Sandy
Smash Champion
It's 1991. It's the United States of America. It's Thanksgiving. The events of the Ghostbusters II movie - oil-painted villain Vigo the Carpathian vanquished by Dr Peter Venkman and team - took place two years ago.
But the city of New York has embraced the law of original Ghostbusters baddie Gozer, and a museum dedicated to his architecture and art is about to open. So it looks like the perfect time for our spook-smashing heroes to set up an offshoot franchise team - with you as the newest recruit.
Yada, yada, yada. All that really matters is this: Ghostbusters: The Videogame is everything we dream of from a movie tie-in. You get the real Ghostbusters, the real ghosts, the real New York - and, best of all, you get to wield a Wii remote like a Slimer-sucking, scenery-smashing Proton Pack. Let's get bustin'!
Ghostbusters, people. Ghostbusters. If you grew up with a Ray Parker Jr 7" on constant rotation and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on your lunchbox, if you helped the movie to its quarter of a billion dollars in takings and Bill Murray to an endless career in grump-faced comedy genius - you're already giggling excitedly. If you didn't, well, you're in for a treat.
The beauty of Ghostbusters: The Videogame is that, in essence, it's the third movie. Expecting one of those movie tie-ins that uses generic nobodies and made-up enemies? Not a bit of it. Original stars Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis are on board, "very excited" according to the developers, and playing a big role in writing, tweaking and tuning the script ("It's real feedback - our stuff isn't just being sent into a void," say the devs).
So you get the real Ghostbusters - and you get the real ghosts, with the team determined to deliver pretty much every spook from both films, from Slimer to the Scary Woman In The Library (our name).
But, of course, this is also one of those dream-come-true Wii games. We're getting lightsabers in Star Wars: Force Unleashed; we're getting maracas in Samba De Amigo; now - yes! - the Wii remote's a Proton Pack. We've gone hands-on, and it's ace: move with the analogue stick, aim with the Wii pointer, then press Z and - bssszzhhmm! - 500,000Mhz of particle accelerator beam arcs across the room, frazzling ghosts and furniture. When the beam turns blue, you can slam a trapped Slimer against the walls, Eledees-style. And, yep, you do push the Nunchuk forward to slide a Ghost Trap under a spook before guiding him in with the Remote, 'tugging' him toward you a stubborn fish. It really is Ghostbusters.
The Wii version of Ghostbusters is its own beast compared to the PS3 and 360 versions you might have seen elsewhere. It's lovingly stylised, with a look to Egon, Ray and the crew that's not a million miles from this month's Battalion Wars 2. And, more crucially, it's designed with Wii's multiplayer strengths in mind: so not only will it have all 10 or so single-player levels, from the streets of New York to the mysterious 'Lost Island', but also a bulging grab bag of four-player modes and minigames. There's no Wi-Fi planned, unfortunately - but the devs promise Ghostbusters is "always fun" with you and three friends.
More on that in a minute, though. Let's talk single-player. The level we got to play on Wii was The Graveyard - a murky, spooky stalk up a rocky path. It starts with nightmare-inducing glowing babies emerging from the dirt - these Wisp-Class ghosts can be dispensed with one burst of the Proton Beam. But by the end, you're up against a colossal ghost boss with a gravestone on his head. This fella needs coordination: you've got your little team of Wii-controlled Ghostbusters (proper, talking ones from the movie, remember - including the mighty Murray as Dr Peter Venkman), intelligently searching for Proton Beam and Ghost Trap points. You all need to train your beams on the boss's head when he jack-in-the-boxes up from underground. Eventually, he'll make a run for it, prompting a hectic chase back down the hill.
Other levels are epic in scale. One's set during NY's Macy's Day parade, where you're battling your way onto a float. Another's a battle through a labyrinthine library basement, all flying books and shield-wielding ghost Knights - and, yep, the return of the Scary Women In The Library. And if you were hoping for a Stay Puft appearance, how's this: a chase through New York's city streets, culminating in an eye-shattering boss fight where you're blasting at the Marshmallow Man from the side of a skyscraper while he claws his way up, his horrible distorted bug-eyed baby face grinning right at you; his fat, delicious arms bunging stone pillars at your forehead.
So, that multiplayer. For one thing: four-player co-op - a full split-screen team of you and your mates, ghost-bustin' through the solo missions. And, for another thing: four-player competitive - solo missions again, but turned into an Eledees-style beam-criss-crossing battle to be first to the ghosts.
In addition, there's a massive 'Busters vs Ghosts' mode, subdivided into several different types (which you can read about in the box below). Red Fly promise "so many maps it'll almost feel like it's randomised" - and the play, with one team skittering around as ghosts while the others train their beams on them, is shaping up to be some of Wii's most hectic, back-and-forth multiplayering, with living room competitions bound to end in Fanta poured over hair and Pringles tubes rammed down throats.
Plus, you get a slew of two-to-three-minute minigames - including a 30-second battle to bag 100 ghosts that the developer describes as being "like Hungry Hippos". Aces.
We're a long way off from playing the finished version of Ghostbusters: the team's aiming for a Christmas 2008 release.
Plenty of time to rent the DVDs, blow the dust off Ray Parker Jr, fish the lunchbox out of the attic, and get ready to bust some ghosts.
Source
But the city of New York has embraced the law of original Ghostbusters baddie Gozer, and a museum dedicated to his architecture and art is about to open. So it looks like the perfect time for our spook-smashing heroes to set up an offshoot franchise team - with you as the newest recruit.
Yada, yada, yada. All that really matters is this: Ghostbusters: The Videogame is everything we dream of from a movie tie-in. You get the real Ghostbusters, the real ghosts, the real New York - and, best of all, you get to wield a Wii remote like a Slimer-sucking, scenery-smashing Proton Pack. Let's get bustin'!
Ghostbusters, people. Ghostbusters. If you grew up with a Ray Parker Jr 7" on constant rotation and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on your lunchbox, if you helped the movie to its quarter of a billion dollars in takings and Bill Murray to an endless career in grump-faced comedy genius - you're already giggling excitedly. If you didn't, well, you're in for a treat.
The beauty of Ghostbusters: The Videogame is that, in essence, it's the third movie. Expecting one of those movie tie-ins that uses generic nobodies and made-up enemies? Not a bit of it. Original stars Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis are on board, "very excited" according to the developers, and playing a big role in writing, tweaking and tuning the script ("It's real feedback - our stuff isn't just being sent into a void," say the devs).
So you get the real Ghostbusters - and you get the real ghosts, with the team determined to deliver pretty much every spook from both films, from Slimer to the Scary Woman In The Library (our name).
But, of course, this is also one of those dream-come-true Wii games. We're getting lightsabers in Star Wars: Force Unleashed; we're getting maracas in Samba De Amigo; now - yes! - the Wii remote's a Proton Pack. We've gone hands-on, and it's ace: move with the analogue stick, aim with the Wii pointer, then press Z and - bssszzhhmm! - 500,000Mhz of particle accelerator beam arcs across the room, frazzling ghosts and furniture. When the beam turns blue, you can slam a trapped Slimer against the walls, Eledees-style. And, yep, you do push the Nunchuk forward to slide a Ghost Trap under a spook before guiding him in with the Remote, 'tugging' him toward you a stubborn fish. It really is Ghostbusters.
The Wii version of Ghostbusters is its own beast compared to the PS3 and 360 versions you might have seen elsewhere. It's lovingly stylised, with a look to Egon, Ray and the crew that's not a million miles from this month's Battalion Wars 2. And, more crucially, it's designed with Wii's multiplayer strengths in mind: so not only will it have all 10 or so single-player levels, from the streets of New York to the mysterious 'Lost Island', but also a bulging grab bag of four-player modes and minigames. There's no Wi-Fi planned, unfortunately - but the devs promise Ghostbusters is "always fun" with you and three friends.
More on that in a minute, though. Let's talk single-player. The level we got to play on Wii was The Graveyard - a murky, spooky stalk up a rocky path. It starts with nightmare-inducing glowing babies emerging from the dirt - these Wisp-Class ghosts can be dispensed with one burst of the Proton Beam. But by the end, you're up against a colossal ghost boss with a gravestone on his head. This fella needs coordination: you've got your little team of Wii-controlled Ghostbusters (proper, talking ones from the movie, remember - including the mighty Murray as Dr Peter Venkman), intelligently searching for Proton Beam and Ghost Trap points. You all need to train your beams on the boss's head when he jack-in-the-boxes up from underground. Eventually, he'll make a run for it, prompting a hectic chase back down the hill.
Other levels are epic in scale. One's set during NY's Macy's Day parade, where you're battling your way onto a float. Another's a battle through a labyrinthine library basement, all flying books and shield-wielding ghost Knights - and, yep, the return of the Scary Women In The Library. And if you were hoping for a Stay Puft appearance, how's this: a chase through New York's city streets, culminating in an eye-shattering boss fight where you're blasting at the Marshmallow Man from the side of a skyscraper while he claws his way up, his horrible distorted bug-eyed baby face grinning right at you; his fat, delicious arms bunging stone pillars at your forehead.
So, that multiplayer. For one thing: four-player co-op - a full split-screen team of you and your mates, ghost-bustin' through the solo missions. And, for another thing: four-player competitive - solo missions again, but turned into an Eledees-style beam-criss-crossing battle to be first to the ghosts.
In addition, there's a massive 'Busters vs Ghosts' mode, subdivided into several different types (which you can read about in the box below). Red Fly promise "so many maps it'll almost feel like it's randomised" - and the play, with one team skittering around as ghosts while the others train their beams on them, is shaping up to be some of Wii's most hectic, back-and-forth multiplayering, with living room competitions bound to end in Fanta poured over hair and Pringles tubes rammed down throats.
Plus, you get a slew of two-to-three-minute minigames - including a 30-second battle to bag 100 ghosts that the developer describes as being "like Hungry Hippos". Aces.
We're a long way off from playing the finished version of Ghostbusters: the team's aiming for a Christmas 2008 release.
Plenty of time to rent the DVDs, blow the dust off Ray Parker Jr, fish the lunchbox out of the attic, and get ready to bust some ghosts.
Source
