Ghostbusters Review

Fans of the movies may be disappointed, gamers even more so in this latest adaptation of Ghostbusters

Posted by Alex V on January 2, 2010 - 3:44pm EST

Alright then, maybe the story didn’t quite turn out, but the gameplay must be amazingly fun right? All those times as a kid you imagined being a Ghostbuster, not crossing the streams and setting your traps at just the right time to pull the catch in. Sounds great in theory. In execution, things did not go as smoothly. But let us be fair, the gameplay is as polished and solid as it gets – the problem is, it totally lacks the excitement of the whole situation that you were hoping for. Your proton pack fires four different types of particles, though each has only a few uses so you’ll be going back to the favorite proton stream to catch the ghosts every time. Gameplay is quite simply boring; you simply point at the ghost who is floating above you and wait until his health bar drains to the red zone. Then you smash the ghost into a wall or ceiling to temporarily knock them out, throw your trap, and guide them inside. Done, now rinse and repeat for the majority of the game. It’s very simple and not at all like the fun you imagined and hoped for. Sure, there are boss battles that are a bit more engaging and require you to destroy the shields around the boss before you can capture it, or to dodge and dive from the incoming fire. But it still remains very simplistic gameplay at its core, which is a good thing for any casual players or fans of the film that are new to games. But for the core gaming audience, there is simply not enough here to present any kind of gameplay challenge. The control style is very reminiscent of games such as Gears of War, minus the ability to take cover. Your view is always over-the-shoulder of your character, which means a lot of your view is obstructed unless you are playing on high resolutions.

Character likenesses are great, but the voice acting suffers

There is just a single player story that lasts under 6 hours to get through, and you’re practically finished with the game. The included extras are not worth your time - just a few cutscenes from the game to watch again, and some concept art. There are no behind-the-scenes interviews with the actors or anything really special for the fans. There is no multiplayer at all for the PC, which is different from the 360 and PS3 versions which have a few online modes. The omission of multiplayer for the PC version was never justified.