Ghostbusters: The Video Game Review (Xbox 360)

Being a Ghostbusters fan all my life I was so excited to learn about this game coming out. Being what is called the third Ghostbusters movie since it is written by and voices are done by the original actors, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and even Bill Murray. I have followed the development of this game closely and waited so long to get my hands on it, and I can finally say, I came, I saw, I kicked its ass. (Ghostbusters reference when they caught Slimer for the first time)

First I will address the story which was written as I said by Harold and Dan who wrote the first two films. If people are about to play this game and never saw the films I would highly recommend you seeing at least the first Ghostbusters film since a lot of the events in this game are linked directly to that film. The game does not reference the second film much in the plot, but there are nice easter eggs hidden in the game that if you saw the second film you will recognize. The games plot focuses around Gozer who is the villain from the first film, but half way through the game you find out there are other evil doers at work. Like I said it is really important to see the first movie because they reference everything from the building the Gozer was on, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the Sedgewick Hotel and even the Library.

The looks and effects of the game are great. The characters really do look like the Ghostbusters as they would look in 1991. Today all those actors are getting old, fat and gray hair, so it’s nice to be able to see them in their younger form. The only problem with the character models is sometimes the voices to sync with their lips. A character could stop talking and then you see their lips still moving, it’s a small flaw, but something that maybe should have gotten more attention.   Like I said they were able to get all the original actors to reprise to roles as Ghostbusters, they even got the original actors to reprise the roles of Walter Peck and Secretary Janine. The game didn’t game Rick Moranis as Louis Tully due to his retirement to acting, and the game is also missing Dana Barrett who is played by Sigourney Weaver but her character is mentioned a few times during the game. The actors do a great job playing their roles as Ghostbusters and really sound like they are into it, except one. Bill Murray most of the times sounds really bored. It felt like either he didn’t put much effort into this project or he is just so used to going into a studio and doing his Garfield voice because that’s what he sound like most of the time in this game, not Peter Venkman but Garfield and that was really disappointing. The game features the original Ghostbusters song by Ray Parker Jr. and also features the entire score from the original film and it is awesome to hear it, after you get done playing you will be walking around humming the themes.

The game takes about just a little more than 6 hours to complete which does seem short but there are things that may make you go back and play through again. There are hidden collectables in each stage and you need to scan each ghost in you PKG meter. There are 7 levels in all, I would have liked to have seen more levels then what there are and maybe the length longer than 6 hours but for what it’s worth I had a great time playing Ghostbusters. Other then Bill Murray’s poor performance I didn’t have much bad things to say about this game, it was well written, it stars the Ghostbusters, you can tell the developers were really into this game and were Ghostbusters fans themselves with all the little nods you see to the franchise especially in the firehouse such as the painting of Vigo, the dancing toaster, the ending screen to the original Nintendo Ghostbusters video game (complete with spelling errors), there are so many things you will spend a good amount of time just looking around trying to find them all. I had a lot of fun playing this game, I would recommend it to anyone who was/is a Ghostbusters fan, as of right now it’s the only thing we have that is a true sequel. The writing is great, the jokes at times are stupid one liners but that is what made the movies so good. It is shorter then I was hoping for, but there is some replay value. There are a few online multiplayer modes, but I have yet to try them, and they are not the focus of my review. I am tempted to pick up the Nintendo Wii version which features a totally different graphic layout, a few different enemies and of course motion control. If I do maybe I will write my impressions on that one as well, but I am already sure that the Xbox 360 version is the best of them all.