Ghostbusters Review

Good: It’s a solid 3rd person shooter based around a great franchise, where the developers actually gave a shit about the franchise they were working with. In turn the experience of playing through the game is very fulfilling and you are treated to a world that “is” the Ghostbusters universe. Controls are spot on, and using the various types of proton pack upgrades are intuitive and reliable – which makes them that much more fun. Puzzles are fairly straightforward, but at the same time they break up the monotony of busting ghosts so it’s a good thing. Voice work for the most part is on par, with only Murray feeling like he phoned it in (this is most probably due to the lack of him being able to improv, which is one of his specialties).

Bad: Without the ties to the GB franchise, this would’ve been nothing more than just another 3rd person shooter. Very straightforward level design (while making sure the player never gets lost), leaves you on a constant linear pace of “move to room, explore with PKE meter, fight group of ghosts, repeat”. Best played in shorter intervals, unless you’re a diehard GB whore (or if this type of tedium does not bother you) or you’ll risk the chance of getting disenchanted/burnt out with the experience. Boss battles are almost all the same (sans a select few), which becomes monotonous after awhile AND your teammates AI is somewhat suspect on later stages (or throughout the entire campaign if you’re attempting to play through on the highest difficulty). Watching your teammates stand directly in the line of fire, or fail to move out of the way of giant monsters when YOU yourself can easily dodge with the tap of a button is a common problem, as is friendly fire and stream crossing. You WILL spend a good portion of your later stages running around and resurrecting your party, especially during the “stone cherubs” section.

Ugly: Major lack of replay value in this one. Seriously, unless you’re a full blown achievement whore, or you’re REALLY into the online component you’ll be done with this when you finish the Career. Aforementioned “stone cherubs” section saw a massive difficulty spike which came out of nowhere, wherein you will be one or two shotted on multiple occasions, only for your teammate to negate attempting to revive you. If you’re playing GB on it’s hardest difficulty, get ready to memorize the loading screen “hints”, as you’ll see that screen at least 10 times. This one 4 minute section is actually harder than any other encounter in the entire game (including all boss/mini boss encounters), and it’s highly suspect that the developers balanced it at all to keep with the general difficulty curve of the title. This is a pure misstep based on lazy design and the gimmick of a weapon.

End Result: It’s a $30 dollar game at most, as that’s what you’ll really get out of it. Roughly 8-14 hours long based on difficulty level and amount of time you spend searching with the PKE meter, and no real reason to go back once you’ve finished it. But for the time spent, it’s one hell of a ride (and if your a GB fan, you’re going to love this – but just don’t pay $60 for it; Get it used, borrow it, rent it, anything other than a full price purchase)