Get Slimed

A couple of weeks ago Atari released Ghostbusters: The Video Game. It's a game that I've been anxiously waiting for, so I Steamed it on release day and have been playing it quite a bit since.

Players assume the role of a new recruit that's hired as a tester for the Ghostbusters' experimental gear. Venkman wisely suggests that you shall be dubbed "Rookie", to avoid getting "too attached to the little fella in case he blows up." Thus the Ramis/Akroyd humor begins, setting the tone for the whole game.

Unfortunately, I could tell right off that I was going to be annoyed by the long load times. I know that a minute doesn't sound like a long time, but when staring at a blank screen it is. It's probably just because I'm a member of the microwave generation, I have a hard time waiting the 90 seconds for my Little Juan Burrito. Still, the load times are ridiculous - especially since some of the bosses are rather difficult and require many tries, each with a extended look at a blank screen. I've read that even on the consoles, the load times exceed 30 seconds. Once it took 45 seconds to load a minute long cutscene, just plain silliness.

Gameplay is pretty average, but in a fun way. Ghosts are fought with your proton pack, which is the heart of the game. I'll bet that any Ghostbusters fan has secretly desired to own a charged particle accelerator, second only to owning a lightsaber. As the game progresses, players get various upgrades to your proton pack and ghost traps. They actually made the one reference to Ghostbusters 2 a good thing with the slime cannon, it's a surprising amount of fun to use. The other references are even more fun, from the Sedgewick hotel and Slimer to the Stapuft Marshmallow Man. This is by far the greatest strength of the game. It's well voiced by the original cast. Even William Atherton comes back as the immutable Walter Peck.

Other aspects do detract from the game, however. Many bosses can move faster than you, making escape and dodging challenging. You can sprint, BUT only in a straight line. Add these together and I found myself throwing my headsets across the room in frustration. As is the case with many console games today, there are secret items to be found. This is fine, but if you want to go back to a level to find an item you missed, the game actually overwrites your current game! That's right, go back and you lose your current progress, so don't replay a level until you're done with the game. Brilliant. Since this is a console port, quick-saving isn't an option. reloading is by checkpoint only, frakking console ports...

Anyway, the AI is pretty good when helping you fight the ghoulies. They are accurate and support you pretty well, if you go down they're usually right there to revive you. For some reason, though, they wont help each other when they collapse. This leaves the player as the sole medic for the entire team. Once all teammates are down, the mission is failed. So, if another ghostbuster goes down, you have to stop fighting and revive him. Some boss battles are spent doing nothing but running from one fallen comrade to another.

I know it sounds like I hated this game, and I would have but for the content. The bottom line is that this is an average game with a great theme. If you're a fan of the movie, you'll probably enjoy this game immensely, especially for the $30 price tag (for the PC version). If not, you may want to rent this one.

Just don't look directly at the trap...