Ghostbustin' makes you feel good!

[Hijacker]

2 more days till this is out on the shelves! The video shops around here though wait until Friday to get new stock on, so I'll be out in the cold for a while. I've been waiting for a good Ghostbustin' time since 1989. So I hope this wait is worth it. So far all the preview chatter I've seen make it look good. The game seems to have quite a variety of playability to it, and since Ramis and Aykroyd are writing the story, I don't doubt that the game will be very entertaining even if the gameplay suffers.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I've been looking forward to this one. Watching gameplay videos, I can see a lot of potential for fun, but also a lot of potential for tedium and annoyance. I'm really glad that so much of the original cast/team has returned for the game. Hopefully even if the gameplay isn't perfect, we'll still be able to enjoy some good Ghostbusters humor.

[BusyBadger]

I'm so mixed on picking up this game. The huge amount of delays are a sore spot with me, but with Batman: Arkham Asylum delayed for a while GB might get added to my library.

Or maybe I'll stick with Mass Effect and see what the reviews are like on here.

[ProudNissanFreak]

IGN review GB and gave it like an 8.2 or something. Nonetheless, the game looks good and fun. Definitely a plus having the original cast come back for the game. Just like old times.

[Hijacker]

I just watched the IGN review, and I have to say that I'm impressed. Given the production studio's semi-obscurity, I figured that the presentation would be a bit rough. However, there were no beefs with the gameplay, and the story was credited for being very good.

To get myself pumped for the game's release, I popped my movies in the DVD player, but I'm sad to say I can't find my copy of II.

BTW, let's have a contest of super geekiness. Who's the biggest Ghostbuster fan? I owned the original movie on a Betamax copy and used to dress up as Venkman for halloween when I was a kid. I also saw it in theaters (both I and II), although I don't remember seeing I at all. My parents will attest that I used to be able to recite the first film backwards cause I burned out the betamax tape I had it on.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I have one big beef with the gameplay: the ghost catching itself looks like it could be hugely tedious. They made it too mechanical in order to get more "gameplay" out of something simple. Should have been left simple and fun.

[Hijacker]

One thing to remember about the demo that was at comic-con (the only video I've seen with ghost catching in it) is that the player doesn't have all the weapons available at that point. There's a stun upgrade that you get. I think it's called a Boson Shot. Anyways, if it's used like I think it is, you can stun the ghost, snare it, then trap it. Also, the announcer in the video made it sound like that was a particularly obnoxious ghost, so maybe not all of them will be as hard to subdue.

I found out something about why there was a huge delay in the game, Alex. Activision had the original publishing rights, but they merged with Vivendi last year. They put the game on hold for whatever internal reasons. It wasn't announced until November last year that the game wasn't dead in the water. So they changed the release date to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the franchise. I imagine the game has been finished for some time since you can download 360 versions of the game right now.

[Hijacker]

So I picked this up today and I've only done the Sedgewick Hotel level, and I have to say I like the mechanics. Stunning ghosts isn't as prolonged and annoying as the SDCC video made it seem. I do agree that Bill Murray's voice acting is a bit weird/forced sounding. It feels like he's trying to get in character when Venkman was really more of an extension of himself. I haven't made it to the story part yet. The Sedgewick is really for training purposes and a chance to revisit some GB geekiness.

[ProudNissanFreak]

How would you rate the game so far on a scale of 1 to 10?

[Hijacker]

I'd give it about an 8 or 9 out of 10. There are few polish things that keep it from making a full 9 (I'm usually too critical to give 10s). The only thing that really bugs me is Venkman's dialogue. I have ran into one instance where the game messed up and I had to reset it. It was the beginning of the library level. Winston and Peter didn't move in with Egon and Ray, so I was stuck with the two standing outside and couldn't progress. A reset fixed that.

EDIT: I didn't mention before but the trapping aspect of the game is probably the coolest mechanic. There's a very visceral feel when you're wrangling the ghost over the trap and it opens up and begins to draw the ghost in. Screams are loud, the particle beam is awesome sounding, and the trap makes the quintessential sucking noise. Then when the trap closes, all the ambient sounds and music clear away for the beeping of the trap with a bit of hissing from the steam coming off of it.