Take a look at how you’ll be rounding up ghouls when Ghostbusters The Video Game comes to PLAYSTATION 3 in June 2009.
In 1984, the original Ghostbusters movie was an instant phenomenon, spawning two cartoon series, comic books, lots of merchandise and the inevitable sequel. However, despite the popularity of Ghostbusters II and almost two decades of speculation, the original cast of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson never reunited for a third adventure... until now.
Ghostbusters The Video Game on PLAYSTATION 3 features the voices and likeness of all four original paranormal investigators, and a great deal of effort has gone into recreating the look and sound of those iconic movies.
The voice acting, dialogue, animations and facial expressions of the characters are all incredibly well-realised and really bring them to life. The same loving detail has been applied to the Proton Packs which are the game's main weapon, the fire station that serves as their base and Ecto-1, their car.
Two years after the events of the last movie, the Ghostbusters decide to hire a new recruit after a sudden surge in paranormal activity surrounding a new Gozer exhibition. You control this new team member and the first stage introduces the technique for capturing ghosts that you'll be using a great deal later on.
The game is played from a third-person perspective, as if you're peering over your characters shoulder, much like in the Uncharted games. The R2 button fires a stream from your Proton Pack which can be aimed with the right stick. When a ghost's energy has been sufficiently drained, the stream grabs hold of them and you're able to pull and drag them around. You can place a trap in front of you at any time with the Square button. Your aim is then to guide the ghoul down into the beam of light coming from the trap, which is easier said than done as some enemies are stronger and more stubborn than others.
The next stage takes you to Hotel Sedgwick and shows off the game's destructible environments. One of the funniest aspects of the movies was how the Ghostbusters always left a trail of destruction behind their work, and the game recreates this. Every Proton Pack stream leaves scorch marks across walls and floors, and smashed furniture piles up as you chase ghouls with reckless abandon. Your destruction is even rewarded with cash that can later be used to upgrade equipment.
As paranormal investigators, there's more to the Ghostbusters' work than wrecking hotels and museums, and quite a bit of the game is spent looking for clues using your PKE Meter. Pressing the Triangle button activates it and switches to a first-person viewpoint with three concentric rings and various lights displaying the direction of any unusual signals. Whenever you see a ghost you can switch to the PKE Meter and press the R2 button to scan it. The closer to the middle of the three rings it is at the time, the better the scan, and useful information on each enemy type is progressively unlocked with each scan.
This information, which includes weaknesses to one of the four types of Proton Pack stream that are unlocked as the game progresses, is particularly useful for the end of level bosses, some of which will be familiar. Dangling from the roof of a skyscraper and keeping the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man at bay as he climbs towards you is a particular highlight.
Much of Ghostbusters The Video Game's likeability is inherited from its cult movie predecessors, and its attention to detail will impress the keenest of fans. Not only is capturing ghosts unique and great fun in terms of gameplay, it is in keeping with what happened in the movies and the destructible levels add to the sense of chaos that added so much to their humour.
They're back to save the world... and it's as if they'd never left.
