Ghostbusters will always be special to me. It was a kid-flick from an era when a PG-13 movie could have overt sexual jokes (remember the female ghost who, during a montage, appears above Dan Ackroyd when he’s in bed? She hovers above him, turns invisible, and then you see his pants unbuckling and his reaction helped me understand so many things about adulthood) (oh, and that whole Keymaster/Gatekeeper thing). I was 12. It was my birthday. My friends blindfolded me until we got to the theater. A wonderful day! Well, Atari released a game and it’s billed as – and almost lives up to the original film (Ghosterbusters 2 be damned!). Find out the “almost” here:

This is almost a great game. It’s scripted by Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd, and it shows. The music, from the theme to the incidental, is still extremely powerful and amusing. The controls are inspired, and there are even a few scares. Where the game slimes itself is usually with the Boss creatures. There’s too much knockback, knockdown, fail in this game, and too much of it feels random. Killed by a slow camera, a vertigo-inducing camera, and sometimes the PKE meter (which is like a camera) – or killed by Instant Death attacks from Boss beasties – uncool. I also didn’t like the storyline, which thankfully doesn’t recreate the movie faithfully but does restage most major scenes (notice the Stay-Puft Marshmellow(it popped in my head!” – ” man on the box art) and villains. “Next time someone asks if you’re a god, you say YES!” But the writing makes it worthwhile and drives you to the next scene – oh and a more laconic than usual Bill Murry is genuine funny- as usual – in the game (“Yes it’s true – this man has no dick” – “Yes Egon, tell me about the Twinkie.”).

Great game, often frustrating, but in no way a cheap licensed product. Teen for Teen but it should be E-10, I think) but any kids who’ve seen the movie will see nothing more offensive here.

Tags: Game Reviews