Ghostbusters PS3 review

I’ve been following the development of Ghostbusters since I first saw it at the Play.com event in March last year at Wembley. Back then it was down for a June/July 08 release, so to see it finally come out twelve months later was a bit of disappointment. The best things come to those that wait they say. I’d also argue that good but far-from-spectacular things also come to those that wait as well.

There were many games journalists (and I include myself in that statement) who were thinking that Ghostbusters was going to be terrible. However the glimpses I got of it last year changed my mind and I was starting to wonder whether this could actually be rather spectacular. It had the license, it had the cast, it had the one-liners, it had some rather great looking visuals and by the looks of things, it had some frenetic arcade gameplay to boot. With another twelve months to correct any bugs and tighten it up, I was sure that it would just get better. Having now finished it though, Iam wondering what they were doing during those twelve months.

If they were still saying in March last year that it was due for a June/July release, it must have been nearly finished. If that was the case, then it’s even more inexcusable for many of the foibles in Ghostbusters to still be there. From atrocious AI (more on that later) to the disappointing PS3 visuals (textures are lacking compared to the 360 version) and the tearing in both versions, there was surely more than enough time to rectify these.

But we are where we are and lets get one thing straight; Ghostbusters is far from a letdown. From the superb opening menu right through to the closing credits, it does its best at making you feel like a real Ghostbuster. This can be attributed, in part at least, to the Proton pack acting as the games HUD. All of your readings are on the back of the Proton pack, from your health to the temperature of the pack, and this removes any of the, often, unsightly readouts from the screen.

Having the original cast provide the voice-over work also helps immensely. Hearing Peter throw glib one-liners at the rest of the crew makes you feel one of the guys, and Winston still has some of the best lines. There are familiar faces as well, such as Slimer and Stay Puft that make you feel right at home.

Unfortunately the game peaks too early, throwing Slimer and Stay Puft at you very early on, and this took away from my enjoyment towards the latter stages of the game. Although every ghost has a back-story (viewable after scanning them with your PK device, which also informs you of what Proton attachment works best against them) it’s hard to really engage with the ones that you have never seen before.

The gameplay also starts to become very repetitive by the time you’ve even reached the halfway point (Ghostbusters is about 10-12 hours long). Rather than having various weaknesses for the ghosts, such as a fear of water (turning on sprinklers, throwing water coolers at them, etc.), the majority of the ghosts are captured in the same way. Scan them with your PK device, see which Proton attachment they’re most susceptible to (there are four different attachments) and unloading with that attachment for nearly a minute until their energy is depleted enough to capture them in a stream and guide them towards a trap. The only ghosts that differ are those that explode when their energy is depleted, rather than needing to be captured.

I was expecting more than that. Luigi’s Mansion had more interesting ghost-capturing gameplay than this years ago, so it’s a disappointment that the daddy of them all, Ghostbusters, can’t at least emulate that. In addition the AI of your team mates is depressingly bad. Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston (you play as a new recruit) all accompany you on your quest (although not at the same time) but don’t provide the support they should. From standing stock-still, staring at a wall until you trigger an event, to walking in a straight line to revive you crossing the path of a 50 feet tall spinning behemoth and dying in the process.

Outside of the main campaign there’s also multiplayer, but again this suffers from the repetitive gameplay. It starts off nice not having to deal with gormless AI team mates, but after a couple of games of each mode, I’d had my fill. Slime Dunk is the only mode that may tempt me back (dunking poor Slimer in traps is rather fun).

So Ghostbusters is good fun, but nothing that’s going to get you too excited. It’s better than some may have expected, but not as good as it could have been, what with the opportunities the license brought to it. It lasts long enough, it provides enough of a challenge and at times it delivers a fun experience. It’s just let down by repetitive gameplay and last-gen AI, which is a shame.

Our rating

6/10