Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Preview
A story of Ectoplasmic proportions
by Rook
previewed on PC
All right!! His chick is TOAST!
All the old toys come back with a vengeance. From Ecto-1 to the Proton Packs and the famously recognizable PKE meters, fans will recognize all the tools of the trade. Of course, what sort of game doesn’t expand on the default equipment? As you develop your skills as a new Ghostbuster, Egon and Ray will hand you new, interesting and potentially lethal equipment to field test during missions. Of course, what good is a weapon if you don’t have anything to use it on? Some missions will revisit old favorites from Ghostbuster history. This isn’t to say you are playing a flashback, but instead, you will see some familiar apparitions. The ‘librarian’ from the beginning of the original movie was ‘the one that got away’ in the eyes of Ray. Well, the team returns to the library and drags the player along. Throughout any given mission there will be smaller apparitions that act as enemies. In the case of the library, spirits called ‘Animators’ will inhabit library books and join together to create a humanoid enemy, acting as a defender of the actual librarian ghost. Needless to say, there will be plenty of ghosts jumping out at the player to keep those trigger fingers happy.
Another feature Ghostbusters is boasting, is its massively destructible environments and physics engine. From the looks of it, if it can be shot at, it can be obliterated. The player shouldn’t feel the need to keep damages to a minimum. Since the Ghostbuster work on behalf of the city, guess who picks up the bill? Ghostbusters will take full advantage of the power offered by current PC technology and its console counterparts PS3 and the 360. Currently, multiplayer hasn’t been hammered out just yet, although it has not been completely abandoned and is being developed.
Tell him about the Twinkie
What about the PS2 and Wii owners some may ask? A valid question, and Sierra / Red Fly Studios speak up with a positive answer. A Wii/PS2 version of the Ghostbusters game will be made available around the 4th quarter of 2008. The storyline of the PC version of Ghostbusters will be played through on the Wii version, however the game as a whole will be tuned down into a more cartoonish-style art direction which will focus more on split screen multiplayer. The Wii multiplayer version will consist of standard cooperative game play as well as competitive, including a Ghost vs. Ghostbuster free for all mode where players may play as a ghost with a new list of dirty tricks they can use to combat the proton-pack wielding Ghostbusters.
With veteran design and development experience from Terminal Reality, the power-house backing of Sierra and the combined talent and genius of the entire original Ghostbusters movie cast, Ghostbusters: The Video Game is sure be one of the most highly anticipated title of 2008. There is already a great deal of excitement building among Ghostbusters fans over the development of the title and thus far, it appears that they will not be disappointed. Only time will tell. For now we will have to make due with dusting off the old Ghostbuster jumpsuit and readying our gear. Soon enough, the Ghostbusters are once again on the move!
