Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Nintendo’s diminutive console stands tough alongside Xbox 360 and PS3, delivering another top-notch Ghostbusting quest.

For the original Ghostbusters movie, actors Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Murray staged gleeful performances as three professors of the paranormal. Equally the range of videogames has proven to be an enthusiastic project for Atari. Love and respect for the 1980s source material really shines through, and in all versions you get a new script from Ramis and Aykroyd, plus voice acting from the original cast.

On Wii, Atari has made the sensible decision to stylise the visuals rather than offer up an inferior version of the Xbox 360 and PS3 characters and worlds. The storyline is broadly similar, set in 1991, following on from events in Ghostbusters 2. You don’t play as one of the famous Ghostbusters, it’s better than that: you’re the new recruit. Drs. Venkman, Spengler, and Stantz are your more experienced co-workers keen for you to road test some new-fangled equipment. Basically, you’re the guinea pig, an Experimental Weapons Specialist. And this is so much fun!

Strapped into your ‘unlicensed’ nuclear accelerator back-pack, your mission is to help the Ghostbusters investigate a supernatural shockwave emitting from an exhibit in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. You’re in at the deep end very soon, learning similar game mechanics to those we enjoyed on Xbox and PlayStation. Ghosts are first weakened, then slammed against the walls or ground before placing a trap to suck them in. Although your team mates constantly (and brilliantly) chastise the newcomer, in fact your advanced range of proton beam types – that include fire, ice, and slime – are the ones saving the day.

While the script keeps the banter alive with killer one-liners, the game designers have a great deal of fun with new ghosts and gadgets. Apparently there were a ton of ideas that weren’t technically possible for the movies, but these have made it into the games. The line-up of ghouls is different for the Wii than Xbox and PlayStation, but no less entertaining should you need an excuse to complete your Ghostbusting experience. One of our favourite minor enemies is a zombie made of photocopier paper, while ‘boss’ ghouls such as the iconic Mr Stay Puft are truly cinematic.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game is the first game in a long while to make using the quirky Wii controls seem ideal. The Wii remote becomes an extension of your proton pack, and wrestling with the ghosts requires you to yank it this way and that before aiming toward the traps. Wii gets a cool co-op mode too, allowing a couple of friends to complete the entire story mode together in horizontal Split-Screen.

Be advised that the game is over quickly; most gamers will comfortably reach the end over one rainy weekend. However don’t let this stand in the way of your wish to own the game, it still feels like the essential Christmas blockbuster on Nintendo Wii. Your enjoyment is guaranteed.

4 out of 5