Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Encyclopedia
Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a 2009 cross-platform
action game
based on the Ghostbusters film franchise
. Terminal Reality
developed the Windows
, PlayStation 3
, and Xbox 360
versions, while Red Fly Studio developed the PlayStation 2
, PlayStation Portable
, and Wii
versions, and Zen Studios
developed the Nintendo DS
version. The game was released after several delays in development and multiple publisher changes. In North America, all versions of the game were published by Atari, while publishing in Europe for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 versions was handled by Sony Computer Entertainment
.
The game follows the player's character as a new recruit in the Ghostbusters, a team of parapsychologists
who pursue and capture ghost
s. The game features elements of typical third-person shooter
s, but instead of using a traditional gun, players are equipped with a "Proton Pack
", a laser beam-like weapon, and a ghost trap to fight and capture ghosts. The game's plot is set two years after Ghostbusters II
, around Thanksgiving in 1991, with the Ghostbusters team training the player's character while investigating paranormal activities in New York
.
Many of the principal cast members from the films were involved in the game's production. Each of the actors who portrayed the Ghostbusters in the films, Dan Aykroyd
, Harold Ramis
, Bill Murray
, and Ernie Hudson
, lent their voices
and likenesses to the in-game characters. Aykroyd and Ramis, who wrote the films, also aided in minor script doctor
ing for the game. Other film cast members, such as William Atherton
, Brian Doyle-Murray
, and Annie Potts
lent their voices and likenesses to the game's characters as well. Max von Sydow
also reprised the voice of Vigo the Carpathian. Ghostbusters: The Video Game also contains the soundtrack from the original Ghostbusters
film, along with various characters, locations, and props featured in the films. Ghostbusters creator Dan Aykroyd
has said, "This is essentially the third movie."
, placing players in the role of an original character simply known as "Rookie" (also called "Rook", "Newbie" and similar names by the Ghostbusters), a new recruit to the Ghostbusters team. Players control Rookie's movements as he explores the environments of each level, seeking out paranormal
activities and ghosts, either alone or with up to all four of the other Ghostbusters. Players can switch to a first-person perspective by equipping the Rookie with the PKE Meter and goggles. In this mode, paranormal items are highlighted and the PKE Meter will help direct players to ghosts or haunted artifact
s. Players can scan these elements to gain more information about them and receive a monetary reward. Weapons cannot be used in this mode.
Outside of the first-person view, players can aim and fire the Proton Stream to weaken ghosts so they can be captured in a ghost trap. However, continuous use of the pack will cause it to overheat. The pack can be manually vented to cool it down and keep it from shorting out and reseting. While the pack is overheated or being vented, players will momentarily be unable to use the pack's weapons. Once a ghost is weak enough, players can switch to the Capture Stream to maneuver the ghost into a ghost trap. With a ghost in the Capture Stream, players can also execute a "slam" attack to force it against a hard surface, weakening it further and making it easier to trap the ghost. The Capture stream can also be used to move objects in the environment.
The single player campaign for the Xbox 360, Windows and PlayStation 3 versions is the same. The Wii/PS2 version has a significantly different campaign although the stories are mostly the same. Over the course of the game, the Proton Pack is upgraded to include an additional firing mode other than the Proton Stream, such as the Shock Blast, Slime Blower (positively charged) and a Meson Collider, each with an alternate firing mode (a Boson Dart, Stasis Stream, Slime Tether and Overload Pulse). By capturing ghosts, as well as identifying cursed artifacts and new species of ghosts using the PKE Meter, players earn in-game money to spend on upgrades to proton pack modes and ghost traps. The game also tallies monetary destruction caused by the player, with Xbox 360 Achievements and PlayStation 3 Trophies awarded for either minimizing damage done, or for causing a high amount of damage.
Many achievements' names come from quotes in the films like, for example, the "You Gotta Try This Pole" achievement. Ray says "You Gotta Try This Pole" when he tries out the pole for the first time. Other quote achievements are "I Looked Into the Trap, Ray", "I Feel So Funky", "You Never Studied" and others.
In place of a traditional heads-up display
, the player's health
and weapon status are represented as meters on the rear of the Proton Pack. Health regenerates over time if the player does not take further damage. However, by taking more damage, they can be knocked down; if there are other Ghostbusters still standing, they will attempt to reach the player and revive him/her. Similarly, the player can help revive fallen team members. However, should all the active Ghostbusters fall, including the player, play will end and the player will have to restart at the last checkpoint.
The Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP versions (aka "Stylized Version") differ slightly from the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows versions (aka "Realistic Versions") in some aspects. In addition to the cartoon-like graphics and the E10+ rating, the Wii version uses the Wii Remote
for gameplay. Visual aspects of the interface are relocated, such as placing the Proton Pack's temperature meter as a HUD element instead of on the backpack. In the Stylized Version, the player "slams" a ghost by initiating a Simon Says
-type game with the ghost, and is also given the option to play as a man or woman.
's old Ghostbusters computer game. Making use of the DS's touch screen, this version features isometric
action, as well as driving sequences and elements of resource management and has an E rating.
, and sends the team on a variety of calls to capture ghosts that result from it, including Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Throughout these calls, they are hounded by Dr. Walter Peck, now head of the Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission (PCOC, pronounced "peacock") as appointed by Mayor Jock Mulligan, who warns them about causing too much damage in their ghost capturing activities. The Ghostbusters discover through a series of adventures and encounters with museum curator Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn (Alyssa Milano
) that Ivo Shandor, the architect who designed 55 Central Park West
that was once used to summon Gozer, had also designed a network of tunnels to channel ectoplasmic slime through the city, including specific Shandor-renovated buildings acting as nodes on a mandala
, as a means to merge the real world with the Ghost World and bring forth another Great Destructor like Gozer. The Ghostbusters help to destroy the nodes and capture the node guardians at the Sedgewick Hotel, the New York Public Library
, and the Museum of Natural History
. At the last node in the middle of the Hudson River
they discover a mansion on an island rising from the water. As they explore it, they find that the island belonged to Shandor and that Ilyssa is his descendant. They also discover machines pumping the slime into the tunnel network and disable them as well as the final Mandala node, and escape the island just before it sinks back into the water.
When they return to the mainland, the Ghostbusters find that Ilyssa was captured and the Containment Unit shut down, releasing the ghosts, and suspect that Peck has been possessed and is trying to call forth a Great Destructor. A massive mausoleum appears in Central Park
and the team fights their way into the central structure. Inside, they find both Ilyssa and Peck chained to walls and discover Mayor Mulligan possessed by Ivo Shandor himself who used Peck as a scapegoat to avoid detection. Shandor reveals that he wishes to take Gozer's place as a god, the latter having failed him twice. The Ghostbusters are able to exorcise Shandor from the Mayor before he can sacrifice Ilyssa as part of a ritual, but are pulled into the Ghost World where they are forced to fight Shandor in his Destructor form, a Satan
ic being called the Architect. They manage to defeat Shandor by crossing their Proton Streams, and return to the real world, where they rescue Ilyssa, Peck, and the Mayor before the mausoleum collapses.
During the credits, the four original Ghostbusters determine that five of them is just too many for one team, but decide to offer the Rookie a position as the head of a yet-to-be-opened Ghostbusters franchise in another city, setting the game up for a sequel.
In 2006, game developer ZootFly
started work on a Ghostbusters game before having secured the rights to develop the game from Sony. The company subsequently released videos of an early version of the game onto the Internet. However, the company was unable to secure the rights to develop the game as a Ghostbusters game. Zootfly then continued development of the game as a non-Ghostbusters themed game renamed TimeO.
Coincidentally, in the Spring of 2007, Sierra Entertainment
and developer Terminal Reality met with Sony to discuss the possibility of developing their own Ghostbusters video game. The positive reaction that Zootfly’s videos garnered helped sell the concept of such a game to Sony. After a successful pitch, Terminal Reality started developing the game, eventually stating that the PS3 was the lead development platform. One of the game's features that Terminal Reality promoted was a crowd artificial intelligence
system to be used extensively for a Thanksgiving Day parade
level that was eventually cut from the final version.
Development of the game stopped when Vivendi merged with Activision to form Activision Blizzard
. On July 28, 2008
Activision Blizzard (the publisher of Vivendi's and Sierra's titles) announced that only five franchises would be released through Activision. Ghostbusters was not one of them and was put in developmental limbo following the announcement. The Sierra PR team later confirmed that the game was not and would not be cancelled.
Ending months of speculation, Infogrames
announced on November 7, 2008, that Atari
would be releasing the game in June 2009, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first film's theatrical release. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show
, Sony confirmed that the game would be released on June 16 in North America and June 19 in Europe, alongside Blu-ray releases of the Ghostbusters films. Sony later announced that they would be publishing the PS2 and PS3 versions in Europe granting the Sony consoles a timed exclusive release, while Atari would publish the game for other consoles later in the year. Atari would remain the sole publisher for the games in North America. Despite Namco
's purchase of Atari's European operations, this release schedule remained intact. The Xbox 360 version of the game is not region locked
, allowing gamers in European markets to import and play the North American Xbox 360 release.
Terminal Reality reported total development costs between $15 and 20 million. They have also expressed interest in making a game based on the possible third Ghostbusters film.
The game was later released on the Xbox 360
's Games on Demand for $19.99.
gave both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions an 8.0 out of 10. Miller describes the game as a "love letter to Ghostbusters fans", saying that it "makes you feel like you are really a Ghostbuster". He lauds the CGI
cutscene
s as a positive feature, but finds fault with stiff character animation and bad lip sync
in the other cutscenes. Miller gave the Wii version a 7.8 out of 10. Unlike Miller, fellow reviewer Matt Casamassina believed that the aiming system in Ghostbusters was better than the aiming system in Resident Evil 4. PSM3
gave the game a score of 85 out of 100, stating that the game was "too short, but packed with quality and imagination." The A.V. Club gave the game a B-, noting that it was the best Ghostbusters game. Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot
rated the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game a 7.5 out of 10, listing the ghost-trapping gameplay and multiplayer mode as positives and frustrating spots in the game and repetitive gameplay as negatives. He also reviewed the Wii version and gave it a 8 out of 10 stating that "Ghostbusters is such riotous fun that you'll forgive its short length."
On both the Playstation and the Xbox 360 version of the game, there are tropies/achievements that are impossible to get for many players. This is not due to difficulty, but apparently to technical glitches in the programming of the achievements. A patch was released for the 360 version of the game that was designed to fix this, but it did not and in fact seemed to glitch other achievements that were previously achievable. Despite player outcry, the issue still remains unaddressed. The official forums for the game quickly delete any posts about this, which frustrates many people hoping to complete the game.
Ars Technica
has reported graphical differences between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Despite the fact that both versions were developed simultaneously by Terminal Reality, Ars claims that the PS3 version appears to use lower quality textures
compared to the Xbox 360 version.
Reviews for the Windows version of the game have tended to be more mixed. In general, reviewers have praised various elements of the gameplay, story, acting and graphics in a way consistent with the other platforms, but have expressed regret for a lack of multiplayer support and sometimes problematic digital rights management
implementation. While the Windows version received a generally positive review from GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd, it received a slightly lower score than the comparable Xbox 360 and PS3 versions due to having no multiplayer features and exhibiting "...noticeable signs of console porting, such as minimal graphics options and keyboard-centric menus." Axel Cushing of Armchair Empire glowingly described the gameplay and overall execution, but ultimately awarded the game only a 6.0 out of 10 due to an issue he encountered with the installer and the SecuRom
DRM scheme on the boxed version, which he described as "obnoxious as hell."
According to Terminal Reality, the game has sold over one million units by mid-July 2009.
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
based on the Ghostbusters film franchise
Ghostbusters (franchise)
Ghostbusters is a supernatural comedy multi-media franchise created in 1984. Its inception was for the movie Ghostbusters, released on June 8, 1984 by Columbia Pictures. It centered around a group of eccentric New York City parapsychologists who investigate and capture ghosts for a living...
. Terminal Reality
Terminal Reality
Terminal Reality is a video game development and production company based in Lewisville, Texas. Founded in 1994 by ex-Microsoft employee Mark Randel and former Mallard Software general manager Brett Combs, Terminal Reality develops a variety of games including racing games , 3D action games , and...
developed the Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
versions, while Red Fly Studio developed the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
, and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
versions, and Zen Studios
Zen Studios
Zen Studios is a software development company based in Budapest, Hungary. Primarily known for its pinball machine video games, the company worked with several franchises, including Marvel Comics, Ghostbusters, and Rocky and Bullwinkle.As of June 2011 Zen Studios is continuing to release...
developed the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
version. The game was released after several delays in development and multiple publisher changes. In North America, all versions of the game were published by Atari, while publishing in Europe for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 versions was handled by Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
.
The game follows the player's character as a new recruit in the Ghostbusters, a team of parapsychologists
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...
who pursue and capture ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s. The game features elements of typical third-person shooter
Third-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
s, but instead of using a traditional gun, players are equipped with a "Proton Pack
Proton pack
The Proton Pack is a fictional energy weapon used for weakening ghosts and aiding in capturing them within the Ghostbusters universe. First depicted in the film Ghostbusters, it has a hand-held wand connected to a backpack-sized particle accelerator...
", a laser beam-like weapon, and a ghost trap to fight and capture ghosts. The game's plot is set two years after Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II is a 1989 science fiction comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It is the sequel to the 1984 film Ghostbusters and follows the further adventures of a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities...
, around Thanksgiving in 1991, with the Ghostbusters team training the player's character while investigating paranormal activities in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Many of the principal cast members from the films were involved in the game's production. Each of the actors who portrayed the Ghostbusters in the films, Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
, Harold Ramis
Harold Ramis
Harold Allen Ramis is an American actor, director, and writer, specializing in comedy. His best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters and Russell Ziskey in Stripes , both of which he also co-wrote...
, Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
, and Ernie Hudson
Ernie Hudson
Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...
, lent their voices
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
and likenesses to the in-game characters. Aykroyd and Ramis, who wrote the films, also aided in minor script doctor
Script doctor
A script doctor, also called script consultant, is a highly-skilled screenwriter, hired by a film or television production, to rewrite or polish specific aspects of an existing screenplay, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, theme, and other elements...
ing for the game. Other film cast members, such as William Atherton
William Atherton
William Atherton , born William Atherton Knight II, is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:Atherton was born in Orange, Connecticut, the son of Roby and Robert Atherton Knight...
, Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray is an American comedian, screenwriter, actor and voice artist. He is the older brother of actor/comedian Bill Murray and has acted together with him in several films, including Caddyshack, Scrooged, Ghostbusters II, The Razor's Edge and Groundhog Day...
, and Annie Potts
Annie Potts
Anne Hampton "Annie" Potts is an American film and television actress. She is known for her roles in the 1980s popular films such as Ghostbusters , Pretty in Pink , Jumpin' Jack Flash , Who's Harry Crumb? and Ghostbusters II . Potts is also known as a voice-actress...
lent their voices and likenesses to the game's characters as well. Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow is a Swedish actor. He has also held French citizenship since 2002. He has starred in many films and had supporting roles in dozens more...
also reprised the voice of Vigo the Carpathian. Ghostbusters: The Video Game also contains the soundtrack from the original Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
film, along with various characters, locations, and props featured in the films. Ghostbusters creator Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
has said, "This is essentially the third movie."
Gameplay
The game is a third-person shooterThird-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
, placing players in the role of an original character simply known as "Rookie" (also called "Rook", "Newbie" and similar names by the Ghostbusters), a new recruit to the Ghostbusters team. Players control Rookie's movements as he explores the environments of each level, seeking out paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
activities and ghosts, either alone or with up to all four of the other Ghostbusters. Players can switch to a first-person perspective by equipping the Rookie with the PKE Meter and goggles. In this mode, paranormal items are highlighted and the PKE Meter will help direct players to ghosts or haunted artifact
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
s. Players can scan these elements to gain more information about them and receive a monetary reward. Weapons cannot be used in this mode.
The single player campaign for the Xbox 360, Windows and PlayStation 3 versions is the same. The Wii/PS2 version has a significantly different campaign although the stories are mostly the same. Over the course of the game, the Proton Pack is upgraded to include an additional firing mode other than the Proton Stream, such as the Shock Blast, Slime Blower (positively charged) and a Meson Collider, each with an alternate firing mode (a Boson Dart, Stasis Stream, Slime Tether and Overload Pulse). By capturing ghosts, as well as identifying cursed artifacts and new species of ghosts using the PKE Meter, players earn in-game money to spend on upgrades to proton pack modes and ghost traps. The game also tallies monetary destruction caused by the player, with Xbox 360 Achievements and PlayStation 3 Trophies awarded for either minimizing damage done, or for causing a high amount of damage.
Many achievements' names come from quotes in the films like, for example, the "You Gotta Try This Pole" achievement. Ray says "You Gotta Try This Pole" when he tries out the pole for the first time. Other quote achievements are "I Looked Into the Trap, Ray", "I Feel So Funky", "You Never Studied" and others.
In place of a traditional heads-up display
HUD (video gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
, the player's health
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
and weapon status are represented as meters on the rear of the Proton Pack. Health regenerates over time if the player does not take further damage. However, by taking more damage, they can be knocked down; if there are other Ghostbusters still standing, they will attempt to reach the player and revive him/her. Similarly, the player can help revive fallen team members. However, should all the active Ghostbusters fall, including the player, play will end and the player will have to restart at the last checkpoint.
The Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP versions (aka "Stylized Version") differ slightly from the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows versions (aka "Realistic Versions") in some aspects. In addition to the cartoon-like graphics and the E10+ rating, the Wii version uses the Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
for gameplay. Visual aspects of the interface are relocated, such as placing the Proton Pack's temperature meter as a HUD element instead of on the backpack. In the Stylized Version, the player "slams" a ghost by initiating a Simon Says
Simon says
Simon says is a children's game for three or more players where one player takes the role of 'Simon' and issues instructions, to the other players, which should only be followed if prefaced with the phrase 'Simon says', for example 'Simon says jump in the air'...
-type game with the ghost, and is also given the option to play as a man or woman.
Multiplayer
The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions feature online multiplayer. Players can play online in a cooperative mode with up to three others in a variety of missions outside of the main storyline. These include capturing as many ghosts in a limited period or attempting to defend ghost disruptors as they are charged up. The Wii version is the only other platform to feature multiplayer, with the entire single player mission playable by two players in split-screen mode.DS version
The DS version developed by Zen Studios is completely different from the both the Stylized and Realistic Versions and has been compared to ActivisionActivision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
's old Ghostbusters computer game. Making use of the DS's touch screen, this version features isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
action, as well as driving sequences and elements of resource management and has an E rating.
Plot
The events of the game begin during Thanksgiving Day 1991, two years after the events of Ghostbusters II. The Ghostbusters, now official city contractors, are training a new recruit, whom Dr. Venkman insists they simply call "Rookie", so they don't get too attached, in case something should happen to the new hire while testing out experimental equipment. A large PKE shockwave then hits New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and sends the team on a variety of calls to capture ghosts that result from it, including Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Throughout these calls, they are hounded by Dr. Walter Peck, now head of the Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission (PCOC, pronounced "peacock") as appointed by Mayor Jock Mulligan, who warns them about causing too much damage in their ghost capturing activities. The Ghostbusters discover through a series of adventures and encounters with museum curator Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn (Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Milano
Alyssa Jayne Milano is an American actress and former singer, known for her childhood role as Samantha Micelli in the sitcom Who's the Boss? and an eight-year stint as Phoebe Halliwell on the series Charmed. She was also a series regular on the original Melrose Place portraying the role of...
) that Ivo Shandor, the architect who designed 55 Central Park West
55 Central Park West
The building at 55 Central Park West, also known as the Ghostbusters Building, is a 19-floor housing cooperative located in Manhattan, New York City, U.S.A. The building was built in 1929 and designed by the firm Schwartz and Gross. Both the interior and the exterior possess unique architectural...
that was once used to summon Gozer, had also designed a network of tunnels to channel ectoplasmic slime through the city, including specific Shandor-renovated buildings acting as nodes on a mandala
Mandala
Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...
, as a means to merge the real world with the Ghost World and bring forth another Great Destructor like Gozer. The Ghostbusters help to destroy the nodes and capture the node guardians at the Sedgewick Hotel, the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, and the Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
. At the last node in the middle of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
they discover a mansion on an island rising from the water. As they explore it, they find that the island belonged to Shandor and that Ilyssa is his descendant. They also discover machines pumping the slime into the tunnel network and disable them as well as the final Mandala node, and escape the island just before it sinks back into the water.
When they return to the mainland, the Ghostbusters find that Ilyssa was captured and the Containment Unit shut down, releasing the ghosts, and suspect that Peck has been possessed and is trying to call forth a Great Destructor. A massive mausoleum appears in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
and the team fights their way into the central structure. Inside, they find both Ilyssa and Peck chained to walls and discover Mayor Mulligan possessed by Ivo Shandor himself who used Peck as a scapegoat to avoid detection. Shandor reveals that he wishes to take Gozer's place as a god, the latter having failed him twice. The Ghostbusters are able to exorcise Shandor from the Mayor before he can sacrifice Ilyssa as part of a ritual, but are pulled into the Ghost World where they are forced to fight Shandor in his Destructor form, a Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
ic being called the Architect. They manage to defeat Shandor by crossing their Proton Streams, and return to the real world, where they rescue Ilyssa, Peck, and the Mayor before the mausoleum collapses.
During the credits, the four original Ghostbusters determine that five of them is just too many for one team, but decide to offer the Rookie a position as the head of a yet-to-be-opened Ghostbusters franchise in another city, setting the game up for a sequel.
Development
ZootFly
ZootFly is a Slovenian video game developer specializing in the development of action adventure games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. ZootFly is a member studio of the International Game Developers Association .-History:...
started work on a Ghostbusters game before having secured the rights to develop the game from Sony. The company subsequently released videos of an early version of the game onto the Internet. However, the company was unable to secure the rights to develop the game as a Ghostbusters game. Zootfly then continued development of the game as a non-Ghostbusters themed game renamed TimeO.
Coincidentally, in the Spring of 2007, Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
and developer Terminal Reality met with Sony to discuss the possibility of developing their own Ghostbusters video game. The positive reaction that Zootfly’s videos garnered helped sell the concept of such a game to Sony. After a successful pitch, Terminal Reality started developing the game, eventually stating that the PS3 was the lead development platform. One of the game's features that Terminal Reality promoted was a crowd artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
system to be used extensively for a Thanksgiving Day parade
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...
level that was eventually cut from the final version.
Development of the game stopped when Vivendi merged with Activision to form Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard, Inc., formerly Activision, Inc. is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and was created through the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007, in a...
. On July 28, 2008
2008 in video gaming
Notable events of 2008 in video gaming. See also history of video games. The release dates listed in this article are the games' original release dates.-Events:...
Activision Blizzard (the publisher of Vivendi's and Sierra's titles) announced that only five franchises would be released through Activision. Ghostbusters was not one of them and was put in developmental limbo following the announcement. The Sierra PR team later confirmed that the game was not and would not be cancelled.
Ending months of speculation, Infogrames
Infogrames
Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory...
announced on November 7, 2008, that Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
would be releasing the game in June 2009, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first film's theatrical release. At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
, Sony confirmed that the game would be released on June 16 in North America and June 19 in Europe, alongside Blu-ray releases of the Ghostbusters films. Sony later announced that they would be publishing the PS2 and PS3 versions in Europe granting the Sony consoles a timed exclusive release, while Atari would publish the game for other consoles later in the year. Atari would remain the sole publisher for the games in North America. Despite Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
's purchase of Atari's European operations, this release schedule remained intact. The Xbox 360 version of the game is not region locked
Regional lockout
Regional lockout is the programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed on the version of the same device marketed in another country.-Video games:...
, allowing gamers in European markets to import and play the North American Xbox 360 release.
Terminal Reality reported total development costs between $15 and 20 million. They have also expressed interest in making a game based on the possible third Ghostbusters film.
The game was later released on the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
's Games on Demand for $19.99.
Reception
Ghostbusters: The Video Game met with generally positive reception. Greg Miller of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions an 8.0 out of 10. Miller describes the game as a "love letter to Ghostbusters fans", saying that it "makes you feel like you are really a Ghostbuster". He lauds the CGI
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
cutscene
Cutscene
A cutscene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has no or only limited control, breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, strengthen the main character's development, introduces enemy characters, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue, and clues...
s as a positive feature, but finds fault with stiff character animation and bad lip sync
Lip sync
Lip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
in the other cutscenes. Miller gave the Wii version a 7.8 out of 10. Unlike Miller, fellow reviewer Matt Casamassina believed that the aiming system in Ghostbusters was better than the aiming system in Resident Evil 4. PSM3
PSM3
PSM3 is a video game magazine specialising in all Sony video game consoles and handheld gaming platforms. PSM3 is published by Future Publishing, a UK-based publishing company....
gave the game a score of 85 out of 100, stating that the game was "too short, but packed with quality and imagination." The A.V. Club gave the game a B-, noting that it was the best Ghostbusters game. Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
rated the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game a 7.5 out of 10, listing the ghost-trapping gameplay and multiplayer mode as positives and frustrating spots in the game and repetitive gameplay as negatives. He also reviewed the Wii version and gave it a 8 out of 10 stating that "Ghostbusters is such riotous fun that you'll forgive its short length."
On both the Playstation and the Xbox 360 version of the game, there are tropies/achievements that are impossible to get for many players. This is not due to difficulty, but apparently to technical glitches in the programming of the achievements. A patch was released for the 360 version of the game that was designed to fix this, but it did not and in fact seemed to glitch other achievements that were previously achievable. Despite player outcry, the issue still remains unaddressed. The official forums for the game quickly delete any posts about this, which frustrates many people hoping to complete the game.
Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
has reported graphical differences between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Despite the fact that both versions were developed simultaneously by Terminal Reality, Ars claims that the PS3 version appears to use lower quality textures
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
compared to the Xbox 360 version.
Reviews for the Windows version of the game have tended to be more mixed. In general, reviewers have praised various elements of the gameplay, story, acting and graphics in a way consistent with the other platforms, but have expressed regret for a lack of multiplayer support and sometimes problematic digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
implementation. While the Windows version received a generally positive review from GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd, it received a slightly lower score than the comparable Xbox 360 and PS3 versions due to having no multiplayer features and exhibiting "...noticeable signs of console porting, such as minimal graphics options and keyboard-centric menus." Axel Cushing of Armchair Empire glowingly described the gameplay and overall execution, but ultimately awarded the game only a 6.0 out of 10 due to an issue he encountered with the installer and the SecuRom
SecuROM
SecuROM is a CD/DVD copy protection and digital rights management product developed by Sony DADC. SecuROM aims to resist home media duplication devices, professional duplicators, and attempts at reverse engineering software. It is most often used for commercial computer games running under the...
DRM scheme on the boxed version, which he described as "obnoxious as hell."
According to Terminal Reality, the game has sold over one million units by mid-July 2009.