Aaamaazing: Who ya gonna call?

Ah the 80's. I don't remember much of them, since I was just a wee child. But one thing that I grew up with, and will always remember, is Ghostbusters. Just like most things we remember about the 80's and 90's, you couldn't go to a store without seeing Ghostbusters on something. Toys, cereal, Hi-C (damn I miss Ecto Cooler). You name it, Ghostbusters was on it. I remember being excited every Saturday morning to watch The Real Ghostbusters cartoon.

Fast forward to today. I'm all grown up, doing adult things. One love that hasn't gone away is my love for Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters is still my favorite movie of all time. And it's not for the nostalgia factor of reliving my childhood. It's because it's a damn fine movie. And now that I'm older I understand the movie way more than I did when I was a kid. So when I heard that Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis were working on a new Ghostbusters video game, I was more than excited. As time went on, more fuel was added to the fire: It was announced that Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and a few others from the original cast were lending their voices. Needless to say Ghostbusters was a day one purchase for me, and I was not disappointed.

You play as a silent fifth Ghostbuster, busting ghosts along with the original Ghostbusters team and testing out new equipment that Ray and Egon are too scared to test themselves. As you move along you uncover a plot to bring the "ghost world" into the real world. The story fits really well in the Ghostbusters universe, taking place two years after Ghostbusters II, and making many references to both movies. The voice acting was top notch, of course, with Peter Venkman being your main source of comedic relief with his many one liners.

While all that were good, there was one thing that really captivated me about the game: The gameplay. There have been a few other Ghostbusters games from back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days, but nothing really captured the feeling of catching ghosts like in the movies. That all changed. Running through the same hotel the Ghostbusters originally caught Slimer in, and getting to chase after him myself really made the game shine to me. Catching ghosts was fun, and made me feel like I was actually a Ghostbuster.

There have been many games I've found to be great games. But this is the only game that took my childhood and two of my favorite movies, and let me interact and live within their world. And to me, that was truly amazing.

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LOOK WHO CAME:

Swishiee   

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