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By now we all know what horrors lurk in the game-to-movie adaptation genre - it's an stained black spot on our beloved medium’s history. Movie-to-game adaptations, however, aren't quite as consistently terrible - some are quite the opposite. For every instance of shovelware licensing (hello, Spider-Man 3), there are genre-defining classics like GoldenEye and The Chronicles of Riddick. The strongest of these titles benefit from having the direct input of the film's creators, who work alongside developers rather than farm out the property.
In 2007, Terminal Reality partnered with Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd on a Ghostbusters game, unimaginatively titled Ghostbusters: The Video Game. This would not only be a direct sequel to the movies, but also feature the voices and likenesses of the main cast. Coming at a time when no cinematic follow up seemed possible, this was incredibly tantalising for fans. It was released in 2009 to a generally positive reception, and was an important step in the revival of the franchise. And now, it returns now to Sony consoles, no doubt to drum up some hype for the currently in-production reboot.
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Set two years after the events of the second film, the story puts you in the boots of a new recruit. Your first day quickly descends into apocalyptic chaos as the ‘busters most dangerous enemies return to wreak havoc. This latest outbreak of paranormal activity seems to be a result of the new Gozer exhibit at the Natural History Museum. The mayor of New York enlists the team to investigate and avert another end of the world scenario.
As a faithful adaptation of a beloved series, Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered is still a massively enjoyable excursion for enthusiasts. Dripping with ectoplasmic fan service, Ackroyd and Ramis’ script is overly nostalgic but builds on the existing lore in charming and exciting ways. Even with the dated visuals, it’s still good to see the original team together again. The voice work is stellar, and it’s great to hear comedy mavericks bounce off each other while your busting spooks. Ray is a precocious man-child, Egon mumbles technobabble, Winston cracks wise, and Venkman is still a womanising sleazebag.
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There’s so much here for fans of the movies to pore over, especially in the team's firehouse HQ. You can talk to the painting of Vigo the Carpathian (still voiced by Max Von Sydow), slide down the poles, check employee of the month board (all Venkman), and listen to Janine harass potential customers. Collectables come in the form of artefacts that you scan with the PKE meter to get some extra nuggets of lore. Scanning enemies gives you their Tobin’s Spirit Guide entry, which further expands on the series' mythology.
The design is also spot on. The equipment looks straight out of the films, as does the colourful roster of enemies. Your proton pack doubles up as a HUD ala Dead Space, and the sound of it thrumming and powering on is exhilarating.
It’s a shame, then, that the overall experience is marred by linearity and a repetitive combat system. It gets off to a promising start as you chase Slimer through the first movie's Sedgewick hotel setting. Taking on your first few emanations, proton streams burning massive scars into the walls and ceilings, it really captures the feeling of being a Ghostbuster. Most enemies need to be weakened by your primary fire, then contained within your capture beam and wrestled into a trap. Again, this mechanic feels great... The first few times. But after a handful of hours, it becomes clear that there isn’t much else to the combat.
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There are boss battles, but they mostly boil down to the same shoot-grab-capture loop. It doesn’t take long to unlock different fire modes, including slime and stasis variants, but the original setting can dispatch most of the ghosts with ease. Some enemies require an initial blast of a certain fire mode, but then it’s back to the proton stream to finish them off. After purchasing a few upgrades to accuracy and trap speed, fighting the seemingly endless hordes of spooks becomes trivial. There are occasional difficulty spikes, usually resulting from the sluggish camera during busier encounters, but the AI is always on hand to revive you. Even on higher difficulties, the story mode is a breeze.
The length of the levels are the biggest issue, though. There's enough variety of enemies and environments across the story, but some outstay their welcome. The library encounter with the iconic Grey Lady would have been nice as a short boss encounter, but instead it’s a dragged-out slog through flying book-bat enemies and the same set of levitating furniture over and over.
All that being said, Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered is still a fun, one of a kind title. Running around with the original team and zapping ghosts with an unstable particle accelerator on your back is an easy sell, but the creative team still put obvious effort into transposing the series between mediums. It does feel stretched, which dilutes the value of the combat, but it’s definitely worth going through the whole story.
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Aside from a dedication to the late Harold Ramis, the remaster doesn’t offer anything other than a visual touch up. Multiplayer is missing, but the devs are working on a new and improved version of the mode that will supposedly be patched in at a later date.
Some of the visuals haven't aged well, with the facial animations in cutscenes looking particularly janky. The effects of the proton firing modes and the models of the enemies still look great, however, as does the intricate design of your faithful backpack.
Special mention should go to the music and sound design, which alongside the voice cast does most of the work in capturing a sense of nostalgia and making you feel like you're part of an authentic Ghostbusters adventure.
Conclusion
As an officially licensed instalment in a beloved franchise, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is still a resounding success ten years on. But as a third-person shooter with physics-based ghost capturing, it’s a bit one-note. The atmosphere, design, and voice cast are perfect, but the combat peaks early and quickly become a bore. The main campaign is enjoyable enough that it’s worth enduring the repetition, though.
Comments 20
Hot take: the 2016 Ghostbusters was just fine.
@kendomustdie Motion control like the PS3 version?
@Enuo it was just fine indeed. Its marketing tactics was the major problem, blaming man for things ghostbusters fans of all genders said about the movie, attacking old fans etc. And when the film flopped they reused those tactics. That didn’t sit well with fans.
@Enuo
Realistic take: It was a terribly written, directed, performed and conceived piece of cynical garbage.
@KALofKRYPTON motion controls are out. Could be patched in with multiplayer, though?
Is the 2007 game in anyway based on the original amiga game?
@Enuo one of the main reasons I was cold on the 2016 film was because this game had done a great job of continuing the story, then everything got retconned
@kendomustdie
I'd assumed it was a pretty lazy port, but they could've left that in!
I'll maybe bite if the multiplayer shows up with anything actually new. Though I doubt it.
@hotukdeals The original Ghostbusters game never came to the Amiga-guessing you're meaning the C64 (& other 8bits of the era), one? Classic game if repetitive-though bit like this one!!
Was intending to wait for a sale later,but limited physical copies in Oz for some strange reason. Much agreed on the verdict, know this won't be any great upgrade but hopefully runs a bit better than the so-so ps3 conversion did.
What's wrong with linearity? It's refreshing in this age of live service nonsense, and every game going open world. Very fun game.
And Venkman is awesome.
@Enuo would have been ok if it wasn't a Ghostbusters movie. That type of slapstick, goofy comedy wasn't Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters was never a full on comedy.
Not to mention the awful marketing where they blamed the movies failings on men, calling everyone sexist that didn't like it. I see the new Terminator is already pre-emptively trying to blame "sexists", even though Terminator is well known for its iconic female lead.
@oldschool1987 Linearity is great, we've all got open world fatigue, but poor pacing makes it a bit more frustrating. Corridors are fine, long corridors, not so much.
I'll take those over the 2016 movie any day. And not cause they were girls, it was just horrible.
Anyway I think the game is pretty good and job well done. It should of been co op however.
That's gotta be some cockroach.
Bite your head off, man.
@kendomustdie I never found that with Ghostbusters, the levels were pretty short to me
I'm having a lot of fun with this one and it's nice to have a change of pace from all the open world stuff. Shame they didn't go a bit further with the "remaster", having said that the Arkham collection should have been upgraded in this way and not how it was. If you like Ghostbusters you'll have fun with this one
I remember owning this in 2009, but I recall none of the specifics as we were in the world of a 1 year old child turning 2. So I jumped at this chance to try again. Admittedly I am a huge Ghostbusters fan, so that colors my review, but I am really having fun with this "Ghostbusters 3". The graphics are updated, but there is definitely something 2009 about the game. You feel it when you search the firehouse, as other Ghostbusters are oddly animatronic in their single purpose movements. Something that I probably thought was awesome a decade ago, but now feels too static. People don't just strangely hang out in the corner of a room, saying nothing, and rocking back and forth... I'm looking at you, Bill Murray. Still, its fun being the rookie Ghostbuster and hearing a new story.
@Enuo It was okay. It had a good cast (especially McKinnon) and visuals, but needed a more solid script and less improv.
I just played through this, and something about it felt even better than the PS3 version, which I was always a fan of. I remembered controls being pretty janky, but it felt smooth this time around. It looked solid, other than the rough character animation in the cinematics, and has a decent story. An all-around blast. I'd love to see another entry.
day one buy for sure!
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