Gameplay impressions?
What do we like?Capturing ghosts is challenging and a lot of fun thanks to the smooth trapping mechanic. You're not just blasting away throughout the game, you have to tussle with the larger spirits and maneuver them around the locations toward your trap. The result is visually impressive with energy beams from the proton packs lighting up the sky in a colourful tug of war and objects shattering each time you forcibly smash a ghost into them. When you capture a ghost it feels like you’ve had to work hard to do so, so it can be very satisfying, especially when tackling large groups or some of the tougher spirits.
The Ghostbusters license has been used extremely well. The familiar soundtrack and voices add to the overall vibe, as does the humorous script and some of the attention to detail in the locations, such as the faithful representation of the Ghostbusters HQ, the Firehouse, where you’ll see the Ecto-1 vehicle in all its glory and get to have a good look around. Presentation-wise, a fine job has been done not only in the CGI scenes and production work, but also in creating some impressively destructible locations where you can slam ghosts from pillar to post, not to mention the superb range of ghosts that you’ll do battle with.
The multiplayer mode provides a decent array of online entertainment with a subject matter that feels fresh among the dozens of army and zombie shooters. Survival Mode is like Gears of War's Zombie mode, but obviously with ghosts, and it's an exciting battle as you stand back waiting for the invasion to arrive and then have to work like crazy to get the job done. There's also a clever variation of 'Capture the Flag' mode called 'Thief,' in which you have to guard relics from the ghosts.
Click for larger imageWhat don’t we like?
We were really expecting some epic moments, something to remember about the game after we'd finished it's short 6 hour campaign. There's nothing that really stands out in our minds. Even the battle against the MarshMallow Man was extremely disappointing. We had a relatively good time, but without the excellent trapping mechanic you're left with an extremely basic shooter.
It just lacks ideas. You spend the majority of your time moving from one room or location to another, without the real need for exploration, using the painfully slow PKE meter and then trapping ghosts in what is essentially arena-based combat. The fact that you gain money throughout the game doesn't really matter, because you'll gain the upgrades as you move through the game anyway without having to purchase anything. It makes a bit of a mockery of the whole thing. The upgrade system really lacks any depth and there aren't a whole lot of things to do with your weapon, other than to make it better than it already is. It just means that things get very repetitive. We'd like to seen more variety in the gameplay.
Final Thoughts
If you've got it totally clear in your mind that Ghostbusters is about ghost busting and a fat lot else, then you'll have a decent enough time blasting your way through the single player campaign and enjoying the toe-tapping soundtrack and familiar humour/sarcasm you'd expect from the cast. To all intent and purpose it does what it says on the tin. It's an above average ghost-hunting action adventure. Just don't expect to retain your initial enthusiasm throughout the whole 6-8 hours of gameplay.
Final Verdict - 7.5/10
