The newest Ghostbusters game, released June 2009, is quite a remarkable feat... It's the first time, that I can recall, where they actually have the original voices from the movies used in a video game adaptation. Egon, Ray, Peter, Winston. All of the characters are voiced by the real actors. Brought back after 25 years. There are more, but I haven't verified they are all the original actors. I know that Luis Tully didn't come back (Rick Moranis is retired and didn't need the money apparently). The characters themselves are really detailed, though just barely slightly off... except Winston. Check out this screenshot:
There are a ton of small details in the levels that indicate how thoroughly the game creators went through the movies to create the old New York, circa 1991.
Now, this movie takes place in 1991, but notice that Winston has his mustache back... Which he had shaved off in GB2... It seems like the game creators were more focused on GB1, but there are elements of GB2 of course.... There is a big portrait of Vigo just chilling in the fire house that you can interact with... He sounds a hell of a lot like whoever voiced Vigo in the movie, but overall, just a novelty thing.
Ok, let's get down to basics.
Sound: The ambient sounds and proton pack equipment is very nice. Based right out of the movie. The music is the same licensed music from the movies, so you feel more like you are LIVING the movie. Awesome, props for that. One bad thing I've noticed... The voice acting audio sounds like it's been converted from 48khz to 44khz, or something like that. There is an audible screechieness you can sometimes hear as though they converted audio frequencies very poorly... Not terrible, but just enough so you think you hear it.
Graphics... The textures are awesome on the suits, but some textures are better than others. If it weren't for the size of the levels I would expect slightly better, but considering the size of the levels, I'd say it's ok. You can read magazines on tables, though it's not razor sharp. Levels take a minute or more to load, and the loading screen is just the ghostbusters logo, which is kinda boring since you have to stare at it so long.
Gameplay... It feels like the game creators added mouse acceleration, and took a lot of adjusting to make it feel right. I'd move my hand slightly and teh character would turn slowly... So I accelerate my hand just a weee bit, and the guy whips around 180 degrees.... Makes for some difficult playing when you're constantly whipping back and forth trying to see what the hell is biting you in the back.
I hope they come out with a patch for that.
At first, I thought I'd have to constantly vent the proton pack, which overheats if you don't do that... But I believe it does it automatically. It's hard to see your health and the heat bar right on the pack, since you're looking at the ghosts, and not your back anyway... The only way to heal is to not get hit for awhile by taking cover. And when you go down, you have to get picked up by a team mate, and if they are all down, you have to restart from the nearest checkpoint.
There doesn't appear to be any dynamic saves... Checkpoints only. They usually save before a hard part, so if you get stuck, it's not usually too far back.
The BAD:
The game would not install. I had to run the entire install which took FOREVER and then it came up with that the installation was interrupted... All you have to do is go into the DVD and copy all the files in the /setup/bin folder to the main directory where you installed Ghostbusters, and create a shortcut yourself for the desktop.
Once I did that, it worked fine.
Overall, so far a decent experience. I got a free movie ticket worth $10 when buying the PC game at Gamestop, so I technically only paid $19 for the game. Definitely worth it.
AH, but
The PC version has been ROBBED of multiplayer.
So if you are hoping for a multiplayer ghostbuster experience, you will need a console.
But, so far the solo experience is worth the money.
Have fun hunting ghosts!
