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Ghostbusters
From: Activision
Year: 1986
Format: Spectrum 128K
The financial matters (far left) choose your car, equipment, the map,
driving and finally the battle.
Comments:
One of the best movie licenses ever. This is due to the fact that rather than making the movie fit a game style they made a game style that fitted the film. Each version is slightly different to the others although they all follow the same format:
The premise is simple. You have formed the Ghostbusters and have been granted a loan by the bank. You must have made at least enough money to pay back the loan by a certain point in the game or you can't go any farther. With the money loaned to you you buy a car and some equipment. There are a range of cars to choose from each with their own specifications (amount of equipment it can carry, how long it will take to get to places). Once you buy the car you then buy the stuff you will need to bust ghosts. You won't be allowed into the game without one ghost trap (what would be the point). The other stuff available includes; goggles to see the ghosts better with, a vaccum to attach to the front of the car to catch ghosts on the move with, and a marshmellow sensor which warns you of the immunant arrival of Marshmallow Man.
Then onto the game proper. You move the Ghostbusters logo-cursor around the map of New York. The buildings that flash are ones reporting a ghost and others that turn red as you pass them are possibilities. At the bottom of the screen is the PKE (Psycho Kinetic Energy) reading. The level goes up as the white ghosts reach Zuul (Spook central) the centre most building. When the PKE reading reached 999 the gate keeper and key master (who spend the game moving around the city randomly) will meet at Zuul and the gate will open. It is at this point that if you haven't made more money than you were loaned the game will end. If you did make more you must enter Zuul and attempt to get two of the three of your Ghostbusters past the Marshmallow Man who is blocking the enterance.
Keeping up so far? So how do you make money? Well at the start of the game one house will be flashing. Go there and the screen changes with you in charge of the car you chose. If you past any white ghosts on you way to the house they will appear at some point and, if you bought the ghost vaccuum, you can suck them up (this will slow the PKE level down a bit). When you arrive slimer will be flying around the outside of the building. You move your first Ghostbuster in who has the trap. You first drop the trap where you want it (best in the top-centre of the screen) and then position him where you want him. You then get you next Ghostbuster postion him and the beams will fire. Next it's best to try and either catch Slimer between the beams or under them, near the trap. Then fire the trap and try and catch him. If you do-well done the money is yours, if you don't-bad luck you get slimed as the ghost escapes and the PKE goes up slightly more.
Thats more or less it. The amount of houses reporting ghosts goes up as the PKE does and Marshmallow man appears occasionally (if you have the bate drop it to lure him away from destroying the buildings and get money-if you don't he makes damages and you foot the bill). The things to be aware of are; fill all you traps (one ghost per trap) and you must take them back to HQ to empty them, two men get slimed and you must return to HQ to clean them up and get back into action and don't cross the streams. Doing so will short out your backpacks and you will have to return to HQ to fix them. Oh yeah and each version has a little bit of karaoke at the start too.
Other versions of Ghostbusters:
Format: Atari 2600
From Activision
Year: 1985
Comments: A very down sized version of the basic premise. No choice of car and limited equipment, theres always at least one building flashing and far too many graphical changes to mention.
Format: Amstrad CPC
From: Activision
Year: 1985
Comments: Same as the other computer versions. Except that instead of having the speech sample "He slimed me" when you are slimed you get slimer yell "Ghostbusters!".
Format: Commodore 64
From: Activision
Year: 1985
Comments: Same as the other computer versions.
Format: Sega Master System
From: Sega/Activision
Year: 1988?
Comments: A expansion on the computer versions. Here a shop is added to the map allowing you to buy equipment with the money you've earned during the game too. The Key Master and Gate Keeper are shown as human sprites (who steal your money if you pass over them). There is a distance metre and traffic on the driving sections. There are two different kinds of ghosts to catch and you get more than one at a time. The biggest difference is that you actually see what is past that door the Marshmallow Man is guarding. Not only that but you have to climb the stairs and battle Goza too!
Format: NES
From: Tokuma Shoten
Year: 1986
Comments: A reworking of the original game created by activision, similar to the Master System version. You start on the map and have to drive to the shop to buy equipment. In the driving section you again have to dodge other traffic but hitting another car only causes a loss of money (to cover repairs). There is also a gas station so you can keep your car running (if you run out of gas while driving it's game over). All in all it's an unnecassary complication of the original that takes away it's fun by bogging it down with too many excess concerns.
Format: Sega Megadrive/Genesis
From: Sega
Year: 1990
Comments: A completely different version to all the others. You get to choose which Ghostbuster you want to play as (except for Winston), each one having different strenght and speed. The game itself is a platform game. You choose which building to visit each one pays a different amount based on the difficulty. Money earned from shooting ghosts, beating the boss and thereby finishing the level can be spent on new equipment and items. Each level has at least one minor boss who, when defeated, flies around the room as a small green ghost. You then have to catch it with you partical stream and drag it into the trap. If you don't get it in time it will fly away and you won't get paid for catching it. At the end of each stage you get a piece of a stone tablet, this is what moves the plot along. All in all a good game, which makes clever use of the license but is unfortunately a bit too hard.
