Bustin’ makes me feel alright.
Ghostbusters is one of my favorite franchises. I was a huge fan as a child and still hold the original movie to a comedy pinnacle all these years later. In 2009, Ghostbusters: The Video Game came out to pretty high fanfare. First, it was actually written by Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis, was an official sequel to Ghostbusters 2, and the bigger thing, it was actually a really fun game to play. Cut to 10 years later, and a remastered version of the game hits the current generation of consoles.
Set in 1991, two years after the events of Ghostbusters 2, the team is wanting to expand their franchise as well as develop some better equipment for the catching ghosts business. Players take on the role of a new nameless recruit who is basically serving as the new equipment guinea pig while being trained by Egon, Peter, Ray, and Winston.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: XB1, PS4, Switch, PC
The game is entirely fan service, with tons of references to the previous movies. In fact, Slimer is one of the first ghosts players will take on. My personal favorite is the painting of Vigo the Carpathian that is in the Ghostbusters firehouse that constantly trash talks the player.
The gameplay revolves around going to certain areas that are overrun by ghosts or paranormal entities and capturing them. There are multiple weapon types that unlock as the game progresses, but everything usually remains the same, shoot a ghost until their health is low, then drag them into a trap. There are some enemies that can just be blasted to death (redeath?), while the bigger ones need to be whittled down. They keep adding more weapons to the repertoire, but everything devolves down to the same concept. It can get a bit monotonous after a while.
Things remain the same from the 2009 iteration. The game boasts a better graphical fidelity, but in the end, it still looks like a cleaned up Xbox 360 game. It runs well enough with few slowdowns or framerate drops. What holds the game back really is that it just FEELS like a game from 2009. The movement, the AI that seems to only really be helpful in reviving me when I went down from too many attacks, and the very linear pacing just feels outdated. Also, while every major player from the movies comes back to voice their characters here, Bill Murray’s performance sounds like he really did not want to be doing this, but I had that issue in 2009 when I first played the game.
What’s missing from the initial release of the Remastered version is the online co-op mode. The console versions of the original game featured a separate co-op mode that had players teaming up to take on a hoard mode of ghost catching fun that I thoroughly enjoyed back in the day. While it is missing right now, the port developer has gone on record saying that they plan to rework and release the co-op in a free update. I hope so because that was where I had the most fun.
For a budget priced remaster, it’s still a fun time, especially if you’re a fan of the Ghostbusters. The talent behind the game and story is decent enough even if the jokes aren’t as good as the original film. The gameplay loop can feel outdated, and the missing co-op mode stings, but the promise of it coming for free is still there. I still enjoyed my time with the game and people who have never experienced it, or haven’t seen it in a long time, will still find some enjoyment out of it, and you’re not breaking the bank while you do pick it up.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
