Saturday, February 21, 2009

Long Lost Game Review: Ghostbusters (Genesis)


God bless Archive.org! If there is one thing the government can do right is keep all our dirty internet secrets alive and well. Back in 2001, I was hooked on the now defunct segadojo.com. The dojo was THE spot for a majority of my Sega news updates, contests and reviews. I made two contributions to the site in its lifespan. In mid 2001 they held a Sonic Adventure 2 contest in which readers were asked to create commercials for the game without using any official clips or music. I dressed up in my 5 sizes too small Sonic Halloween costume and gave a speedy Sonic message of why gamers needed Sonic Adventure 2. Sadly this video is lost (and I lost the contest), but my other contribution has just been found! A reader review of Ghostbusters for the Genesis/Mega Drive! Check out the original posting here or read on for this classic retro review of a retro classic.

Ghostbusters (genesis)
Written on 02.26.2001

Remember the early 90's? Remember Ghostbusters? Remember the little kids running around in jumpsuits and plastic proton packs messing around in the summer? I sure do! Ghostbusters for Genesis brings back so many childhood memories for me. Although I never completed the game when I was little, I finally finished it last month. (I'm 16 now)
Based on the movie (not the cartoon) Ghostbusters was one of the many liscensed Genesis games that truly shined. With a mix of platforming and RPG, Ghostbusters proved to be a great game.

Visuals:: The characters looked funny, big heads and little bodies. They didn't look ugly, but playing as midget versions of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis was a treat. Enemys were very detailed and looked very unique. There aren't any common white ghosts in this game, instead it's killer snowmen, fire dragons, marshmellow men and hedgehogs made of flames. Environments looked good, some looked mediocre while others looked very cool.

Audio:: Very good music thats takes full advantage of the power Genesis had. Nice tunes in the levels, funny victory tunes, and the main title is better than perfect. Weapons sounds were good. The guns made funny "Blat" and "Bloop" sounds. Minimal character and enemy sounds, but when they DID make sound it was good.

Gameplay/Control:: Choose your favorite Ghostbuster, then the game begins with the choice of four buildings on a map. A hotel, a house, a building on fire, and a building frozen in ice. You have the choice to play any level you wanted inany order (an RPG element). Differant weapons and items can be bought in shops (another RPG element). You earned money by killing ghosts in the buildings (RPG again). Common ghosts died easily and sometimes hard, but 2-3 very hard bosses appear each level. The final boss's are tough, and when beaten you completed the building. After the four buildings you play a castle level, this is followed by the final level which I won't give away. With all of this gameplay you'd think you could save, SORRY! This is what made my review drop from 10 to 9. I played through it for 3 hours nonstop, and it never got old and always stayed fun. But isn't 3 hours of gameplay without saving a lot of work?? YES! In all very very fun, but no saving is a big minus.

Extras:: You can play as three differant characters, and theres a soundtest. Plus, each experience is differant with differant weapons and characters.

Overall:: In all it's one of my favorite Genesis games, and should be experienced by all. I mean look, it's a Ghostbuster RPG that is amazingly good!!! What else can you say!

Score:: 9/10

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