Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a 2009 crossplatform action game based on the Ghostbusters film franchise. Terminal Reality developed the Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions, while Red Fly Studio developed the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii versions, and Zen Studios developed the Nintendo DS version. The game was released after several delays in development and multiple publisher changes. In North America, all versions of the game were published by Atari, while publishing in Europe for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 versions was handled by Sony Computer Entertainment.
The game follows the player's character as a new recruit in the Ghostbusters, a team of parapsychologists who pursue and capture ghosts. The game features elements of typical third-person shooters, but instead of using a traditional gun, players are equipped with a "proton pack", a laser beam-like weapon, and a ghost trap to fight and capture ghosts.
Many of the principal cast members from the films were involved in the game's production. Each of the actors who portrayed the Ghostbusters in the films, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson, lent their voices and likenesses to the in-game characters. Aykroyd and Ramis, who wrote the films, also aided in minor script doctoring for the game. Other film cast members, such as William Atherton, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Annie Potts lent their voices and likenesses to the game's characters as well. Ghostbusters: The Video Game also contains the soundtrack from the original Ghostbusters film, along with various characters, locations, and props featured in the films. Ghostbusters creator Dan Aykroyd has said that "this is essentially the third movie."
Gameplay
Further information: Ghostbusters (franchise)#TechnologyThe game is a third-person shooter, placing players in the role of an original character simply known as "Rookie", a new recruit to the Ghostbusters team. Players control Rookie's movements as he explores the environments of each level, seeking out paranormal activities and ghosts, either alone or with up to all four of the other Ghostbusters. Players can switch to a first-person perspective by equipping the Rookie with the PKE Meter and goggles. In this mode, paranormal items are highlighted and the PKE Meter will help direct players to ghosts or haunted artifacts. Players can scan these elements to gain more information about them and receive a monetary reward. Weapons cannot be used in this mode.
Outside of the first-person view, players can aim and fire the proton pack's beam to weaken ghosts so they can be captured in a ghost trap. However, continuous use of the pack will cause it to overheat. The pack can be manually vented to cool it down. While the pack is overheated or being vented, players will momentarily be unable to use the pack's weapons. Once a ghost is weak enough, players can switch to the capture beam to manuever the ghost into a ghost trap. With a ghost in the capture beam, players can also execute a "slam" attack to force it against a hard surface, weakening it further and making it easier to trap the ghost. The capture beam can also be used to move objects in the environment.
The single player campaign for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and 3, and Wii versions is the same. Over the course of the game, the proton pack is upgraded to include an additional firing mode for the Proton Stream, a Shock Blaster, a Meson Collider, and a positively-charged Slime Blower, each with an alternate firing mode (A Stasis Stream, Overload Pulse and a Slime Tether (see below)). The Slime Blower's alternative mode is a Slime Tether which can be used to pull objects together and to solve some environmental puzzles. By capturing ghosts, as well as identifying haunted artifacts and new species of ghosts using the PKE Meter, players earn in-game money to spend on upgrades to proton pack modes and ghost traps. The game also tallies monetary destruction caused by the player, with Xbox 360 Achievements and PlayStation 3 Trophies awarded for either minimizing damage done, or for causing a high amount of damage.
Many achievements' names come from quotes in the films like, for example, the "You Gotta Try This Pole" achievement. Ray says "You Gotta Try This Pole" when he tries out the pole for the first time. Other quote achievements are "I Looked Into the Trap, Ray", "I Feel So Funky", "You Never Studied" and others.
In place of a traditional heads-up display, the player's health and weapon status are represented as meters on the rear of the proton pack. Health regenerates over time if the player does not take further damage. However, by taking more damage, they can be knocked down; if there are other Ghostbusters still standing, they will attempt to reach the player and revive him/her. Similarly, the player can help revive fallen team members. However, should all the active Ghostbusters fall, including the player, play will end and the player will have to restart at the last checkpoint.
The Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP differ slightly from the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows versions in some aspects. In addition to the cartoon-like graphics, the Wii version uses the Wii Remote for gameplay. Visual aspects of the interface are relocated, such as placing the proton pack's temperature meter as a HUD element instead of on the backpack. In these versions, the player "slams" a ghost by initiating a Simon Says-type game with the ghost. The player is also given the option to play as a man or woman.
Multiplayer
The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions exclusively game feature online multiplayer. Players can play online in a cooperative mode with up to three others in a variety of missions outside of the main storyline. These include capturing as many ghosts in a limited period or attempting to defend ghost disruptors as they are charged up. The Wii version is the only other platform to feature multiplayer, with the entire single player mission playable by two players in split-screen mode.
DS version
The DS version developed by Zen Studios is completely different from the other versions and has been compared to Activision's old Ghostbusters computer game. Making use of the DS's touch screen, this version features isometric action, as well as driving sequences and elements of resource management.
Plot
The events of the game occur during Thanksgiving 1991, two years after the events in Ghostbusters II . The Ghostbusters are training a new recruit, who Dr. Venkman insists they simply call "Rookie". A large PKE shockwave then hits New York City, and sends the team on a variety of calls to capture ghosts that result from it, including the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Throughout these calls, they are hounded by Walter Peck, now head of the Paranormal Contract Oversight Committee (P-COC) as appointed by Mayor Jock Mulligan, who warns them about causing too much damage in their ghost capturing activities. The Ghostbusters discover through a series of adventures and encounters with museum curator Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn that Ivo Shandor, the architect who designed 55 Central Park West that was once used to summon Gozer, had also designed a network of tunnels to channel ectoplasmic slime through the city, including specific Shandor-renovated buildings acting as nodes on a mandala, as a means to merge the real world with the Ghost World and bring forth another Great Destructor like Gozer. The Ghostbusters help to destroy the nodes and capture the node guardians at the Sedgewick Hotel, the New York Public Library, and the Museum of Natural History.At the last node in the middle of the Hudson River they discover a mansion on an island rising from the water. As they explore it, they find that the island belonged to Shandor and that Ilyssa is his descendant. They also discover machines pumping the slime into the tunnel network and disable them as well as the final Mandala node, and escape the island just before it sinks back into the water.
When they return to the mainland, the Ghostbusters find that Ilyssa was captured and the containment vault shut down, releasing the ghosts, and suspect that Peck has been possessed and is trying to call forth a Great Destructor. A massive mausoleum appears in Central Park as the team fights their way into the central structure. Inside, they find both Ilyssa and Peck chained to walls and discover Mayor Mulligan possessed by Ivo Shandor himself who used Peck as a scapegoat to avoid detection. The Ghostbusters are able to exorcise Shandor from the Mayor before he can sacrifice Ilyssa as part of a ritual, but are pulled into the Ghost World where they are forced to fight Shandor in his Destructor form, the Architect. They manage to defeat Shandor by crossing their proton streams, and return back to the real world, where they rescue Ilyssa, Peck, and the Mayor before the mausoleum collapses.
During the credits, the original four Ghostbusters determine that five of them is just too many, but decide to offer Rookie a position as the head of a yet-to-be-opened branch in another city.
Development
In 2006, game developer Zootfly started work on a Ghostbusters game before having secured the rights to develop the game from Sony. The company subsequently released vid
Ghostbusters: The Video Game - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a 2009 crossplatform action game based on the Ghostbusters film franchise. Terminal Reality developed the Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 ...
Ghostbusters The Video Game
Please upgrade your Flash player to the latest version here:
Ghostbusters - Xbox 360 - GAME.co.uk
Buy Ghostbusters on the Xbox 360 from GAME.co.uk, with game description, customer reviews, screenshots, videos and FREE UK delivery on all orders. GAME.co.uk the UK's leading games ...
Ghostbusters™: The Video Game
Ghostbusters the Video Game Official Site
Ghostbusters video games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ghostbusters is a series of video games that are based on the movie of the same name. The games have been released on many consoles since 1984.
Ghostbusters The Video Game for Xbox 360 - Ghostbusters The Video Game ...
Ghostbusters The Video Game for Xbox 360 - GameSpot offers reviews, previews, cheats, and more. Count on us for all of the latest on the Ghostbusters The Video Game Xbox 360 Game.
Ghostbusters - Wii - GAME.co.uk
Buy Ghostbusters on the Wii from GAME.co.uk, with game description, customer reviews, screenshots, videos and FREE UK delivery on all orders. GAME.co.uk the UK's leading games ...
Ghostbusters Game (GhostbustersVG) on Twitter
Ghostbusters the Video Game. Featuring the original cast in an all new adventure.
YouTube - Ghostbusters - Trailer (Game Trailer HD)
GHOSTBUSTERS : Supporting the ghost busting crew are the talents of Annie Potts, Brian Doyle Murray and William Atherton. Equipped with a variety of unique weapons and gadgets ...
Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009) (VG)
advertisement. Overview. User Rating: 9.2/10 356 votes. MOVIEmeter: Down 8% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro. Directors: Kody Sabourin David Wheeler