Ghostbusters: The Video Game Update and Multiplayer Details

The game came, Greg played, and he kicked its ass.

US, March 9, 2009 - I don't think I was expecting the cutscenes in Ghostbusters: The Video Game to look good – at least not as good as they did during my most recent demo. See, I've been covering this game backwards and forwards since it was announced, and up until last week, every cutscene was a work in progress filled with placeholder stuff.

When I saw the game this last time, that was no longer the case. This time, it was Ray, Peter and the new Ghostbuster we'll all be playing as standing in one of the Sedgewick Hotel's famed elevators. Slimer was up to his old tricks and the team was on the scene to bust the spud. While the game loaded the next section of the title, the camera was centered on the boys riding the lift from the same in-their-face angle as the original film. There was even the “No Smoking” sign behind them

As they rode along, the vocal talents of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd chitchatted about why the team can't turn on their proton packs around the general public anymore (lawsuit) while the recruit just reacted. Now when I say that I didn't expect these cutscenes to look so good, I'm not saying that they were uber-realistic or anything. What I mean is that the way the faces moved when they spoke, turned to acknowledge one another, and the reactions of the rookie all looked really solid and entertaining. I have no idea if that same effect and feeling will carry over to the game's other scenes – even though I did notice the rookie now grimaces and turns his head while struggling with wrangling ghosts – but I dug it.

It wasn't all gawking at faces when Terminal Reality and Atari rolled into the IGN offices to show me Ghostbusters: The Video Game – there also was a bit of gameplay splashed in to whet my whistle. Sadly, my visitors did decide to show the same architect office bit that I had just seen at the New York Comic-Con (which I had already seen months before) and that jump from the library to the other dimension that I had written about a while ago, but they also showcased the Sedgewick Hotel for the first time.

Before the ‘busters even made it to Slimer’s old haunt, they started at the firehouse where Janine fielded the call and dispatched the boys. I'm not sure if this is a general placeholder load screen that will be featured along with a few others before every call the team goes on, but I did find it odd that Slimer was hovering by Janine's desk even though the boys were going out to catch him and that the Vigo painting was leaning on the wall in the background. I mean, I guess it could be a reproduction of the original, but we all know that when Vigo was beaten, the Vigo painting morphed into one of the boys and Oscar. I digress – remember this is just a preview.

Anyway, the Ecto-1 roars away from the firehouse, and we're on the scene. A hotel worker is there to greet the Ghostbusters and complain that the establishment wants its money back since the ghost is back, but Venkman just tells him “You should've taken the extended service agreement.” There were a lot of dialogue gems like that in the quick taste of the title I got – remember, Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote the script for this game. Aside from in-jokes from the movies and quips about getting slimed, there was a funny moment when a pretty lady stepped off the elevator in front of the team, Venkman made a quick pass at her and she responded with “Back off, loser; it's never going to happen.”

Once upstairs, Ray and the recruit head out on their own while Venkman goes the assumedly safer route. Eventually, the duo stumble upon Slimer downing room service, the new onscreen instructions that pop up in white with a PKE icon next to them showed up, the rookie scanned the ghoul and it flew away. The Ghostbusters give chase and eventually run into the ghosts of some bellhops clad in white and red uniforms. The boys dance around the hotel lobby zapping and trapping and it's the same impressive lightshow we've talked about before. However, this was the first time I have seen the game's upgrade system in action. When you're grabbing these ghosts, you're making money (Beat a Book Golem, make $300.); with this money, you can upgrade your equipment. In this build of the game, there was a $15,000 upgrade that helped focus your blast stream, a PKE scan enhancement and other cool stuff to make GB nerds drool.

These enhancements are accessed by pausing the game, which brings up the PDA portion of your PKE meter. Here, you can do the upgrades but also scope the ghouls you've scanned with your PKE meter and entered into Tobin's Spirit Guide. For the most part, scanning a ghost with your PKE meter seems like it'll be optional, but if you do it, you'll get information on the specter's weaknesses, how many times you've beaten it, and the ghost's back story. Of course this is all tentative at this point, but this was the first build of the game I have seen with Achievements/Trophies. Running on a 360, this build had “I'm Picking Up a Signal” pop up when the PKE meter got used for the first time, “I Feel so Funky” when the first sliming went down and a handful other nods to movie lines.

Oddly, Atari gave me a handout detailing the ins and outs of multiplayer in Ghostbusters, but Atari didn't demo any multiplayer modes. I'm glad to have the info – which I'm about to pass on to you – but it seemed like an awkward way to introduce something Terminal Reality has never really said all that much about. Still, there are going to be two co-op modes for Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Instant Action allows players to just jump in and start busting ghosts where Campaign Mode will set you up in one of the four multiplayer environments – library, streets, cemetery, and museum – and have you bust ghosts to earn money for equipment upgrades.

What's interesting about these modes is that they provide you with the opportunity to play as both the single-player star known only as the rookie and the four original Ghostbusters. Also cool – or at least sounds like it could be cool – are the six possible job types you'll face in a multiplayer game. Survival pits you against a “paranormal onslaught;” Containment is all about capturing every single ghost out there; Destruction charges you with destroying a bunch of ghost-spawning artifacts; you'll need to protect Egon's devices in Protection; Thief wants you to stop ghosts from stealing artifacts and Slime Dunk asks you to “dunk the most slimers,” which I'm assuming means slamming them into the ghost traps. Helping you tackle these jobs are six power-ups such as the Ghost Shrinker and Ethereal Shield.

When you suit up with your buddies, you'll be working together but striving for individual recognition. See, there are scores and ranks for each competitor and those results are tied to your online profile so that you can have difficulty scaled by rank, have special ghosts appear mid-game and get matched up with similarly skilled players. Leaderboards will be there as well. Adding another layer to team-based ‘busting is the fact that there is going to be “limited ammunition” that players need to pick up in-game to keep trapping. On top of that, the ghosts are reportedly going to have unique AI features so that some will be more aggressive, some can sabotage traps and some can fuse with other ghouls.

So, there you have it – my latest Ghostbusters: The Video Game experience. The cutscenes look good, the Sedgewick is back, Atari really likes the architect level and multiplayer sounds interesting… but I didn’t get to see it. I love playing games for a living, but these are the types of titles that kill me. I've seen enough; it's time to let me sit down and play. When that happens, you'll be the first to read about it right here on IGN.

http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/960/960404p1.html

This whole place is gonna blow like a frog on a hot plate!

sounds amazing, ooooooooooooooooooooooo i cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOOOMMM!

Interetsting…very interesting. I really cannot wait to play the Sedgewick Hotel lvl now.

i think its very cool you get to play any ghostbuster you want in multiplayer. i wish the sedgewick was one of the multiplayer levels! the upgrade system sounds cool too.

cant forget the preview for the Wii version too!

http://wii.ign.com/articles/960/960424p1.html

“I feel so Funky”
20g get Slimed for the first time.

lol. I think we all knew this one was going to be an achievement. I am glad they are using actual movie quotes to label the achievements.

Wait …. has ghost vs buster mode been removed?

chriz;136653
Wait …. has ghost vs buster mode been removed?

You mean Human player ghost versus human player Ghostbusters? I don't know if that was ever truly a guarantee, only something they were kicking around.

It sounds to me like now the multiplayer sounds similar to horde on Gears of War 2. 5 peoplw versus hordes of ghost to either kill you or destroy something.

Whisk;136648
cant forget the preview for the Wii version too!

http://wii.ign.com/articles/960/960424p1.html

“Was it a big dinosaur or a little dinosaur? Oh, just the skeleton huh? Well which way was it headed?”



Ah man, possessed dinosaur bones! this is going to be great!