Twenty five years ago, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote what would become the most famous ghost movie of all time. Featuring an all star cast, jokes that had the crowd on the floor, and a compelling story (something that wasn’t common in ‘80s comedies), Ghostbusters quickly became a classic. Still evident in today’s culture, geeks all over the world still recite famous lines from the movie. Aykroyd and Ramis teamed up once again with most of the original cast, including Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and even William Atherton as the “dickless” Walter Peck, to bring you the next installment in the Ghostbusters franchise, Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Now, I must admit that I am a huge Ghostbusters fan. Some of you may say, “But he won’t review it fairly if he’s a fan!”, but I say nay. It takes a true fan to judge the quality of something that they have spent their life worshipping. So enough of that crazy talk and let’s commence the review in 3…2…1…

I was very skeptical when word first came out about a Ghostbusters game. Sure, the movies and cartoon are amazing, but let’s face it; the entire thing is zapping a ghost and trapping it in a box. What the hell kind of game would that be? But the masterminds (yes, I said masterminds) at Terminal Reality found a way to make a simple concept into an enthralling game. Is having only one weapon a problem? Well, we can throw a stasis shotgun in, and even an auto-aiming Meson Collider for shits and giggles. How about the absence of Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis? Well, we can throw in Alyssa Milano as the love interest and leave the Keymaster out… for now. To get down to the point, Ghostbusters just works. With a little stretch of imagination, this game becomes set in stone as a basic third movie.

The game is set in 1991, two years after the events of Ghostbusters 2. It is the Thanksgiving time of the year, and the Gozer exhibit is almost ready to open at the museum. Unfortunately, Gozer doesn’t like this and sends a hell of a lot of ghosts throughout the city. Without spoiling anything, I will say that you should be prepared to fight many familiar faces. As the story develops, we also get to visit some familiar locations. A lot of memories come flying back, and Terminal Reality created such a detailed environment that it’s almost hard to believe. But more on that later.

The characters are the main purpose of why I am drooling over this game. Since the cast comprises of the original four, we get a cinematic feeling throughout. It just wouldn’t be the same without Venkman’s witty humor, Stantz’s awkwardly long explanations, Egon’s smart responses, or Winston’s seemingly prophetic views on life. Even a few famous quotes gain new life. We even get to see a resurrection of the famous “Disaster of Biblical Proportions” speech, but this time “Cats and dogs living together” is substituted by “Disco coming back”. I must admit that at times Venkman’s dialogue did sound a little cheesy, almost like Bill Murray was imitating himself doing the character. Other than that, this game creates a true Ghostbusters ambience.

Your character, the Rookie, is just what his name implies. You have taken over Winston’s place as the new guy to the crew. You are unnamed because the crew doesn’t want to get attached to the guy that tests out the new equipment, in case of an accident in which you don’t make it. It’s true that the game missed a huge chance by not allowing character customization, but the point of the game was to create an experience much like you’d have with a movie. The cast is already set, and so is your character. The benefits of being the Rookie include testing new equipment, taking the lead in dangerous occasions, and being the butt of every joke. I honestly would have liked to play as one of the four, but we all will have to deal with what we have.

As I said earlier, the environments are simply amazing. The attention to detail had me tearing up. Just walking around the firehouse between missions brought back some of my favorite memories of watching the movies and cartoons. If you take time to check out the little posters or pictures, you will begin to appreciate what has been done here. Thank you notes from children hang on the fridge. The jumping toaster sits on the table. Vigo’s painting mysteriously regenerates and now sits in the lobby of the building. I honestly can’t even imagine listing every familiar object located just in one environment, let alone the entire game! Once you get, and I’m telling you now that you should, take some time to explore and appreciate the small details.

The presentation of the game is also done very well. The game is set in third person, so we get a good view of the character models. The Proton Pack is easily the most impressive object in the game. Similar to the one in the movies, this pack features all the flashy lights that you’d expect. But what it can do is another question entirely. Stuffed into the one pack are four different weapons, each with its own perks. The basic proton stream has been fitted with the Boson Dart, which is a ball of energy that will explode on impact. The second weapon is the Stasis Beam. This mode of the pack fires blue blasts (remember the shotgun I was talking about?) and the secondary fire is a beam that freezes enemies in place. Third is the Slime Gun, featuring a Slime stream and Slime tether, the latter of which can fire an elastic-like band that can attach two things together and draw them to each other. Finally, it is fitted with the Meson Collider, which tags a target and all shots fired will follow that tag. The pack is also your visual representation of health and your weapon’s heat. Just to clear things up, the inclusion of weapon overheating was done to prevent players from just firing their weapon nonstop. Much like Dead Space, the amount of lights visible on the pack will represent how much health you have left and how long it will be until your weapon needs to cool off. The weapons are a very nice addition to an already great game.

Another part of your arsenal that you will come to rely on is the PKE meter. Those familiar with the movie will know that it has the ability to sense ghosts and ectoplasmic residue. This comes in handy when a pesky ghost decides to hide itself in a painting or table. It is also used to scan enemies to log their info and find out what they are vulnerable to and how much effort it will take to trap it. The PKE will also sense nearby collectibles and point you towards them. One downside to this is if you are the kind of gamer that likes his achievements/trophies, you will be spending much of your time in PKE mode to find the numerous and very well hidden items. This game isn’t meant to be experienced in a first person night vision mode, believe me.

You’ve probably already figured that I’m giving this game a very high score, but just you wait. As hard as it may be to believe, this game does have its flaws. While the CGI segments are very well done, the cutscenes using the actual game engine are way under par. Voices are unsynchronized, characters move stiffly, and it just isn’t fun to look at. Also, a problem is evident in the loading of the game. At least we are entertained by Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters theme, but it shouldn’t take upwards of thirty seconds to load a checkpoint.

This game is a for sure buy, especially for all those fans of the franchise out there. Although the campaign is only around seven hours long, it allows for a lot of replayability. Plus, it’s just really fun to play. Admit it, you have always dreamed of joining the guys in grey and being able to bust some ghosts. Do yourself a favor and check this game out. You won’t regret it.

9/10

*Due to circumstances outside of our control, we could not review the multiplayer portion of the game. Since the game is not officially out yet there was not anyone online when we tried to find a game. We will update this post as soon as possible with the content added. We apologize for the inconvenience.