The highly-anticipated Ghostbusters reboot releases in about a month. And in the very same week a twin-stick shooter that takes place after the film will be available. None of the main characters from the film are in the game. Instead, original recruits made up of two guys and two girls fill out the cast, each with unique weapons and upgrades.
I’ve played many similar shooters to this, and this is easily one of the dullest ones. Each level consists of going from one point to another, shooting ghosts, zombies — which as far as I know were never in the original films– and flying flaming skulls in the face until they die, while capturing others. Why do you kill some ghosts and capture others? I have no idea, as it wasn’t explained.
Despite what Ray Parker Jr. once told us, busting certainly doesn’t feel good here. The capture process is tedious, boring, and happens far too often. When you come across a ghost that needs to be captured — which is a constant threat – you’ll have to switch from your character’s primary weapon to the proton pack. From there, you and the other Ghostbusters must all focus the beam while pulling in the opposite direction of wherever the ghost is trying to go. Instead of having confidence in its players to figure this out, a large onscreen graphic spoon-feeds you the direction in which you need to hold the stick.
Every so often during the capture process, players must pull the left trigger to slam the ghost on the ground. Doing this three or four times will eventually bring the ghost’s health down low enough that it can be trapped. Once a trap is placed for the ghost, all players must mash a button until it finally goes into the trap. The faster players press the button, the more ectoplasm they receive to use on upgrades between levels.
This method of busting wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t happen every few moments in a level to the point of being actively anti-fun. It was tedious to the point I was even dreading it during my short time with the game on the E3 show floor.
I shouldn’t dread busting ghosts in a Ghostbusters game, and you probably shouldn’t buy this game unless you’re a Ghostbusters obsessed masochist.
