Ghostbusters (Nintendo DS)

It doesn't matter to me that it's a Nintendo DS game, a low-rate sampled port of a story that involves 4 intrepid and business-savvy explorers, self-styled to keep the city clean of pesky poltergeists. It doesn't matter to me that the game itself is a mish-mash of solid ideas rolled into a repetitive disorder of similar levels and talentless spooks who knock you out or possess your buddies.

What matters to me is that it's you playing ...
.../>
Terminal Reality sure made a number with trying to create an experience on the handheld for the fans worthy enough to purchase this, but at times I sit on my couch playing this and feel slightly cheated, and yet at the same time grateful that one developer took the time to remake essential a better version of what follows from years back on some crummy Atari or ZX Spectrum.

You play all four 'busters, controlling one each as ... more

It doesn't matter to me that it's a Nintendo DS game, a low-rate sampled port of a story that involves 4 intrepid and business-savvy explorers, self-styled to keep the city clean of pesky poltergeists. It doesn't matter to me that the game itself is a mish-mash of solid ideas rolled into a repetitive disorder of similar levels and talentless spooks who knock you out or possess your buddies.

What matters to me is that it's you playing the Ghostbusters. It's Doctor Peter f***ing Venkman, for Christ's sakes.

Terminal Reality sure made a number with trying to create an experience on the handheld for the fans worthy enough to purchase this, but at times I sit on my couch playing this and feel slightly cheated, and yet at the same time grateful that one developer took the time to remake essential a better version of what follows from years back on some crummy Atari or ZX Spectrum.

You play all four 'busters, controlling one each as you lead the rest of the team to locations around the city like the local library, the local hotel or the local cemetery, while it seems that all the locations remain exactly the same in graphics and sound. A story does appear here, as the epomous Zuul is back again to wreak havoc on the Big Apple and it's up to your team to track him down and send him back to whatever netherregion he/she/it came from.

The structure is pretty RPG-ish, with side-missions for cash and fame to either trap ghosts, rescue people, pick up slime (for research purposes) or artifacts (purely just to give you some objectives), and points to upgrade each of the team's abilities. And thankfully, each member has not only his own upgrades to maintain, but are also in line with their particular characters.

Venkman is very much swarmy and egotistical, but the leader of the pack also encourages hostages to follow him whether nasties scare the bejesus out of them. Spengler's research capabilities allow for faster and better research, Stantz's knowledge of new products and equipment, and Zeddermore's blue collar ethics keep the Ecto 1 in shape, so to speak.

Which leads on to the research and production; by succeeding in missions without destroying too much of the woodwork (your proton beams are fully capable of rendering bookshelves and chairs into bits of plaster and splinters) and picking up leftover slime bits, your team can make full use of the facilities in the lab to create new items, more powerful detection modules, traps and upgrade proton beams and slimers to trap said boogeymen more effectively. A handy touch from the simple point and beam of yesteryear.

Moving around the city is dealt with by what can probably described as annoying...the Ecto-1 drives like a granny, and the traffic is undaunting and unforgivable. You can easily have rammed into a car, try to reverse and it'll continue to plow into you until your vehicle is bent straight out of shape and slower for it. How frustrating it is too to be stuck inbetween two walls while attempting to get to a location while under a strict time-limit, and Ray Parker Jr's 80's song playing constantly while driving around. Was there not enough memory on the card to add a few more tracks on?

Sound bugs aplenty, when the PKE meter grates in your ears and abruptly stops, when a cutscene occurs showing the Ecto-1 crashing through a gate (one of many) and the music cuts off....seems a lot was left undone in favour of hitting deadline to coincide with the bigger console versions

For a short stint at handheld goodness you can't a better Ghostbuster experience on the Nintendo DS....well, honestly, you can't, unless you pirate and get an emulator for the older games. 

...less