Ghostbusters [video game]

[purpleravenhawk]

Turning a movie into a video game. Never a good idea. Until now! Ghostbusters: the Video Game is actually a really awesome game, whether you're a fan of the movies or not.

Gameplay is easy to learn and fun, graphics are nice to look at except for a few creepy valley moments, and the story really encourages you to continue. Chasing ghosts actually has more variety to it than you'd expect, and there are enough different environments to explore that you won't get bored with the same old places. It gets creepy enough to give you a few good scares, but not so creepy that it doesn't feel like Ghostbusters.

The story takes place two years after the original movies. There's enough exposition that you don't have to have seen the movies to understand it. But there's also enough little details that connect them that fans will eat it up. Little things like collectible artifacts give you a reason to explore, and the near-constant dialogue between NPCs is immensely entertaining. You can interact with a number of objects, including the Viggo painting from the second movie, and the first boss is the Stay Puft marshmallow man from the first movie. Wondering what could top the marshmallow man as the final boss? Trust me, they came up with something. The feel of the game is so close to the movies that you'd swear you were just playing through a sequel. They even used the same catchy music and all the same actors. The level of difficulty is smooth and never threw anything at me that felt out of place.

Honestly, I can think of very little to criticize about the game, except that it's rather short, even by my standards. But since it's a sequel to two movies, that only makes sense. Too long, and it wouldn't have the same feel to it. The creepy valley moments are forgivable since you can tell that they really tried hard to give it an element of realism. My biggest problem was the tiny font size used on the menu. I couldn't even read most of the descriptions without straining, but I have a small old TV barely 12 inches and bad eyes. I imagine the game would look fantastic on a larger screen.

Despite a few minor quibbles, it was one of the most fun games I've played recently and definitely a must-play for Ghostbusters fans.  

[xX Catgirl - Pierce Xx]

Not playing one of the main characters did seem to be odd at first, from what purple told me as I haven't actually played it yet...
But being "the new guy" doesn't seem that bad.
Since apparently they don't concentrate on it SO MUCH that it keep your belief out of the game.

I've been told enough to make me want to play it,
but then again... I already did ^.^