Ghost Busters Game review

This game sure does bring back some of my childhood memories as I used to watch the ghostbusters cartoon series as well as the two films that came out. In this page, I will talk about the Ghost Busters game, give a review about it, and get what you think about the game.  Note: this review is based solely on the Xbox 360 version of the Ghost Busters game.  I am aware that the Wii and Play Station 3 both have their versions of the the Ghost Busters game, but I haven't played those versions yet, and so I can't make any comparisons between the games at this time.  Of course, if you have played the Nintendo Wii or PS3 verions, you are welcome to share your experiences with them in the comments section (near the bottom of this article). 

(update: I recently beat this game, and so I do have more info about the game).

In this game, the ghost busters crew is back (with voice acting from the Ghost Busters movie crew, including Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, and others), presumably sometime after the events of Ghost Busters 2 (the game does not really tell you the exact timing of the events, but I will assume that it takes place after GB 2) and follows the Ghost Busters movie storyline (there was also a cartoon version of Ghost Busters in case if you are not aware, but this game is based on the movie versions, with the original actors from the ghost busters crew doing the voice acting). Based on what I saw in the game, it is hard to fully explain the story's plot without giving out spoilers, but here it goes. The game starts at the New York History Musem with 2 security guards doing their routine jobs of keeping the place secure (one watches the cameras, while the other patrols the place) some time after the mysterious Goza exhibit gets donated to the musem by a man named Ivo Shandor (who also happens to be the main villian in the game). While watching the security cameras and watching by a commercial by the ghost busters (which advertises their services), a ghost floats by the cameras and gives the guard a chilling surprise, who alerts his comrad to the incident. When he investigates, he encounters Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, who was running out of the museum with some books and is immediately attacked by a mysterious entity, which then sends out shockwaves throughout the rest of the city.

Soon afterwards, the game shifts to the ghost busters' headquarters and you happen to be their new recruit, after getting equipped and learning how to trap an easy to capture ghost using the photon pack and trap, the ghost busters crew are soon called into action not long after the inident took place. After doing some routine work at the Sedgwick hotel, they soon encounter some sinister ghostly forces trying to merge the spirit world with the real world (if you want to know what it might be like where a ghostly world merges with the physical world, you might consider checking out the castlevania series as that is what it would probably be like with ghost, demons, etc everywhere making life into a horror story, and is lead by none other by Ivo Shandor himself, who is an evil entity bent on creating an apocalyptic world in New York City) and even has henchmen doing his dirty work (such as an evil enity called, The Chairman, who you will meet at the Musem Stage), as well as flooding the city with deadly slime (you will learn more about that plot at the Shandor Island level). The ghost busters crew soon meet up Illysa (who helps the crew on the way despite her ties to Shador after getting saved from the clutches of the evil Stay Puft) and it is up to you (as the recruit) to help the Ghost Busters crew to defeat the evil schemes of Shandor and his minions and restore peace to the city, while dealing with a bureaucratic agent named John Peck (who is apparently the head of the Paranormal Contract Oversight Committee, which was created by the mayor to keep the Ghost Busters crew in check), who happens to bear a grudge against the crew and would rather have the crew shut down if he had his way. How does the game play out? You will need t o play the game to find out for yourself. Of course, if you prefer not to play the game and do not mind spoilers, you can read about the whole plot at wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters:_The_Video_Game.

Highlights of this game:

- Lots of clip scenes (plays almost like a Ghost Busters movie)

- Hunt Ghosts in a haunted hotel, called the Sedwick hotel

- Relive themes from the first Ghost Busters movie, which includes a rematch with Stay Puft (the marshmallow man creature that the Ghost Busters crew fights at the end of the first movie) as well as a revisit to the New York Library, which was the home to the notorious Gray Lady ghost that the ghost busters crew encounters towards the beginning of the original movie (with a few new twists to the level, such as fighting a whole new entity who was not featured in the movie). However, I did not notice any themes from Ghost Busters 2, with the exception of the New York City government watch dogs (this time lead by an arrogant bureaucrat named, John Peck) gaining a mistrust of the Ghost Busters crew once gain (a move which almost proved disasterous in GB 2, when the Ghost Busters crew were arrested and thrown in prison just before the evil Vigo starts to launch his plot against the city in full swing).

- Get ghost hunting equipment, including emf detectors, photon packs, weapons, etc

- See the game's plot unravel at the Central History Museum, which includes a boss fight with a vile henchman of Shandor, named the Chairman

- Investigate a hidden island in the middle of the Hudson River called, Shandor Island, which contains a massive facility and sewer system filled with slime. A hiddeous slug-like creature awaits the crew at the end of the level.

- Bust through the stronghold of Shandor (which takes place in Central Park, which gets conveted into a huge cemetary in the game), which culimates in a huge showdown.

- Between missions, you can hang out at the ghost busters head quaters and look around (not much to see though).

- Besides the photon packs, you do get extra weapons throughout the game, such as a slime blower, bostian darts, etc (which you will get automatically as you play through the game.

Characters of Interest

The Ghost Busters crew: Peter Venkman (voiced by Bruce Murray), Raymond Stanz (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (voiced by Harold Ramis), Winston (voiced by Ernie Hudson), as well as the new recruit (your character) - you can read all about the Ghost Busters crew at Wikipedia, but this is the team of paranormal investigators who earn a living hunting down and trapping ghosts and similar entities. In the previous installments, they have stopped Goza from destroying New York after taking the form of Stay Puft (the evil marshmallow man creature), put an end to Vigo's scheme to use people's emotions to create a paranormal catastrophe in New York and ultimately take over the world, as well as do lesser cases as well (such as dealing with Slimer and other ghosts that are haunting the city). Despite their heroic actions, sometimes their heroism leaves a trail of damage and infurates public officials (as was the case in GB2).

Ivo Shandor - he is the main villian in the game and was the one who donated the Goza exhibit to the museum. Of course, Shandor is really a demonic entity with schemes to bring about apocalypes on New York, and ultimately the world. Illysa is a distant decendant of Ivo btw,

Illysa - She is a distant decendant of Shandor (though she is not evil as her ancestor was) and is a scientist who researched the Goza artifacts and unwittingly became a pawn of Shandor. After getting rescued by the Ghost Busters crew from the clutches of Stay Puft, she helps the crew in their mission stop Shandor and his minions. Btw, chemistry flies between Peter and Illysa as Peter develops a crush on her during the game.

John Peck - he is the mayor's right hand man and is in charge of the Paranormal Oversight Committe). However, John is an arrogant man and bears a grudge against the ghost busters and would rather put the crew out of business if he had his way. He mainly functions as a "thorn" in the ghost busters side, though later on, his arrogance blinds him to potiential threat from the rise of paranormal activity and he gets posessed and unwittingly becomes a pawn in Shandor's scheme.

(there are other characters in the game, but you will learn more about them as you play through it).

You know, while I have yet to encounter a ghost in real life, I have seen shows like Ghost Hunters as well as Ghost Adventurers, and in the Ghost Busters game, you will basically be going on ghost hunts in various locations throughout a virtual version of New York City, with the first mission taking you to a haunted hotel that is the home of an infamous pirate ghost. You almost feel as if you are a part of an actual paranormal investigators crew as you have EMF detectors, special infared goggles, as well as the signature ghost hunting gear (including the proton pack and trap that you use to trap ghosts), and investigate locations that are notorious for ghosts in the Ghost Busters universe. There are also huge bosses in the game you fight too, with the first big one being against the marshmallow man creature, Stay Puft.

Positive aspects of this game:

• Awesome voice acting (you actually get the actors from the GB movies voice acting, and the game does make you feel like you are in an interactive Ghost Busters movie, complete with clipscenes voice acting, and all)
• Lots of action in the game
• Can be a fun game for those of you into a good halloween themed game (or like games on the paranormal).
• Excellent and engaging storyline 
• Plenty of clip scenes between missions
• You do get to explore the ghost busters' head quarters between missions as well as interact with other people on the ghost busters crew,
• Long missions, with plenty of save points
• You can damage objects in the background with your gear (such as library books in the library) and earn achevments based on how destructive you were in the game. You can also do friendly fire at your team mates as well.
• Plenty of power ups and upgrades are available throughout the game.
• Plenty of classic moments that you will probably want to play through again and again.
• Plenty of achievements to go for
• There is also an Xbox live mode for more missions and features

Negative aspects about this game:

• Short game (only 7 missions long).
• No side missions, though there are achievements you can get by scanning all of the ghosts, getting all of the cursed artifacts, etc. Also, there is an Xbox live mode for more features.
• You do not actually get to explore the virtual New York City (mainly centers around the storyline missions and you are pretty much stuck in the ghost busters head quarters between missions). If you are looking for a game where you can view a virtual New York City, you are probably better off getting GTA 4 since Liberty City is basically GTA's verion of New York, just as Los Santos was GTA's version of Los Angeles.
• The missions do follow on a linear format, and so there is not a whole lot of room for exploration.
• In many of the levels, you will find yourself using the ghost detection equipment a good portion of the time as there are many hidden objects, spirits, etc hidden throughout the game that can only be found using the ghost detectors.

On a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best game out there and 1 being the worst), I would give this game an 8.  I thought that the game was pretty fun and worth my money when I got it.  Of course, there are some room for improvements in the game, such as adding more missions as well as side missions.  Also, a good map to explore would also be nice as well.  I definitely recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the Ghost Busters Franchise, anyone into the paranormal (such as Ghost Hunters fans), as well of those of you looking for a good movie-style game that offers lots of action and a good storyline.

While the ghost busters crew is purely a fictional group, did you know that even in real life, there are professionals that make a living searching for ghosts? They are called paranormal investigators. One crew that you are probably familiar with is TAPs (which is the group that does Ghost Hunters on Sci Fi). I've seen many of their episodes, and I do find it interesting how they go to to many different places scattered throughout the US (they also have an international team that goes abroad as wel) doing investigations at places that are rumored to be haunted. On some cases, they are able to debunk the claims and classify the location to not be haunted, while other cases do come up positive (meaning that they find substantial evidence that a place they are investigating is haunted). There are plenty of locations they have investigated, including:

• old homes
• military forts
• The Queen Mary
• The Stanley Hotel in Colorado (came up postitive both times)
• Pioneer Square in Seattle (particularly the Seattle underground)
• and many other locations

Personally, I used to be a skeptic about ghosts (though I have not seen one myself yet), but when you watch reality TV shows, like Ghost Hunters, it really does make you wonder if there is some truth to the claims.  Obviously skeptics are going to try and debunk their findings and accuse them of fabricating evidence, but still, these are real people investigating real places rumored to be haunted, and if they are finding stuff that can't be explained, then it makes you wonder if there is any truth to the claims, especially if multiple groups visit the same locations (for example, the Eastern State Pennitentry in Pennsylvania was investigated not only by TAPS, but the Most Haunted crew and Ghost Adventures crew from the Travel channel all investigated that place and each time, the investigations came up positive),  Thought that I would throw that out to you all.