Ghostbusters for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

DISCLAIMER: Sorry, PlayStation 2 fans, but Atari didn't show the PS2 version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game at its most recent event. However, the game is basically the Wii version without the motion controls. So, you get this Wii-themed preview so that you can at least see what's going on in your game.



I'll admit it: I Google myself once in a while. Most of the time the results are just something I wrote on IGN or some kid demanding I re-review Lair, but the other day it came back with something interesting -- someone talking about my preview of Ghostbusters: The Video Game on the Wii. The kid wasn't complaining or praising it; he was just talking about it and introduced it to the Ghostbusters community by leading with the fact that I didn't dig the game's controls.



I didn't know I was getting another reputation.


Watch Greg meet Dan Aykroyd and wander the streets of NYC in his jumpsuit.

Well, not to try and change my tune or anything, but I felt that Ghostbusters on the Wii handled a bit better this week in New York. Yes, I got to go to the Big Apple and play every version of Ghostbusters that Atari has to offer, and the Wii didn't disappoint. I'm still not head over heels in love with the scheme -- the Wiimote controls a reticule on the screen that acts as your point of view -- to the point where I'd be lining up to play, but it definitely wasn't as loose as it was at New York Comic-Con a few months ago. See, last time I was moving the Wiimote to the left and to the right and the screen was just swinging way too fast for me. This time, things seemed to be tighter.



This demo dropped me in as the blonde-headed rookie Ghostbuster (you can be a female brunette if you like) during a level titled "Rivers of Slime." The sound was turned down so I'm a little hazy on the details, but all five boys were heading to some kind of fortress via a Ghostbusters-themed boat. When they got where they were going, the group got broken up, my rookie fell into some kind of shaft that led to a pool-like basement, and two hooded ghosts made their move on my guy.



Wrangling and trapping on the Wii is a pretty interesting deal, and seems to have been tweaked since I last played as well. You'll aim with your reticule, zap the bad guy, and wear the ghoul down to the point that you can grab it in a capture stream. Now, to trap, you'll have to follow a three-step process. Basically a specific direction will pop up and you have to flick your Wiimote in that direction, then another will pop up for you to follow with your flick, and then you'll get to flick a third time in any direction you like. Last time I played, I remember this requiring more effort, but it actually felt really nice here. It was a breeze to bag my enemies.



As I went deeper into the level, I found a sewer of slime. There was a guardrail up around what looked like a pool of slime and there were pipes running across the ceiling that were moving green and dark slime all over the place. Blue cherub-like bad guys popped up every now and again that I had to blast away, but so did some tarantula-like creatures that I had to cover with green slime and blast with dark matter. To switch Proton Pack functions, it's as simple as clicking a direction on your D-pad. Beyond enemies, I came to a path that was blocked by some chunks of concrete, but I found that by covering them in green slime and then using a proton capture stream I could pick up the obstructions and toss them out of the way.



Personally, I was impressed with the adjustments to the Wii. It's not like I hated it before or anything, but for someone who is entrenched in "traditional" controls, I think the Wii's scheme was a bit off-putting. It seems like Red Fly has done its best to make the Wiimote actions easier for folks like me to get the hang of, and the game's cartoon-like graphics and drop-in co-op are still pretty sweet.

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