Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Preview
Who ya gonna call?
by Marcus Mulkins
previewed on PC
Something old, something new
As mentioned, the game is set two years after Vigo, the Sorrow of Moldavia, in the second movie. At the start of the second movie, the Ghostbusters were down on their luck, playing birthday parties just to make ends meet. But after their success by the end of Ghostbusters 2, business is booming and the boys are thinking about expanding, taking on some hired help, maybe setting up some franchises. That is supposedly where you come in as a new job applicant and guinea pig. This puts the team SEVEN years into their careers. But the game starts with the first mission sending you to the New York Public Library to try to take down the Grey Lady, otherwise known as The Librarian.
Sound familiar?
Further on, you will have to battle the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the Slimer from the hotel, Gozer, Vigo, and a whole slew of familiar paranormal entities from the two movies. What this does is to connect the player to something familiar. It also allows the developers to drop in numerous video clips from the movies, along with many memorable one-liners. Like Venkman saying, “There’s something you don’t see every day,” when he first sees the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But the thing of it is, you have seen it before. And heard it before. The only thing different, really, is that now it is your finger on the trigger.
What about borrowed and blue?
There are a number of new nasties to be dealt with. Like a book golem that needs to be pried apart in a team effort until somebody can get at the germ of an idea that drives the thing. (That’s a hint, by the way) And others. Not as many as if they had worked up an entirely original piece, however. I will leave it at that.
Visually, the game at this stage is pretty impressive, providing nearly as many details as the original movie sets. Having the actual original actors provide most of the voice acting goes a long way towards getting you in the mood and keeping you there. My only question is, will the unfolding story also be there? Or is this essentially little more than another twitch game aimed at adrenaline junkies, where depth of background story is so far back, it’s hard to see at times?
Maybe some day we will find out. When that day is exactly, remains to be seen. And given the extra development time, I will expect – no, make that demand – a GREAT game, to balance of having it dangled in front of us.
