Ghostbusters: The Video Game

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We all know the song, we all know the characters, and the amazing actors behind those characters. We all know the writers, directors, and producers of the movies, and we all know who we gotta call: Ghostbusters. The movies were great, classics, and were some of the best comedic works of Akroyd, Murray, and Ramis, names that need no introduction. Surely we can see that the Ghostbusters franchise is a dead-set cultural iconic franchise at that, but how does the video game (based off the potential third film's script) measure up to the movies, animated series, and the merchandise that makes all Ghostbusters fans go ga-ga?
Simple, it just does! If you loved the movies, you will love the game. If anything, it will get you psyched for a possible third film, if one ever does occur in theaters. I'd throw in a few ghostly puns here, but at the moment, I just want to give you the hard news on the game, first, Gameplay.
Video games, whether they be rehashes of older games, based off movies, or even original series that grow into crappy movies ( i.e. Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Super Mario...you get the point) gamers all desire one important aspect of all these games: great gameplay. Gameplay is the stone scaffolding to any game, it may be an old model, but it builds up a pretty skyscraper of a game. If I can't get around the controls, or if I can't handle the flow, I just throw the game out, so in a huge, huge, mind you fucking huge line of terrible video games based on movies, does Ghostbusters the Video Game fall in line, or does it cut ahead of the class?
I think the game is honestly far above the par of major movie-to-video game titles, but what I like is that it is easy to fall into the controls, and learn the game. The controls handle well, but it may take a few moments to become familiar with the game. I picked this game up 12 in the morning,a dn played until four, just so I could write this review early, and luckily I can give you an idea of everything that needs to be covered. If you need to worry about anything in this game, controls are the least to worry about. You may need to read the manual though, as I have yet to find a fair customization for the controls. They just have a few defaults that are self-made, and I find that annoying, but I didn't play around much with that, I jumped excitedly into the video game.
Ghostbusters The Video Game, is quite amazing in its graphics, as the characters really do look like the actors that have become the embedded images of Dr. Venkman, Egon, and Stantz. The characters truly look and word just like the characters of the movies. I was absolutely amazed at the detail put into these characters, figuring that Atari would just hash some bad renders, as this game took forever to come out, due to the companies falling out after finishing the game, and Atari swooping in and touching the game up just a bit. I was happy to see that the graphics of the ghosts, although the renders at times get repetitive, follow through with the major ghosts from the movies. Other characters from the films do return, like Peck, the dick-wad EPA Administrator that completely boasted an ugly-ass goatee, and put New York in peril during the first film, he becomes part of a special paranormal investigative corporation from the state government called P-COC becomes tied into the Gozer-themed story that follows the video game.
The story pretty much opens up at the New York Museum of Natural History, and there is a new Gozer exhibit, so you can expect some crazy things to start-up. These sightings of ghosts lead to be something larger than ever seen on the paranormal spectrum, as ghouls and goblins from movies past make a triumphant return, and look very pretty doing it! I especially love how how they made Stay Puft's images looked awesome, and I know awesome may not be a professional term, but come on! You get to fight the Marshmallow man, how professional does it get? This game is sheer satire, it's awesome, and it's funny, and if you don't want to play it, fine, but you're missing out.
The game does get a bit laggy, and yes, a bit repetitive, but what I think is the least-satisfying is that there are not really enough cut scenes that develop the plot enough, although enough of it is done in real-time. The game is actually a bit creepy in some cases, taking a few pages from survival horror, and yet still being a tad cartoonish, it is a game that hasn't really decided what genre it wants to be. Without giving much away, the game basically plays like the next movie, so it's not an combined attempt on both movies, it is literally the next chapter in the Ghostbusters trilogy, and that alone makes it a collector's item. Ghostbusters is available for: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PC.
The game also boasts a few minigames to be played online through multiplayer challenges of groups of five. Some of the games include: protecting generators that need to be charged from ghosts, protecting artifacts, capturing ghosts the fastest, and sort of king of the hill style games where you have to move from one point on the other on the game's map. This part of the game is quite laggy, but when it's working, it is just pure amazing, because you can play any of the four original ghostbusters, or the "rookie" from the game, and you play and can even chat to the other players, while you slam ghosts into traps. This can lose its flavor after a while, but you can do some awesome stuff, like dunk slimer, and other fun games that are a little avant-garde, it's still fun to do. For more information on the game, check my link to all the pretty pictures of the game from gamespot, and follow this blog on twitter, just search mceasteditorial on Twitter, and get your tweet on! How lame would that be if that was there by-line?