The Ghostbusters franchise has had its many highs and lows. There is no doubt that the original movie released in 1984 was a massive success, but ever since then, the creators have been trying to recapture that glory with spin-off shows, merchandise, and reboots. In 2009, video game company Terminal Reality released an action-adventure game based on the ghostbusters franchise. What’s most intriguing is how this game brought back the original writers and cast to help mold the story into a gaming experience for the fans who always wanted to feel like a Ghostbuster. The version I'll be playing is the remastered version of the Playstation 4, which was released by Saber Interactive. Can this Ghostbusters game capture the same tone and style in video game format as it did in movie format?
The game starts out with a new recruit joining the Ghostbusters known as “rookie,” who meets pairs up with his fellow Ghostbusters Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) and Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson) as they do their everyday job of trapping ghosts that are running amock the city. One day, the mayor of New York, Jock Mulligan (Brian Doyle Murray), places Walter Peck (Willam Atherton) in charge of the Ghostbusters. They also meet a young woman named IIlyssa, who may be connected to a more significant supernatural threat. It’s up to the ghostbusters and their newest recruit to stop an oncoming invasion before it takes over new york, and Walter Peck shuts down the Ghostbusters from helping save the city.
The story brings back the original Ghostbusters movie’s original writers, Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis. Their writing style makes this video game feel authentic to the movie and recalls how certain characters would react in certain situations. The humor and charm are all there, and there are plenty of callbacks to the Ghostbusters franchise. However, the downside to the writing is that it likes to repeat many plot points that were already done in the original film. I wouldn’t mind so much if there was some repeating as long as it was given a fresh spin. Though it would have been more interesting, even if risky, to possibly create a new original storyline with little repeating from other Ghostbusters installments while still maintaining the same tone as the movies. With all that being said, though, the characters are entertaining, with the cast from the movies coming back to reprise their roles, including the likes of Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Enrine Hudson, and Bill Murray, with cameos from the likes of Willam Atherton and Brian Doyle Murray. These actors, specifically the Ghostbusters themselves, do a great job reprising their roles. they make what is, in hindsight, an unoriginal script feels more charming and humorous than it really is. The storytelling has some issues with originality, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I still had fun while experiencing this narrative.
The gameplay does everything it can to make the player feel like a real Ghostbuster, and for the most part, it succeeds. You play as the unnamed rookie who joins the Ghostbusters as he participates in a ghostbuster’s typical day of work and also helps to save the world from evil threats. Your proton pack will be equipped with many different powerups that can help discover new areas, puzzle-solve to get across many obstacles, and even use those powerups in unique ways to bust ghosts. Busting ghosts may not be as effortless as the Luigi’s Mansion franchise, but trapping many different ghosts feels very satisfying as you’ll need to work together with other ghostbusters or by yourself to trap many species of ghosts floating around the city. Most missions will have you work as a team, which can have advantages and disadvantages. If you get killed, an A.I player can come to the rescue and revive you, and the same can be said in reverse. However, most of the busting ghosts will all come down to you as the other A.I players don’t really do much to aid you in your missions as they are primarily to the side doing other things, even if it looks like they are helping you. The game's difficulty can be changed at the beginning or any time of the adventure if the gameplay seems too complex for beginners. Many collectibles can be found using your gadgets, such as artifacts that will bring much interest to completionists.
The graphics look very good, even if some things could have used a facelift. The backgrounds are nice and clean, and running around in familiar places made famous from the movie is satisfying. Sometimes the backgrounds will become warped and mysterious, breaking up the realistic style of most buildings the character busts ghosts in. The visuals of the ghosts are fascinating, and some ghosts from the movie make a comeback, such as Slimer and the Stay Puffed Marshmellow Man. Busting the ghosts is also fun visually, and the way it’s done perfectly mimics how the movie does it. The human characters, though, look flat and a little emotionless. Knowing the technological advances from the original in 2009 to the remaster in 2020, humans should look much more exciting and expressive, like in the 2018 Spider-Man game, especially during the cinematic cutscenes. The game also missed a huge opportunity to customize the rookie character into a perosnalize persona making the character feel more like the player. These visuals are decent, but they may not quite have the impressive quality of games that have come out the same year as this remaster came out.
The music was composed by Kyle Richards and Chris Rickwood, who did a fine job mimicking Elmer Bernstein’s Score from the original movie. It also wouldn’t be a Ghostbusters product without including the Ghostbusters theme song, which feels very welcomed and brings back good memories to many film fans. This music is fun and straightforward, and while it won’t win any awards, it does just enough to be good background tunes while busting ghosts.
It’s debatable whether this is a flawless Ghostbusters video game experience, as some minuscule flaws sadly add up when looking at the game as a whole. The story repeats many elements from the first movie, and the gameplay can sometimes feel repetitive. At the same time, though, the game does make the player truly feel like a ghostbuster; the graphics are pretty good, even if some of the visuals could use a bit of a facelift, and the writing in the story does feel truly authentic to the original 1984 movie thanks to the movie’s original writers coming back to breathe their creativity into video game form. This is still a good game that may not be as complex or impressive as it possibly could have been, but it does just enough to satisfy longtime fans into being brought back to a familiar world that comforting and a lot of fun.
(Final Grade: B)