​Ghostbusters Review

By Kevin Mitchell  |  Posted: July 28, 2016

With the Ghostbusters film reboot now in theaters, it's no surprise that Activision has chosen to publish a new game based on the license around the same time. When games developed from existing properties are announced, the gaming community is always concerned they'll become cash-grab tie-ins. The now-defunct developer Terminal Reality struck gold with 2009's Ghostbusters: The Video Game, but this game follows the path of the egregious four-player cooperative title Sanctum of Slime. Don't even bother asking yourself "who you gonna call?" as the answer is clear: hang up the phone and let the specters take you to a better place.

Although released simultaneously with the new film, Ghostbusters is set after the movie's events. With the actual Ghostbusters venturing outside of New York City for a ghost-catching road trip, players are left with four colorful, stylish, and nameless recruits. As a four-player cooperative twin-stick shooter, each character carries a unique weapon, grenade type, and the iconic proton pack. Yes, you read that correctly—you'll be using traditional shooter weapons such as a mini-gun, dual pistols, a shotgun, and an assault rifle loaded with dark matter to punish ghosts ad nauseam. Grenades allow for team combo attacks if someone else finishes the target off while under the grenade's effect. Most of them just slow down the swarms of flaming skulls, flying books, and ghouls that make a beeline toward your direction in impressive numbers.

The game takes you through different locales across New York City. Each area has a couple of stages, along with a remixed level once you complete the story. You'll battle ghosts across a graveyard, an abandoned ship, a dilapidated asylum, and more. In each of the game's ten stages, you'll essentially see the same enemy types attacking in similar patterns in every single room and every single stage. Ghosts come in either large or small varieties, with the smaller ones making up most of the foes you'll encounter. Every couple of rooms, you'll face larger ones that require you to use the Ghostbusters' signature proton packs to trap them. It's very formulaic, and you'll be following the same pattern throughout the entire game.

I enjoyed the game's colorful and clean-looking environmental visuals. Even the four main character designs are serviceable, albeit slightly over-the-top. Of course, the game ruins the experience by reusing the same rooms and empty hallways regularly. The characters toss cringe-worthy one-liners freely. If I ever hear another ghost pun again, I think I might die.

Scattered throughout each stage are hidden collectibles, but after completing a single stage, it became apparent where and when you would find them. Just like the combat mechanics, the setup for the collectibles doesn't change across any of the game's stages. Using your P.K.E meter, you scan the area until an arrow appears on the ground, granting access to a previously sectioned-off room. You'll encounter one or multiple ghosts that require trapping guarding the collectible.

Ghostbusters overstays its welcome, even though it only has ten stages. Stages are overly long, with some taking upwards of 45 minutes or more to finish, even without trying to collect everything. Worse, the environments are full of empty rooms and areas with absolutely nothing for the player to do besides run through until reaching the next gated-off room full of evil spirits. Whether you're playing alone or with friends, all four Ghostbusters will always be on-screen (unless the AI is in control). The AI can't keep up with human players. On numerous occasions, I had to restart a level due to the AI getting stuck behind orange cones or falling so far behind that they were never seen again. The character with the mini-gun would sometimes teleport around corners, but I never saw any of the remaining cast do anything of the sort. Speaking of multiplayer, this twin-stick shooter allows three friends to jump in and join you at any point during a level. However, it only has local multiplayer and doesn't feature any online components. For a full retail release with a $50 price tag, this is unforgivable.

It's quite clear from the way the game mechanics work that Ghostbusters takes a lot of inspiration from other action role-playing games on the market. Most of the game's systems feel half-baked, lacking finishing touches or any true RPG elements. The second half of the game features tougher enemies with visual effects and additional area-of-effect attacks, but these "elite" enemies could have been so much more. Besides the flying books and flaming skulls that fly in either a square, circle, or straight line, other specters tend to bunch up in a line as if offering themselves to players. They also have trouble navigating around corners. It's almost impossible to fail any stage as well. If a character is downed, the game features an instant revive option from any other remaining characters. You'll even revive with 100% of your health. I died on purpose multiple times just to get my health back.

The upgrade system allows for increased weapon stats and improved character movement speed. Characters are slow and clunky to control, so putting the maximum number of points into movement speed first is a must. You can improve the damage output for your main weapon as well as the proton pack, but it still didn't make the proton pack viable to use outside of trapping tougher ghosts. Sadly, AI-controlled characters don't keep experience or levels earned, forcing you to play as each character to level them up.

Simply Put

Ghostbusters is a massive missed opportunity and a huge setback for the franchise. The game won't appeal to fans of twin-stick shooters or fans of Ghostbusters. "Boring" is the single most appropriate word to describe it. Playing through the game from start to finish was a chore and a test of patience. Marcus is our resident Ghostbusters fanatic, and even he could only grudgingly stand to play through a single level.