Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Review - They're here to save the world

It feels like it's been a long time coming, but here it finally is, screaming onto consoles everywhere. Except now, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a timed PS3 exclusive thanks to Sony Pictures' ownership of the movie IP, so PC, Xbox 360 and Wii owners will have to wait until October to get their dose of ghostbustin' action. Still, if PS3 owners get a genuinely exciting exclusive to shout about then it's all good, right? And October's not really that far off anyway.

Setting aside the last minute exclusivity debacle, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is without a doubt one of the finest movie to game translations ever made. It's as faithful an adaptation of the genius 1984 comedy you could ever possibly hope for, with virtually the entire cast reuniting to lend their voices and likenesses and a script penned by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis themselves. As Aykroyd himself has already noted, this for all intents and purposes is the third instalment in the series, even though rumours of a follow up movie refuse to go away.

The involvement of the cast wouldn't mean squat if the game failed to deliver though, but fans can rest assured that Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a great third-person shooter first and foremost, with the licence providing the sweet, delectable icing on a damn tasty cake. Performance wise, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson all supply pitch perfect turns, slipping back naturally into their roles and rekindling the same energetic chemistry that made the original movie such a joy 25 years ago. No one phones it in - as so many actors often do when providing voiceover work for a game - so every line of dialogue is delivered with enthusiasm and verve rather than boredom and indifference.

Excellent likenesses and animation complete the look, and the number of familiar locations that you'll visit during the single-player campaign never fail to instil a genuine sense of warm nostalgia. You'll grin uncontrollably when you're tasked with trapping Slimer in the Sedgewick Hotel's massive reception room, bringing down the chandeliers, tearing through tables, chairs and furnishings, while simultaneously relishing the chance to revisit one of the movie's most iconic locations and causing as much damage as humanly possible. All destruction is charged to the city now too, so you're free to wreak havoc without worrying about putting the team out of business.

Ghostbusters' first section throws up so many nods to the original film, including chasing Slimer through the corridors of the Sedgewick before going on to confront the smiley-faced-bringer-of-the-apocalypse, the ever-popular Stay Puft marshmallow man on a rampage through Times Square. Once you've cleared this first stage, you could be forgiven for wondering where the game could possibly go from here, especially after handing over the two best-loved spooks from the movie in the first half an hour. But by the time the thought enters your brainpan, you're irresistibly hooked, totally involved in trapping ghosts and fully inhabiting the blank, mute equipment tester that you play as (who bizarrely, is based on a real person). We have to admit, we didn't think it would work and we baulked at the prospect of not being able to play as a proper Ghostbuster in single-player, but we're forced to acknowledge that having you play as a no-mark rookie actually allows you to act as a willing observer to the main characters witty exchanges while still feeling like one of the team.

All of the equipment has made the transition from the films intact too, albeit boasting significant upgrades to encourage a bit of variety in the methods you can utilise in apprehending meddlesome ghouls and spectres. The old favourite that you'll always return to is the luminous orange, crackling Proton stream, which is brilliantly replicated from the movies with all the hazards like complete protonic reversal and crossing the streams all present and correct. Using the power of the unlicensed nuclear accelerator strapped to your back, you wrangle and capture ghosts, which is a fantastically robust and satisfying mechanic that never grows tired. Essentially, much of the game boils down to wearing down apparitions enough to pull or slam dunk them into a trap, but the steady introduction of new functions for your Proton pack with an array of accompanying upgrades to purchase, keep things consistently fresh and interesting. Even the green slime gun from the second movie gets a look-in as one of the four firing modes at your disposal, with the dark matter stasis stream and meson particle gun fleshing out the functions of your Proton pack, which evolves visually throughout the game to show all of the requisite dials, gauges and other bells and whistles needed to generate such miraculous firepower. Each has a secondary fire mode too, the best of which is the slime tether, which unlocks the potential for all kinds of physics based fun as well as providing a few fiendish solutions to some puzzles at later junctures during the game.

Last but not least is your PKE meter, Egon's trusted gadget for tracking down ghosts and other nasties. Tapping triangle brings up the meter, slowing down your footsteps and switching to a goggled first-person view that ratchets up the tension during the quieter moments. Scanning spectral beasties adds them to your growing Tobin's Spirit Guide, which then gives you a well-written chunk of info on the thing you've just taken a reading of. You can even pick up collectible cursed artefacts using the PKE meter that then appear back at the Firehouse between missions.

While we still feel that the omission of a local or online co-op story mode is criminal, there're still a whole host of other great multiplayer modes to keep you busy including the option to create your own custom co-op missions playing as the core Ghostbusters team, which goes some way towards making up for the lack of a proper co-op campaign. Slime Dunk has you slamming as many of the ugly green spuds into traps as you can before the timer runs out, which proves to be a great laugh. The inclusion of extra weapons and other tweakable options makes multiplayer genuinely worthwhile, so there's still plenty of busting for your buck once you've torn through the main career. However, the entire multiplayer mode is exclusively online, which is a shame since the IP is tailor made for local splitscreen multiplayer.

Nonetheless, Ghostbusters: The Video Game manages to recapture the look and atmosphere of the movies so incredibly well, that it's impossible not to give it a hearty recommendation. The story remains suitably compelling and entertaining throughout, but it's the intuitive controls and strength of the ghostbusting itself that'll keep you playing. It's by no means perfect with the odd glitch or instance of slowdown cropping up now and again, and some in-game dialogue occasionally repeats itself, but none of it matters though, because the fact is that Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a real contender for best movie to game transition of all time. If you're a Ghostbusters fan, you need this. It's that simple. In conclusion, if this were a Twinkie, it would be a Twinkie thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds. And that's one big Twinkie.

85%