Who ya gonna call?

After a long hiatus, the Ghostbusters franchise is being resurrected with this new game from Atari. The game is set in 1991 and revolves around story of how, following their success in the second movie, the Ghostbusters are working to expand their business by hiring a new member of the team. And who do they pick? You the player, of course! In this way, the game is any fan's dream as you work to learn the trade of busting. It is also a clever way to introduce the particulars of the game and immerse the player while still having all the original Ghostbusters play a role in the story.

Gameplay is a fairly straight-forward linear affair. Players work their way through a number of New York locations, such as Times Square or the famed Sedgwick Hotel (from the first movie). Each level has a series of ghosts to capture and puzzles to solve that require the use of the many different modes your proton pack has available. Your proton pack is capable of throwing the regular particle stream, of course, but also can shoot slime and various specialized particle beams that make certain enemies easier to handle. Enemies come in two basic varieties. One type requires the player to wear the ghost down and then capture it in a trap in the classic style. However, a majority of enemies the player faces are "dispersible," meaning that they can be destroyed if they take enough damage. These enemies tend to be much more numerous, and can be a threat in numbers. At the end of each stage, there is a boss fight that is often quite grandiose in scale. For example, at one point you have to roast the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man all over again! All and all, the gameplay is more than a bit reminiscent of the Metroid Prime series, although there is less exploration and revisiting of previous levels to unlock further secrets.

The interface for the game is very simple. There is no real inventory to manage, but the player can scan various objects and ghosts to get more information on their back stories  and then access this information through their PKE meter (which is probably a bit too "advanced" to be a believable piece of kit from 1991, but who cares?).  The player's stats are displayed using various light cues on the proton pack, eliminating the need for a screen overlay to show that information. This makes the game seem a lot more cinematic, always a good feature for a game based on a movie! Health lost from enemy attack, but to restore it the player simple needs to move back from the fight for a moment and it re-generates, similar to games such as Call of Duty. If a player takes too much damage and gets knocked out, another Ghostbuster can come over and revive them. In some larger fights, keeping tabs on your team mates and keeping them in the fight becomes a critical consideration.

The production values of this game are top notch. The graphics are nicely detailed, with a ton of lighting effects bringing the game to life as particle streams criss-cross the screen. Additionally, the sound really sets the tone for the game. All of the major actors from the movie reprise their roles, and the game features a TON of music and sound effects that are true to the first movie. On top of all of that, a number of bonus videos are included on the disc, including theatrical trailers and a special on the restoration of the Ecto 1.

All in all, this game is a fun and engaging trip into the Ghostbusters world. It is not perfect, or overly long (it took me about 13 hours to finish on normal difficulty), but for a fan like myself it is darn near irresistible. This game is a worth successor to the two movies, and definitely bears a look!

Andy Rucker