In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the comedy classic Ghostbusters, stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson have reprised their roles for a videogame version: Once again, they play a ragtag unit of specter-battlers who use cheesy tech and even cheesier one-liners to bag their otherworldly quarry. You play as a rookie hired as “Experimental Equipment Technician.” It’s your job to test Egon’s latest Proton Pack upgrades, including the Shock Blast, Slime Tether, and Meson Collider. (Don’t ask.) True to the source material, only four Ghostbusters are allowed out on any given call, meaning the game is always cooking up a lame I’ll-stay-behind excuse for the remaindered member. More often than not, it’s Ernie Hudson.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game blatantly cribs from the Gears Of War playbook, with the camera taking the now-standard Marcus Fenix over-the-shoulder point of view. Similarly, the game’s early missions are almost too familiar to anyone who’s seen the movies. You’ll have to recapture Slimer, re-fight the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and battle the Librarian. For the first few hours, the game subsequently feels like it’s traveling in the wrong direction, covering well-worn narrative ground. Once it leaves the confines of the movies, it improves remarkably.