Hearing it at first, I'll admit, it made me smile, but then it just got to the point that... ok, next track please. I mean, I think they utilized three (TOPS) of what a Ghostbuster's soundtrack would have to offer.

Gameplay to me is solid. From the description I heard of it from E3 coverage (and later on in a video extra at the end of the game and later from a demo play by one of the guys who worked on the game) I was wary but not concerned when the gameplay was described as a Fishing Game with Ghosts. I was fine with that and willing to give it a try, and really, yeah that is pretty close, but there are aspects of it that take away what kinda sucks about fishing. Think of it as fishing with a harpoon gun, that can violently whip the fish right out of the water, and then snag it instantly (If you upgrade your traps). But due to the really small stable of catchable ghosts, that aspect isnt used as much as I hoped it would be. Instead, more often than not, it plays like any other over the shoulder Action/Shooter game out there.

The voice acting and Story I won't go into much, as well, we know its good. If not great. The guys who wrote the first two movies, did this game! So its Ghostbusters, through and through. Even better, if you watch the video interviews... its so obvious that Dan and Harold (mostly Dan) are still in love with their creation. So, if you listen at the dialouge at the end, its possible we'll be seeing a Sequel to this game. I hope so at least. I'm just not ready to see this Franchise go on the self yet. Though, the voice acting has its only little inside joke, especially when the Mayor says Peter was always his favorite Ghostbuster (The Mayor being voiced by Bill Murray's brother lol). All in all, its a pretty solid story, and its does kind of fall into the the trap that move third movies in a series makes, it focuses so much on what happened in the first film, that the second almost feels like it was just filler. Even with Vigo's painting taunting you in the lobby. All in all, its a good game. By far one of the few short games out there that has replay value (For me, the only other one is RE5). Though my suggestion is, before each replay, go and watch the first two films... it really does help engross you into the story over and over again.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/09

Game Release: Ghostbusters The Video Game (US, 06/16/09)