I, being 26, forgot in the course of 25 years how much I loved the Ghostbusters.

So I will issue a stern warning that the game’s quality outside of the graphics are COMPLETELY debatable depending on your personal feelings on ghostbusting and all of its trappings.

You are welcome to email me or comment with opposing viewpoints.

To which I will certainly respond only with JPG’s of the Ghostbusters in their various forms.

Like so.

Or even this!

Or just still photos of Bill Murray looking like Bill Murray.

Fair warning before we move on.

Graphics

Large scale suprise here.

I thought it looked passable at the New York Comic Convention, being a bit flat and allowing my love of Ghostbusters to hold up the other end.

Well obviously the same haze that drew me to say Wanted was the best looking game at the show also prevented me from noticing that Ghostbusters is probably one of the best looking games of the year.

Stationed firmly at number 3 (1. Killzone 2. Resident Evil 5) this is a tour de force. Quality, hi-resolution textures maps, expansive (looking) environments set the pace. The Proton Pack, a part of Ghostbusters lore so important it will be capitalized for the duration of the review, is magnificently rendered. So much so that you will spend at least 20 minutes combined simply cycling through its functions, watching it operate. The other Ghostbusters are magnificently rendered themselves, particularly the faces, which amazingly carry each character’s specific moods. While Egon Spangler’s monotone expression from the films isn’t difficult to generate, Ray Stantz’ boyish wonder at the world of the paranormal is readily apparent in every cutscene. Also worth noting are the incredibly destructible environments. When the game was announced it was first thing that I was hoping they’d capture. In the films ALL ghostbusting was accompanied by at least $9,000 in property damage. The game is no different. The action is completely manic and entertaining visually. How it plays is where the debate comes in.

NOTE: It is not perfect. Screen tearing rears its head often enough to be counted as a con. The frame rate will take a header in some portions. The entire package is marvelous enough as a whole, but not wire to wire perfection.

Rythym:

And the greate debate commences.

You play as the fifth Ghostbuster. The artistic choice was made to avoid casting you as one of the existing Ghostbusters, simultaneously allowing the players to live his busting fantasies (real mature guys) while keeping the developers away from having to choose a single Ghostbuster as the main avatar. The result is a game where you are part player, part cameraman. Your character is mute, offering only a few glances and looks when prompted. You follow around the Ghostbusters or lead the charge depending on the room. The rhythm of the game tends to actually be reminiscent of Call of Duty. You are shuffled along from set piece to set piece with some doors locked until an NPC opens it or all of the Ghostbusters assembled so YOU can kick open the door. Its obvious that the game is trying to capture the feel of a Ghostbusters movie, and succeeds in that regard. There is no open world. You are surrounded by the Ghostbusters, covering them, watching them, listening, waiting for them. The game is nothing more than fan service. And as such it is wonderfully immersive and engaging.

The combat is a mixed bag. While busting ghosts does have the potential to make one feel good, the large seperation between this game and the movies is the difficulty of trapping said ghosts. The major flaw in the game can be attributed to the subject matter. In the films ghosts were recognized, the Ghostbusters stood shoulder to shoulder, they delivered their one liners, and the ghosts were wrangled. If you play the game in such a manner you will be completely destroyed by the army of assaulting monsters. I repeat: YOU WILL BE DESTROYED BY THE ARMY OF ASSAULTING MONSTERS. The intensity of this game is not only a genuine suprise to most, but also impossible to exaggerate. You will walk into a room with two ghosts throwing books at you while smaller ones try to attack you low while debris is flying around and the other Ghostbusters are also in combat. You will be forced to fight multiple pitched battles, wittling down ghosts’ health until they are ripe for the trap. You will have to take cover and use the environment. You will need to watch the other Ghostbusters, using their positioning to your advantage and recognizing which of them are in the most trouble. You will be frantically looking around keeping track of many different variables at once. This is intense and frenetic and AMAZINGLY satsifying when you clear the room. After 10 minutes of continuous action there is silence, the trap is beeping and smoking, the untrappable monsters were ragdolled out of existence, and the room has been reduced to rubble.

Its exactly what Ray Parker Jr. was singing about.

However satisfying this IS the game’s flaw, that the ferocity of the ghosts themselves may best be suited for another title. It may break rhythm or create it for some. On a personal level I did not take issue with it, but I will also freely admit I’ve been tooling around in excessively active warzones for a bit now. A gamer with slower hands or simply not in the mood for a Ghostbusters game to require the field generalship that they thought they were taking a break from in the first place would be best adviced to put the game on Casual.

In closing

Ghostbusters is what you think it is.

If you have a soft spot in your heart for the name, then you will not want to miss it.

Its a game well-crafted enough to warrant a purchase if only for your inner child.

However, don’t send your inner child in alone.

Take your inner Five Star General along to cover him.

Also your inner helicopter pilot.

For some inner air support.

Because Ghostbusters is hell.

Arbitrary Numerical Grade: 8.6/10 OR just listen to the Ghostbusters theme song lovingly provided for you in this  very review. If you start to tingle all over and wiggle a bit even in a public space, you’d probably love the game. Its how I did it. I had assumed I would gloss over the game citing future purchases as more important until I saw the first Ghostbusters movie again. After the opening 10 minutes it came rushing back to me and I believe I bought the game that afternoon. Just saying…

-A.

YOU KNOW WHAT ?

LISTEN TO IT AGAIN.

“I hear he likes the girls …”

I sure do Ray.

I sure do.

…and since it was released in August of 2008 (along side Braid, Geometry Wars 2, Castle Crashers) you did.

GALAGA LEGIONS.

Possibly the best Xbox Live Arcade game outside of Braid and Castle Crashers.

A testament to what even a slight sprinkling of innovation can do to a genre.

Possibly the best shooter since the venerable Einhander.

Which is also my favorite game of All-Time.*

Released of the aforementioned overloaded month of August, Galaga Legions was greeted with little fanfare. And rightfully so.

In a month where I was simultaneously training my brain to manipulate time in Stanley Kubrick Presents Super Mario Bros. (Braid) and preparing myself mentally for the upcoming football season (one of the most awesome football seasons in memory) I simply had no time to comprehend the hyperlaborate lightshow that is Galaga Legions.

May 2009 however. A different time. A time of myth and legend.

It is a top down shooter in the vein of the original Galaga. The hook is that the enemies come from all sides. Sides that you defend with two seperate satellites that surround your ship and can be fired Up, Down, Left, Or Right and positioned anywhere on the screen for tactical assaults.

And tactical is the operative word. Some of the most intriguing puzzles of this generation come in the 1.4 seconds between the time the game warns you enemies are coming and the enemies actually rushing the screen.

How do you prepare for enemies coming from the bottom of the screen? Do you position your satellites on the bottom of the screen pointing inward? Do you prepare at all? Do you wing it and let the enemies onto the screen and then react? What are the high priority targets?

These questions spawn more questions within seconds in what is possibly the best action puzzle game ever made. You need to make sound tactical decisions. You need to make them and be able to recover and make another one. They had better be good decisions. You have an average of .8 seconds to make them.

All this without mentioning the superb graphics.

QUALITY TEXTURES ON MICROSCOPIC ENEMIES. (We here at graphicswhore.com go the extra mile .. nose to the screen) Hi resolution effects. Sharp bright colors. 60 fps. It will pass the gw3d.com eye exam with flying colors.

A guaranteed slam dunk. You will enjoy this action game. Puzzle game.

A puzzle game for the Call of Duty/ Street Fighter crowd.

Which is just about everyone perusing this damned site.

-A.

*Excessive capitilizations bring weight to words. Watch.

Abused Panther. Now you are all up in arms about abused panthers.

Relax.

All of the panthers on my estate have ample room to roam and are well fed.

RELAX.