Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Because I'm a huge film buff one question, which comes up repeatedly, is 'what's your favorite film?' My answer is always Ghostbusters, not because it's the best acting or story but simply because it's great fun and very entertaining. Coincidently, it's also one of my earliest memories of video games as the original film got the home computer treatment way back in the 1980s on the Commodore 64. This has led me to believe that this is one franchise that deserves another shot at a game, especially when other movie classics are getting another airing. In addition consoles are now more powerful, which can only help the Ghostbusting Team. Well, after many delays (and publishers) it's here now but was it worth the wait?

Gameplay

As you'd expect, if you have any familiarity with Ghostbusters, everything you do revolves around the Firehouse. It is a convenient hub for researching and designing weapons, repairing your Ecot -1 and accepting all manner of missions. After you've explored your surroundings the best thing to do is to jump into one of the many challenges straight away, all of which take place in familiar settings so be prepared to make a few visits to the library and haunted hotel. Each mission has a number of objectives too so, other than simply clearing the area of ghosts you may also have to rescue innocent citizens or collect artifacts for examination back at HQ. Before you embark on any Ghostbusting though, you'll have to actually get to your desired location and this involves you jumping behind the wheel of Ecto-1 and attempting to reach your destination before the timer expires.

Once you enter the building it's all about tracking down the ghosts. They are occasionally right in front of you but they'll more often be just out on sight and this makes you fire off screen, rather than at the apparition itself, on more than a few occasions. There's also a problem with some of the sprits inhabiting everyday objects and here you'll need Egon, with his many gadgets, to scan the area for anything hidden in chairs, tables or just about anything else for that matter. Only then will you be able to rescue everyone, fulfill all your other objectives and receive payment for your efforts. In fact, it's this swapping and changing of characters that gives the whole thing an element of strategy. Tapping on the various portraits allows you to carry out a number of instructions to your team, which allows you to use any four of the Ghostbusters to their various strengths and even split from the team (while the remaining members keep a ghost contained) in order to locate useful items or flip switches. It's not the stuff of Tom Clancy games but it does add extra depth to the gameplay.

Controls

There are two separate control systems here: your team and Ecto 1 and while getting your Ghostbusters around (either as a group of separately) is relatively easy the same can't be said for travelling to the various locations in your vehicle. This is incredibly difficult because, not only does the ambulance seem to have no weight but also, colliding with anything will bring it to a dead stop and cause huge amounts of damage. This will slow you down considerably when trying to get to an emergency against a timer and what's worse, you have to repair Ecto-1 at great expense to the company. In fact you can eat up all your profits doing this so it's probably a good reason to have a go at the 'Free Ride' section of the game just to get used to the layout of the city.

Graphics

As with the Wii version everything has a very cartoony feel to it here and rather than the photo-realistic characters that graced the PS3 and X-Box versions you have likeable characters. You'll only ever get portraits of these though as the in-game characters are far too small to actually make out; a 'zoom' feature would have been a great idea. The actual in game areas are viewed from above and while they are well designed there are some serious issues with the roaming camera so you will occasionally disappear from view altogether through no fault of your own. The other part of the game involves driving and the city has been recreated on a misty dark night, which does allow the developers to have a short draw distance and limit the amount of traffic on the city's roads. One section of the visuals which does look a little ropey is the cut-screens and you have to wonder why the developers didn't go for some FMV clips or even static screens because trying to use the limited 3D engine just doesn't work here and the results don't seem to fit with the rest of the games visuals.

Sound

You may be a little confused at first as to why the game doesn't begin with the famous Ghostbusters theme but trust us, it's there and the original score in all it's glory has to be one of the high points of this game. The sound effects are pretty good too but you will be sorely disappointed that there was no room on the cart to add the original dialogue, which has been talked about so much and the cut screens are oddly silent.

Dual screen

Other than the endless clicking you'll do around the Firehouse HQ, the main use of the stylus is to control your weapons when hunting down ghosts. Simply place the stylus over the spirit and the DS will do the rest. Just remember not to cross the streams.

Final comments

It was very difficult not to be biased with this review and I would have loved to give the game a much higher mark but good sense got the better of me. The good news is that there's a great deal of enjoyment here and running around deserted hotels and underground worlds, hunting down ghosts has never been so much fun. It looks good, sounds great and the addition of management and RPG elements give the game greater depth. In fact, you do get the feeling the developers had a few too many ideas and the result is that the overall games lacks the kind of attention to detail to make it a true classic. If you are a fan of the movie though (and why wouldn't you be) this is a must have.

Pro: Great Sound and Music, Fun Storyline
Con: Terrible Driving Sections, Some Camera and Collision Issues
Final score: 7

Share on Twitter or Facebook

Comments