Ghostbusters The Video Game [Nintendo DS]

"Ghostbusters. A movie that changed my life. It blew my five year old brain and it's been my favorite film ever since. I even love Ghostbusters 2. So, you can probably gather that this is a franchise I protect as I'd protect my own children - if I had any. When this new video game was announced and images started coming in I was very excited. When videos started appearing my brain lost it again. The Ghostbusters where BACK!

Now, please excuse me while I go off on a small tangent here. I'm hanging out for the PC version of the game. I live in Australia and we poor Aussie's have to wait until November for non-Sony console versions of the game to be released here. As I refuse to buy a Sony console (that's another story) I opted to wait for the PC version. However, as the DS is region free I thought it'd be nice to import that version of the game from Amazon to help make the long wait to November somewhat more bearable. {End tangent}

As this is the DS version of the game, I did not expect it to be as visually amazing or as big as the PC version, but I do expect it to be good. No matter the platform any game carrying the Ghostbusters title has a lot to live up to. It has to capture the spirit (pun intended) of the films and if not build upon it, at least emulate it well. And, to an extent, the DS version of the game succeeds.

The story of the game unfolds gradually as you progress through the missions. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll simply say that the game opens with a strange, supernatural BOOM! that releases Slimer. As the 'busters track him down strange things start appearing, ghosts start showing up everywhere and it all points to something big on the horizon.

The stylized renditions of the Ghostbusters characters work well. They are cartoony, but not overly so. Each character is instantly recognizable and look the part. Even secondary characters, such as the Sedgwik hotel manager, live up to their live-action counterparts. However, I felt Slimer's redesign may have been taken a little too far.

The graphics are nice and crisp and the 'busters sprites look very good. However, there is the odd ghost that doesn't look as great as it could have. The environments are very well realized and it's a marvel to behold the proton streams. The Ecto-1 level suffer from some terrible draw distances though.

As with other DS games such as Metroid Prime: Hunters and Price of Persia: The Fallen King, you can choose between a right-handed and left-handed control method (so your writing hand is free to use the stylus). As I'm left handed it means I have to use the A/B/X/Y buttons to move around the screen and the D-Pad for various in-game actions like selecting items, turning on/off abilities etc. This took a little bit to get the hang of but once I did it was no problem at all. The controls are quite responsive and the 'busters move well.

When you start a mission you have to travel to the destination via the Ecto-1. This should have been really cool, but it's actually somewhat annoying. Driving the Ecto-1 is a somewhat frustrating task. The accelerator is grouped in with the steering buttons so, for example, I have to hold down X while pressing Y or A to steer left or right. This is very tricky and the Ecto-1 turns so sharply it's easy to loose control. When you add trying to chase after a ghost while driving things become almost impossible. Why not have the accelerator one of the shoulder buttons or even Up on the D-pad to make things easier?

Also in the driving levels, it's very dark. It can be hard to see ghosts coming at you when you're driving around, and the draw distance is pretty average so it can be easy to slam into an object you didn't see coming (which halts the Ecto-1 dead) or miss a turn. It's a shame, really, because driving Ecto-1 should have been one of the coolest aspect of the game.

The actual missions are a lot of fun. Controlling the 'busters is easy enough, although sometimes they get stuck behind one another. Throwing proton beams and trapping ghosts is all done with the stylus and is quite easy. However, at times there can be a lot happening on screen and with so many different things to do all at once (chase after ghosts while shooting your ion stream, throw out a trap, click on civilians to lead them to safety, turn on/off special abilities) your hands can get confused.

It's very satisfying blasting ghosts, and the environments are destructible as well. It's a lot of fun to blow apart a few tables, chairs and museum displays.

There are some dodgy bits, though, in combat where the 'busters get pinned down and simply can not get away from enemies. In the very first mission I faced some ghosts who where throwing pots and pans at me. Once I was hit and fell to the ground the pots kept coming so once the 'buster finally got back on his feet he was simply knocked down again. This, and being hit by enemies off screen, can be annoying but not enough to stop the game being fun.

I think Ghostbusters fans are going to get more out of this than regular gamers. Even in this smaller DS version there is a lot of fan service, from the film music playing throughout the game to the Ghostbusters theme blaring while driving the Ecto-1 (which makes the problems there seem less painful). Even exploring the Ghostbuster's HQ, although small, brings a smile to my fanboy face. That and the cool equipment you can develop, the cartoonish look of the characters and a story that fits well into the Ghostbusters world makes this a very fun, if by no means perfect, game. But, as I said, you might have to be a Ghostbusters fan to trully enjoy it."