The Ghostbusters are paranormal investigators / exterminators from the 80's. You may have heard of some movies they were in or maybe a catchy them song they had...Who knows. But if you ever longed for a third movie in the franchise and/or ever wanted to be a Ghostbuster yourself you just might enjoy this game.
First, the obvious comparison to Xbox / Play Station - yes the Wii version is more of a cartoony quality and not realistic character models. However, this does not detract from the playability and fun of the game. I also understand there are some small differences in story and level design but I cannot comment fully on those. This review is for the Wii version.
Voice work - The voice work on this game is top notch especially as it applies to the four main characters, Venkmen (Bill Murray), Egon (Harold Ramis), Ray (Dan Aykroid) and Winston (Ernie Hudson ) who are, as you can see, are voiced by the men who made them famous. They talk and quip throughout the game and cut scenes with characteristics just like those of their screen counterparts with Egon's scientific jargon and bizarre experiments, Ray's excitement, Venkmen's sleepy rascal and Winston's exasperated ness (I love when he says that the Mayan calendar going only to 2012 is just laziness if you ask him).
Play and controls - You play as a nameless rookie (male or female) and basically a guinea pig to try out all of Egon's new weapons which is a great excuse for you to get all the cool stuff. You move with the numb chuck analog stick, A and B fires your weapons, C locks on and Z throws your trap. The only frustration for me is that this is one of those games where the Wiimote must be pointed at the screen at all times as it controls your view and turning as well as your aim. It can get tedious to point at the screen at all times even when just walking around and you can forget during crazy action sequences. Fighting works pretty well though - you can blast some enemies and some you can wear down then catch in a containment beam and trap just like in the movie. Once they are weakened you can smash the ghost around the room with Wii flicks based on on screen prompts and this part is really fun to do and makes you feel like a Ghostbuster (who you gonna call). Then you drag them into the trap and they are sucked in. Boss fights (with some truly cool looking bosses) are fairly simple but impressive.
Weapons and sounds - Of course you have your trusty proton pack and stream but you're the weapons specialist so it's not too long before you get an upgrade to that, a slime cannon, a stasis beam and shot and so on. One of the cooler gadgets is the EKG scanner you can use to track ghosts - especially if they are hiding and the accompanying goggles let you see spectral objects like hidden doors, ghostly traps, ghost trails and special objects. All the weapons make the sounds you'd expect especially the most familiar proton stream. Again this contributes to the fun.
Story - The story plays much like a 3rd movie in the franchise (the outstanding voice work really helping) with a story line that ties back to the original movie. You find yourself against old and new foes which is great (it wouldn't be Ghostbusters if you didn't get to blast the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man) as well as in old and new locations.
I've seen complaints about the length of the game being short or that there are several and long cut scenes. If you're a casual gamer though or just want more of that Ghostbuster goodness then this should make you happy and be a four star game. If you're more hardcore and want harder longer games with more photo realistic graphics then you'd probably need to drop to a three but either way it is an enjoyable game.Get more detail about Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
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