Ghostbusters The Video Game

Dec 4, 2007

Thanksgiving, 1991. 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 (her?) 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: you get to wield a Wii Remote like a Slimer-sucking, scenery-smashing Proton Pack.

The beauty of Ghostbusters The Video Game is that, in essence, it’s the third movie. 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 that scary woman in the library.

We’ve gone hands-on with the Wii Remote as a Proton Pack: move with the analogue stick, aim with the Wii pointer, then press fire and - ZAP! - 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. Push the Nunchuk forward to slide a Ghost Trap under a spook before guiding him in with the Remote, ‘tugging’ him toward you like a stubborn fish. Your Proton Pack boasts eight different types of poltergeist-pulverising weapons in all: you’ll upgrade it over the course of the game. Examples include Proton Pulse, the ability to short circuit your Pack to serve as a temporary shield; Tether Gun, which lets you tether ghosts to the environment with sticky goo; and Shock Blast, good for swarms of insects in the library and an explosive treat.