Ghostbusters! Ghostbusters! Ghostbusters!

November 17, 2007 11:10 PM

Ghostbusters: The Video Game [Flash-based site] is coming soon to a console near you. Featuring the original cast doing voices and motion capture, it looks to be very impressive graphically [video], but will it be better, gameplay-wise, than the previous attempts at a Ghostbusters game? [More videos, NSFW]
posted by SansPoint (24 comments total)

b1tr0t, did you ever play the original Ghostbusters videogame? It was actually very well-designed and worked very well.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:48 PM on November 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I thought the original was great at the time.
posted by dreamsign at 11:50 PM on November 17, 2007

Based on what I've heard, my understanding is that Gozer the Traveler will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldronaii, the Traveler came as a large and moving Torb! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants, they chose a new form for him - that of a giant Sloar! Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day, I can tell you!

Or, at least that's what I've heard. What's this about a videogame?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:54 PM on November 17, 2007 [12 favorites]

Let's hope this ends well like Alien versus Predator and not baaaaad like Reservoir Dogs
posted by darkripper at 12:01 AM on November 18, 2007

I get weak in the knees for anything Ghostbusters related. Maybe that's because Bill Murray was my first crush.
posted by inconsequentialist at 12:01 AM on November 18, 2007

I spent much of the summer between 5th and 6th grade playing Ghostbusters(and Elite) on my Commodore.
posted by Tenuki at 12:37 AM on November 18, 2007

I've read in multiple places on the web that Ackroyd's been trying for years to get what's essentially Ghostbusters 3 out of Development Hell. Ironically, the third installment was at one time about Ghostbusters IN hell. Whether that's still the storyline or not only Ackroyd's publicist knows for sure.

I'm game to watch or play or whatever anything Ghostbusters related. If nothing more than so I can have an informed and pretentiously snarky opinion that I can then pontificate malodoriously upon complete strangers for years afterward.

I found the roleplaying game lots of fun the few times I got a group together to play it. I liked the world Ackroyd and Ramis created when they made Ghostbusters. There's a wealth of story possibilities there, many of which were exhausted through the animated series with hills and valleys of success. I wish more had been done with the franchise over the years. Attempts to create a "next gen" kind of thing have failed on multiple occasions and frankly I don't get why. The RPG was about the GB brand being sold like franchises of Quizno's or Little Caesar's. That idea alone was hilarious, and coulda led to there being Ghostbuster Chapters in every major city in the world. Stories galore that'd expand beyond Venkman's receding hairline. Oh well. Potential doesn't always mean achievement.

With that said, the screen shots of this game just look like re-imaginings of scenes from the first movie. You'd think after all these years they could come up with something more original. Could be worse. At least there don't seem to be any re-imaginings of scenes from the second movie, which for the most part sucked raw eggs.
posted by ZachsMind at 1:29 AM on November 18, 2007

So a licensed game is being developed based on a once-strong property now overexploited and gone to shit. Look at the most recent Simpson game for where this will end up--it'll look just like Ghostbusters, with excellent writing, but worst-in-class gameplay and controls.
posted by aerotive at 3:29 AM on November 18, 2007

I'll be buying it.
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:35 AM on November 18, 2007

Zachsmind: the Ghostbusters tabletop RPG is one of the classics of the field, and I am on record saying so (click on 'Games' tab for list of authors and games chosen. Yep.) As a format it's perfect for games development and assuming that Ramis and Ackroyd can get their heads around the difference between structuring and writing for screen and writing for interactivity, this could be great.

This isn't the first sequel-as-video-game: that was John Woo's Stranglehold, the follow-up to heroic-bloodshed classic Hardboiled, featuring a motion-captured Chow Yun-Fat.
posted by Hogshead at 6:00 AM on November 18, 2007

It could easily have been a shooter or platformer, so how did this movie licence become a business sim? We look back at 1984’s licensed monster hit Ghostbusters and talk to designer David Crane…

Interesting interview and article about the 80s-era Ghostbuster game...
posted by wfrgms at 6:25 AM on November 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

My roommates and I instantly turned into five year olds when we actually got to see footage from this game.

"AWESOME! THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!"

"LIE-BERRY GHOST! SHOOOOOOT!"
posted by piratebowling at 7:25 AM on November 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the article, wfrgms. It's always cool to read up on the development process of some of my older, favorite games.

I dimly recall reading, in some computer magazine in the 80s, that not only was Ghostbusters developed in six weeks to quickly capture the movie market, but also because David Crane was getting married in seven. I can't find any corroborative info on that on first search, but it was one of those bizarre bits of trivia shrapnel that's been lodged in my brain since god-knows-when.

And the "Ghostbusters!" sing-along opening was worth the 20-minute C64 load time alone.
posted by Spatch at 8:10 AM on November 18, 2007

Oh hey, it's Sierra!!

Too bad it's not the "same" Sierra that colored my childhood with Kings Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Manhunt, Colonels Bequest, etc etc etc etc etc.

I think it's just a name, now.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 8:35 AM on November 18, 2007

I'm still definitely gonna play it.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 8:41 AM on November 18, 2007

I loved the original game on my Apple //c, with its slime-green monitor display.
posted by emelenjr at 8:44 AM on November 18, 2007

Here's a fairly faithful fan remake of the original.
posted by Iridic at 9:20 AM on November 18, 2007 [2 favorites]

Many of the people complaining about the original Ghostbusters game are probably doing so because they were exposed to it first on the NES, which had dozens of poorly adapted computer game properties released for it. If your only experience with M.U.L.E. was from the NES version then I could almost forgive you for thinking it was crappy.

Almost.
posted by JHarris at 12:56 PM on November 18, 2007

[Am I the only one slightly disappointed for the fact there's no plan for a remake of that other ghostbusters series?]
posted by darkripper at 3:15 PM on November 18, 2007

Ghostbusters sucked ass {mov}
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:28 PM on November 18, 2007

After looking at this I'd have to say you're on your own, DarkRipper.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:47 PM on November 18, 2007

I happened upon this via Stage 6 and thought any diehard fans still reading this thread might wanna weight in with their opinions. Return of the GhostBusters is apparently the second installment of a series by Braxtan Films. I haven't seen the first one but it has something to do with Freddy Kreuger.

This (unofficial?) incarnation of the Ghostbuster franchise takes place in Denver Colorado. Egon's nephew opens a chapter of the franchise and with the help of a blatant Venkman clone and some russian guy, they dish out final justice to those who don't meet their maker. In "Return" an ugly crippled guy finds an Egyptian amulet that can open a portal to the Anubis and... well you probably already know where this is going. We been down this road before, but it was Gozer instead of Anubis.

The second installment is essentially a retread of the first movie, and some people may find it a pedantic, weak fascimile of the original. I found it to be a delightful labor of love. The quality is fantastic, considering how low the budget must have been. Okay so in places the acting is a little stiff, and the effects look like they were made on a Mac in someone's garage, but we're in 2007, so even that's not half bad. The humor is touch and go. Some scenes work better than others. The editing is not as tight as it coulda been. There's a thousand things one can find wrong about this film, but there's one thing I found that was right about it.

It's fun. Five stars. Joe Bob says check it out.
posted by ZachsMind at 12:16 AM on November 19, 2007

Many of the people complaining about the original Ghostbusters game are probably doing so because they were exposed to it first on the NES

Whoah. Ghostbusters on the NES? I had no idea.
posted by dreamsign at 10:12 PM on November 19, 2007

Rosemary's Baby would make far more sense as a video game than Ghostbusters ever did or will.

"Is this true?"
"Yes, it's true. This man has no dick."
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:00 AM on November 20, 2007