Ghostbusters:
The Video Game Remastered
TEN YEARS ON AND POLISHED UP, DOES BUSTIN’ STILL MAKE US FEEL GOOD? CHRIS BURKE
PUBLISHER MAD DOG GAMES / DEVELOPER TERMINAL REALITY, SABER INTERACTIVE / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £24.99/$29.99
through every action sequence and
story beat. There aren’t many movie
tie-in games that have ever been able
to boast such franchise authenticity.A big Twinkie
Set a couple of years after 1989’s
Ghostbusters 2, the team is still
operating out of the iconic New York
firehouse, lovingly rendered with a ton
of fan-pleasing detail.
You play as a bland, silent rookie on
his first day joining the company. But
bland is good – you don’t even have
a name. “No names,” says Venkman,
“we don’t want to get too attached.
Remember what happened to the
last guy?” This serves to put you in
the middle of the action while also
giving you a very personal sense of
joining the real Ghostbusters. No,
not the Real Ghostbusters cartoon
that was anything but... we mean the
movie ones you grew up with. Hours of
dialogue were written and recorded,
and the banter between Venkman,
Stantz, Spengler and Zeddemore
is genuinely funny and natural.There really hasn’t
been anything like
Ghostbusters in the
now-35 years since
its cinematic release.
The concept, genius
cast, sharp dialogue and truly iconic
scenes were, and are, a cut above.
Revisiting Atari and Terminal
Reality’s 2009 official Ghostbusters
game, given a ten-year remaster
by Saber interactive, finds it just as
gratifying as watching the classic ’80s
movies. Because as far as movie tie-in
videogames go, there really hasn’t
ever been anything like this, either.
Ten years ago, this writer was lucky
enough to meet and interview Dan
Aykroyd in New York to talk about a
game that he emphatically considered
to be the “third Ghostbusters film”.
Aykroyd not only put his likeness and
voice to the game, alongside originals
Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie
Hudson, but he and the late, great
Ramis had a hand in the story and
script, too, ensuring that the tone of
the first two Ghostbusters films runs
Venkman’s sarcasm, Spengler’s
deadpan delivery, Stantz’s giddy
enthusiasm – the talent involved
ensures you feel part of an interactive
movie. The likenesses are pretty
decent, and together with the VO
performances and a loving attention
to detail, justice is done to both
characters and universe. The game
takes almost all its plot cues from the
films, but while story progression is
linear, it’s the ghostbusting itself that
is so absolutely right it can’t fail to put
a smile on your face.
You’re armed with a PKE Meter for
locating spectres, ghost-sensitive
night vision goggles and, of course,
that iconic Proton Pack, which fires
proton streams to subdue and wrangle
ghosts, and traps to finally contain
them. First you need to knock each
spook into submission with a damage-
dealing proton stream, but once an
apparition is weakened, your pack
will auto-switch to a containment
stream to hold it, while you wrestle
it into position for the deployment of
a trap. Slamming the ghost into theshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
A remaster of the
impressively starry
2009 movie tie-in
game, featuring the
talents of (almost) all
the original cast.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Actually being in
an interactive
Ghostbusters movie.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Back off, man, we’re
scientists.082 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE