Ghostbusters - hands-on

For children of the '80s, there are many pop culture touchtones - just watch VH1 on any given Sunday and you will see dozens of examples. One of the biggest was Ghostbusters, and after two decades since Ghostbusters II and the series' descent into nostalgic obscurity, it's making a return in a big way to consoles and PC. That is a damn sight better thanExtreme Ghostbusters...

Granted, thanks to the wonders of the internet and fuzzy embargo dates, you might have read about these levels already. But only we got to actually play them, on more than one platform, with our own very hands. And what better way to express our enthusiasm than with 18 quotes from both films to explain what we got out of our play time with these returning heroes in their next-gen forms?

1. "We're the best. We're the beautiful. We're the only Ghostbusters." "We're back!"

Fans have been clamoring for years to see a new adventure from the boys in beige. While a third film had been rumored for years, this game marks the first return of the real, non-goofily animated Ghostbusters. It took some time, but now that they are back, the developers seem to have no plans to coast on name recognition alone.

2. "Well, there's something you don't see every day."

Anybody could just do a Ghostbusters game, but if you want it done right, you'll need Dan Akroyd. The flame that is the franchise has been kept burning this long thanks to the Royd's devotion to his brain child. Now that it's back, he has reportedly taken a very big interest in making sure the game is true to the series.

3. "'Get her!' That was your whole plan, huh, 'get her?' Very scientific."

In our short time with the game, we played through the third stage. In the first film, the guys investigate a library apparition, but when they finally find her, they run like children because they had no plan what to do when they did. Now, in 1992 (current time in the game), the team returns, gear in hand, to finish the job.

4. "If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say."

Just as Winston was hired to help the team, you play as "the new guy," a nameless dudein a jump suit who helps thesquad on their latest missions and tests the new equipment. Don't think of it as a cop-out - it was more fun just to be going along with Ray, Egon and Winston than to play as only one of them.

5. "Somebody blows their nose and you want to keep it?"

Again staying with the spirit of the films, the game isn't all about fighting. Using equipment such as the PKE meter and ghost viewing goggles to follow vapor trails, you have to do a bit of investigation. In a move evocative of Metroid Prime, you scan the ectoplasmic residue (goo) and it tells you what you are dealing with and then adds it to your database.