In 2009 Atari and developer Terminal Reality released Ghostbusters: The Video Game to a mostly positive reception. The game featured the likenesses and voice talents of the 4 main Ghostbusters from the films and some other familiar voices. Atari has finally released their next title in the Ghostbusters franchise and it is nothing like the original game.
The first main difference is that the developer is no longer Terminal Reality, Behaviour interactive is at the helm for this installment. The game also features none of the voice talent from the original game, in fact no voice talent at all. All of the dialogue appears in boxes or in cut scenes that are like panels of a comic. The original Ghostbusters play a background role but the main characters are 4 new recruits who get no character development and I can barely tell them apart. This is the first main problem I have with the game, it completely strays from the authenticity of having the original actors reprise the characters we all love and instead it gives us these throw away rookies that are hard to get behind.
The story begins with the Ghostbusters sending the rookies to check out paranormal activity at the Sedgewick hotel, now don't get me wrong I loved revisiting the Sedgewick in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, but come on give us some new locales please. The game is a top down four person shooter. You use one thumbstick to move and one to shoot and aim your weapon. There are three weapon modes and they are color coded to the monsters that you need to use them for. For example, a blue ghost will be dispatched more easily with the blue weapon setting. The color coding makes the game seem childish, in the first game the equipment settings were more effective for different enemies but it was left to the player to decide which weapon to use, the game didn't treat you like a little kid.
The emphasis of the game is on multiplayer so it is meant to be played with friends but the computer will play as the other squad members if you are alone. The gameplay itself is unbelievably repetitive, you go into a room, get locked in, fight off the ghosts, then a door opens, and you go to the next room. It gets boring and it honestly isn't really that fun. The story itself is interesting enough but I find myself wishing I was just reading a Ghostbusters comic and not having to play the game.
The enemies knock you out very quickly and when that happens your teammates rush over to help. It takes time to revive you can in that period of time your teammate is likely to get knocked out, if everyone is out the game is over. When you are trying to revive a teammate you need to tap the "A" button and you will most likely get knocked out by a swarm of small ghosts. This mechanic is very frustrating and makes the game incredibly hard.
The cut scenes, as I mentioned, are like panels of a comic book but the dialogue boxes change in size so much that it is hard to read the text and I missed several pieces of dialogue because I couldn't read it. The artwork is ok but the original Ghostbusters, especially Ray, look ridiculous, and I really hate that they got those characters wrong.
Many of the sound effects are recycled and while some of this is fine, in this case, it seems like a lazy way to cut back on adding original content. The ghosts are very similar to ghosts in the first game and it just seems like they changed the style of play but kept the locations the same, or very similar.
While the game is not a total bust (no pun intended) it is not a good game by any measure. The characters are throw away, the gameplay is awful, and it just feels like a lazy cash in. Hopefully Terminal Reality will be allowed to helm a full game (not a marketplace download) in the future and it will go back to the high quality of the first game.
Pros
-Story is interesting
Cons
-Terrible Gameplay
-None of the original actors are involved
-Recycled and lazy locales and enemies
3/10
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