Who You Gonna Call? Anyone Else!
Activision is continuing their recent stint of releasing subpar licensed material with Ghostbusters (2016). This four-player twin sticker shooter is nothing more than a rinse-repeat grindfest that is only slightly more entertaining than an Excel spreadsheet.
Although it was released side-by-side with the rebooted movie, this game has nothing in common. Instead of playing as the original four Busters or even the four female leads from the new movie, the player controls one of four nobodies. In fact, these four characters do not even have names let alone personalities. Each story segment opens with one non-animated picture with some cheap voice acting laid on top of it. It is obvious that corners were cut.
Watch me play through one level from the stream below:
Using the left stick to move and the right stick to aim, Ghostbusters controls like a typical twin-stick shooter. The problem, however, is the lack of variety, fun, and online co-op. Instead, the game wants the player to walk around the same flat and static environments, shoot the same enemies using the same combat tactics, using the same weapons. Making matters worse, there is no mini-map to help find the few collectables in each stage and characters walk slower than a cripple on an icy road. After the second stage is complete, the player will basically see everything the game has to offer. The soundtrack also repeats and there isn’t even an option to turn off the annoying controller rumble feature.
There is a leveling system but upgrades are not noticeable. Even after dedicating a few points to increase my player speed and damage, it did not make the game any more fun or different. Multiplayer is also limited to same-sofa only and each stage takes about an hour to complete, which is just way too long for a game this boring. I even had a mini-boss ghost get stuck in the environment preventing me from moving forward. There is an attempt at replay value by unlocking “remixed” stages but this is simply more of the same and an excuse to reuse assets to artificially inflate the gameplay. And because of the licensing, there are so many screens to sit through as the game boots up, you can make and drink a cup of coffee before you actually have the ability to start playing.
Activision is no stranger to licensed games but they really have produced some garbage lately. If Ghostbusters was a $5 download, the levels were shorter, there was online co-op, and some more variety to the enemies and weapon loadouts, then yeah, it could be worth checking out. But charging full retail price for a licensed property designed to ride off the movie’s hype train is simply insulting. Stick with the Luigi Mansion games if you need a ghost busting fix.
4/10
Remember?: Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime (XBLA)
Not As Good As: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (360)
Also Try: Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES)
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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