Gaming Memories: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room, where the ectoplasmic residue is the real thing and all of our nuclear accelerators are licensed, thanks for asking. We all have that one special childhood thing that we have the fondest memories of as we grew up. For some of us it was Star Wars, for others it was Batman, and still others it was Ninja Turtles, Disney Movies, Transformers, what have you. For me, that thing was Ghostbusters.

The 1984 comedy classic that spawned a sequel, a lengthy cartoon series, and a huge amount of toys- yes, it was just my thing as a kid. I'd spend day after day playing with my toys until they were so worn down that they were practically falling apart. I'd run around in my backyard with my plastic proton pack strapped to my back having adventures and capturing ghosts everywhere I went. And even though the world's enthusiasm for Ghostbusters started to fade as the 80's turned to the 90's, my own certainly didn't. I was definitely one of those people always waiting in vain for a third movie that would never come. However, in the year 2009, I did get something awfully close. But let's back up a minute here.

When the cartoon series "The Real Ghostbusters" ended in 1991, Ghostbusters as a whole almost seemed to end with it. The original actors moved on with their lives and careers, the toys stopped getting made, and the brand name just went quiet for a while. Sure, there were minor resurgences here and there- Dan Akroyd dropped rumors about a possible Ghostbusters 3 all through the 90s, a short-lived cartoon show called "Extreme Ghostbusters" aired in 1997 and had it's own brief merchandise run, and of course "Ecto-Cooler" lived on for quite a while in the lunch boxes of kids all over the country. But for the most part, Ghostbusters as a franchise went dark as the 90s gave way to the new millennium and for a while, it seemed like it might stay that way forever. Then, in late 2007, something big happened.

Throughout the mid-2000s I had a subscription to the magazine Game Informer which I received monthly in the mail. This was back when I was still hip to the cutting edge of gaming and had all the latest consoles as they arrived, so I still had plenty to read about as the magazines came in. I loved seeing all of the latest news and goings-on in the gaming world, as well as checking out the current hottest games on the market. However, I was totally shocked when I opened my mailbox in December of 2007 and saw this:

Ghostbusters in a video gaming magazine? I never saw it coming. I frantically flipped through the pages to get to the article, where I read all ten pages of it from start to finish. A Ghostbusters video game was in the works for the latest generation of consoles. It had a script written by Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd, just like the original movies. It had ALL FOUR original actors (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Akroyd, and Ernie Hudson) reprising their roles as Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddmore. Hell, even Annie Potts and William Atherton were returning as well (unfortunately no Sigourney Weavor or Rick Moranis, but I was still happy with what I got). 

I read the article again and again and again. I scrutinized every picture and piece of concept art. And then read it one more time. The new game was set to take place three years after the events of Ghostbusters 2 and would have the player assuming the role of a nameless rookie who joined the team as the fifth Ghostbuster. As per the article, the game would have the player clashing with familiar foes such as Slimer, the library ghost, and even the Stay Puft marshmallow man himself. It all seemed too good to be true. I couldn't wait to see how things would play out.

There was a long time of silence between the announcement in the article and any further news, but the silence was broken in December of 2008 when a trailer was finally released to the public. I remember jumping on my computer with my face glued to the monitor as the trailer started. Just like the article I had read earlier, I watched it from start to finish. And again. And again. It was really happening. There was Murray delivering his deadpan Venkman lines, Ramis and Akroyd spitting out scientific technical jargon as Egon and Ray, and Hudson doing his down-to-Earth Winston. It didn't seem real, but somehow it was. We were going to get as close to the third movie as we ever would.

Some time passed and while I anxiously waited, the advertising campaign ramped up. Commercials were on TV and various alternate trailers were released. For a short and beautiful time, Ghostbusters was back. It was delayed a bit for some time but eventually was released on June 16th, 2009, nearly coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the release of the first film on June 8th, 1984. I promptly arrived at Best Buy that morning to procure a copy, which I did and rushed home to play.

While previous Ghostbusters games may not have lived up to the franchise's potential (or have been downright awful), Ghostbusters: The Video Game is just about everything you'd want as a GB fan. It wasn't the third movie we all wanted, of course, but it was close enough to be it. Picking up where the story last left off, the Ghostbusters' business is still booming and they've even started pushing for franchises (much like Venkman mentioned in the first movie). They've hired a new member to the team, a so-called "experimental weapons tech" who basically serves as a guinea pig for the Ghostbusters' many untested gadgets. You assume the role of the nameless rookie, who also has no speaking lines in the game. Some people might scoff at this but I think it was a perfect idea because it preserves the interactions between the four main Ghostbusters that we loved so much from the movies. Anyway, shortly after the newbie joins the crew a massive spectral energy force is unleashed upon Manhattan and it's up to the Ghostbusters to figure out what's going on.

With a third person point of view, you guide the rookie in and out of situations where you trap ghosts and solve puzzles throughout levels. Ghosts aren't entirely uniform, however- there's a wide range of types that have different strengths and weaknesses and must be dealt with accordingly. For example, many ghosts require the typical method of blasting them with the proton stream and then sucking them into a ghost trap, but others require you to freeze them in place with a different type of beam and then disintegrate them with a shotgun-like blast. Trapping ghosts earns you money, which you can then use to purchase upgrades for the four different proton pack weapons you switch between. There's the regular proton stream and the stasis stream which I just mentioned, as well as the slime tether and the meson collider. The slime tether is pretty much exactly what it sounds like- you use it to shoot a tether of slime at at object, which you can then attach to another in order to move it out of the way. You also must use the good slime to neutralize the effects of black slime which you'll encounter throughout the game, as well as defeat certain enemies. Finally, the meson collider acts sort of a like a powerful machine gun version of the regular proton stream.

By far though, the most fun I had in the game was by trapping ghosts using the regular proton stream, just like in the movies. It works a tad differently however, as they needed to add some extra layer of challenge to the game. In order to be able to trap a ghost, you need to first substantially weaken it by slamming it around using the proton stream. Holding onto it for longer charges the "slam meter", and once that is high enough you can deal greater damage to it, thus making it easier to drag into a trap. It sort of feels like fishing, except way cooler because, well, it's Ghostbusters.

As you progress through the game, you can also use the PKE meter practically to locate ghosts and also find hidden areas (usually that lead to an achievement or trophy for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, respectively). You can also use it to scan different ghosts, which gives you more info about them that you can read about in "Tobin's Spirit Guide", which was mentioned by Egon and Ray in the movies. It's little tie-ins like that to the lore of both movies that made it such a fun experience for die-hard fans of the movies like myself. There's tons of little references everywhere if you look hard enough. There's also so-called cursed artifacts all around, which can be picked up and examined to even further expand the Ghostbusters lore. There's even a few nods to the cartoon shows for eagle-eyed players, such as the PKE meter at the workbench in the basement that looks suspiciously like the one from the Real Ghostbusters. Also, there's a reference to the hilariously badly translated ending screen of the first Ghostbusters video game for NES on one of the computers in the firehouse. Like I said, I couldn't get enough of it all.

 The appearance of the infamous ending text from the NES Ghostbusters game was just one little nod to a franchise with as rich of a history as Ghostbusters.

As you play through the game, you learn that the spectral energy surge has been the result of Ivo Shandor, the servant of Gozer who was discussed at length in the first movie, attempting to break through to our world and take control. You visit many familiar locations such as the New York Public Library and the Sedgewick Hotel, which all tie into the story nicely. You also get to sit back and let the four Ghostbusters work their comedic magic together again. For instance, one part that cracked me up was when Egon and Winston are assessing a giant machine.

"What if we try locking those things down?" asks Winston.

To which Egon replies- "I can calculate 54 likely outcomes...we'd survive three of them."

Winston then nonchalantly responds- "That beats our usual odds."

Aside from the comedy, you also get to experience a lot of the strange and mystical spirit world qualities of Ghostbusters, the kinds that were only alluded to in the movies, most likely because of a lack of production budget to bring them to life. For example, one chapter has you crossing through a dimensional portal into a nightmarish "ghost world" version of the New York Public Library. Also, there's a boss fight with a "giant Slor," which was only briefly mentioned in passing in the first movie. And of course every Ghostbusters fan wondered what the hell a Slor was! After this game, we finally knew- and it was just one more indication that the developers clearly recognized the franchise and its fanbase, treating it with the due respect it deserved.

Ever wonder what a giant Slor is? Well, there you go! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you.

The game mostly felt, to me, like a big combination of both the movies and the cartoon show. For example, in the chapter where you follow the Stay Puft Marshamallow Man through Times Square in an attempt to suck him into a massive trap mounted on top of the Ecto-1 called the "Super Slammer," it reminded me very much of some of the plots to episodes of The Real Ghostbusters. To further illustrate that point- in an episode called "Cry Uncle", the climax has the Ghostbusters chasing Mr. Stay Puft through the city in order to trap him, very much like in the video game. Also, in another chapter the Ghostbusters are riding a boat around that Ray refers to as "Marine Ecto-8." That had to be a direct reference to the cartoons, in which the Ghostbusters often used a helicopter called Ecto-2.

From an episode of The Real Ghostbusters...

...and the second chapter of the game. Once again, you can clearly see the influence with the right set of eyes.

This was all perfectly fine with me because I love the cartoons, probably just as much as I love the movies. Seeing them both mixed together and thrown into a video game was just about everything that could've made me happy as GB fan.

Just about. Now, I've said this to many people before and also alluded to it in a previous review, but I'm always quick to defend Ghostbusters 2 from the many people who claim it's a bad movie (many of which, by the way, seem to have suspiciously emerged within the last year or so. Wonder why that is?). Firstly, no, it's not a bad movie, and if you think it is then get out of my life. Secondly, as a fan of the second movie just as much as the first one, I would've liked to see more references to it throughout the game. There's a few minor ones here and there such as the discarded firehouse sign outside the window that can just barely be seen, or the cursed artifact of the "hot beverage thermal mug and free balloons for the kids," and even the painting of Vigo the Carpathian that's hanging around in the firehouse, but for the most part it is much more strongly connected to the story of first movie as opposed to the second. The closest the game comes to having a tie-in with the second movie is during the chapter on Shandor Island, in which you run around in a sewer-like area following a flow of dangerous black slime, which was quite reminiscent of the river of slime in GB2. However, that's about it as far as references. Personally, I would've loved to have seen a return of the Scolari Brothers- I mean, what a perfect opportunity for a boss battle would that have been? We got to see three of the big monsters from the first movie return to play prominent roles in the story, so why not the Scolari Brothers? Seemed like a missed opportunity to me.

The chapter which has you following an underground flow of black slime was about the closest the game got to a Ghostbusters 2 feel.

Anyway, beyond my gripes about the lack of Ghostbusters 2 references, there really isn't much I had to complain about while playing through. Just some minor things- for instance, sometimes the dialogue becomes noticeably unsynchronized with the character's mouth movements during cutscenes, something that seemed a tad amateurish even in 2009. And speaking of dialogue, it's pretty obvious in his voice acting that Bill Murray was not that into the project. You can tell almost every time he was speaking that he really phoned in his performance. In fact, sometimes you can't even tell what he's saying at all because he's mumbling his lines so much. It's a bit of a shame that he couldn't muster up at least a little more enthusiasm, especially since he didn't even have to do anything besides speak into a microphone, but I can look past it because at least he did it at all. At the end of the day, I don't even care if he decided to speak in a pirate accent the entire time, I'm just happy he was on board enough to be a part of it and step back into his role as Peter Venkman one last time. And lastly, the game is generally pretty short. It's fine because it gave it more of that authentic movie feel, but I only complain about it because I didn't want it to end. I wanted to see the Ghostbusters keep going forever.

Alas, nothing gold can stay. After the game came and went, it seemed like Ghostbusters was primed for a comeback. Talk of a third movie once again reared its head on all corners of the internet. Both Dan Akroyd and Ivan Reitman, the director of both movies, repeatedly stoked the flames for several more years. It was all speculation, but there was talk that a script was in the works. Would the world actually see a bonafide Ghostbusters 3 in the theaters? For a short period of time, it seemed plausible.

However, the end finally came on February 24th, 2014, when news broke of the death of Harold Ramis, the original actor for Egon Spengler and writer of the scripts for both movies and the game. With Ramis went the original Ghostbusters, and it seemed that now, once and for all, it was over. But you all know what happened next- shortly afterward, the "reboot" of Ghostbusters was announced, and despite all the doubt surrounding the franchise and the finality of Ramis' death, it continued to build steam and was eventually released in the summer of 2016. I have many mixed feelings about the reboot that are pretty much beyond the scope of this post, but suffice it to say that I think the whole thing was unnecessary. I actually enjoyed Max Landis' pitch for Ghostbusters 3 that has since surfaced on the internet and wouldn't have minded seeing that movie, but it's not what we got and unfortunately will never be. I also thought it was bitterly ironic that the original cast did a reunion for Entertainment Weekly magazine just 9 months after Ramis' death. I remember seeing it and thinking to myself "why couldn't they just put their differences aside like this when Ramis was still alive? He should have been there with them." We'll probably never truly know why.

Anyway, all of this only serves to illustrate how much the game meant to me as a fan. It is, for all intents and purposes, the Ghostbusters 3 that we all were waiting for. It was all of the Ghostbusters back together again for one final encore and it was the last sweet sendoff to a franchise that went away a little too early, as far as I'm concerned. Some might say that Ghostbusters has never really gone anywhere, but I'm in the camp that I would've liked to see all of the guys strap on the proton packs one last time on the big screen. However, I'm very happy with what I got in the game. As a video game it's a blast, as a continuation of the Ghostbusters franchise it's fantastic, and as the last remaining testament to the true fans, it serves its purpose well.

 I can't possibly describe to you how great it was to see the Ghostbusters back for one last ride.

The future of Ghostbusters is somewhat of a huge question mark right now. After the reboot had a mediocre showing in theaters, plans for a sequel were most likely scrapped. There doesn't seem to be anywhere left to go now, but I'm confident that the franchise will find a way to live on. It's my sincere hope that another cartoon series makes a return for a new generation. Hell, even as an adult you can bet I'd be parked in front of my TV every Saturday morning ready to watch further adventures of Peter, Egon, Ray and Winston. One can only hope. However, despite what may happen, the originals will always live on as unforgettable classics in the eyes of every nerd and geek who hoped they could build their own positron collider as a child. And right next to the two movies, you can add the video game to that list. Thanks for reading.