GhostBusters Sega Genesis Review
Oh boy, another Ghost Busters game. If you have played the other games before, then you'll know how terrible they are. Unimaginative and incredibly dull graphics, tasteless and flat music, irritating and stiff/chunky game play, that's a Ghost Busters game for you. Would it kill them to make a game that had a side scrolling aspect, with several enemies that were possessed by ghosts in which you needed to use your proton back to either destroy or capture, with mini-bosses and forgiving game play and stuff like that? Thankfully, a Ghost Busters game like that does in fact exist. Ghost Busters for the Sega Genesis, it's the best retro style game of the lot. it's not the best game, but as a game at least, it's pretty fun.
The story is that New York has been infested with ghosts, and the Ghost Busters have to go in and sort the problem out. The story is very basic, but at least it's good for a Ghost Busters game. There are four levels that you can pick much like in the style of Mega Man, but there's clearly a level of difficulty to each stage. Each level is filled with a mini boss or two, and several possess items and ghosts for you to defeat. Each mini-boss can be captured if you are skilled enough to get it in the trap after it has been defeated for a nice income boost. Yes, you have to buy your weapons from somewhere, because clearly the Ghost Busters can't make their own equipment, being the only team in the field of ghost busting. However, there are a ton of new stuff you can buy. For starters, you start off with your proton pack and trap, so that's great, second, there's food to eat and bombs to buy to clear the screen of stuff in a pickle, and third off, there are different types of weapons you can buy for different situations. These take energy, however, which it is limited. You can shoot at Slimer to get a refill on health or energy, however.
The graphics aren't that bad for it's time. The Ghost Busters (in which the black one was left out again >_<) themselves look rather detailed without the use of that graphics system used in Mortal Kombat. The background sets a good mood for the whole "haunted house" situation, and the bosses and enemies are very creative with great movement. A little chunky yes, but still great. No two bosses, mini or not, are the same, although they will have a certain theme to them that is related to the building you are in. It's the same with the enemies, although some of them you will find everywhere, like those jumping slime blob things. The animations however, are fairly choppy for a 16-bit game.
The music is also fairly good, however the background music is a little quiet. Although it plays a nice part in the game, it's often over shadowed by the enemy noises and general sound effects. However, to be fair, you get to hear the background music quite a lot despite all that, but it's still fairly quiet for a game. The sound effects are all amusing and satisfying to an extent, and the boss music is actually rather good. None of the music is annoying, almost as if they put effort into the music themselves.
The controls are rather fluid and responsive, which really took my by surprise. Controlling how you jump is great and you can even fire your Proton Pack in three different directions; straight forward, diagonal up, and straight up (ok, technically five different directions...). This is really handy for flying enemies and getting those sweet spots in bosses, so it's a good thing they took a page out of Contra's book. Another great thing about the controls is that you don't slip and slide everywhere. The only bad thing is that when you need to lay down and crawl through a space, you can't turn around and attack enemies that are behind you, that can really trip you up unexpectedly.
It's a pretty fun game to play. Everything comes together very well, it's quite addictive. I wouldn't mind picking up this game and saying "Yep, put this baby in!", because it's a decent game. Jumping is fun, shooting stuff is fun, finding the pattern of a boss and working around that is fair and fun. Everything is fun, following the true trait of Ghost Busters. With all the weapons and such, it has a fair bit to offer. There are safes that you can crack open and steal the money (Ghost Busters, stealing your cash as well as your ghosts!), which is nice when you suck at catching the ghosts after the mini-boss fights. Sometimes, there's a bomb instead of cash, so watch out.
The game is also fairly challenging, however that's mainly because some of the bosses patterns are very awkward and tricky to avoid. Some are just nearly impossible to dodge. Because of this, you might die a lot and use up all your continues. The overall levels aren't that hard, and with some careful gaming, you could breeze through them, it's just the bosses that are tough. The bosses, like I said before, are all very creative and, like Dracula, only have a certain spot in which they can be hit. Finding these is kinda fun, actually.
Overall, I give this game a 7.7/10 As far as Ghost Busters games go, this is a really fun one to play. It takes an original turn of the popular series, adds in an element of freedom of where to go and what to do and what to buy, and incorporates an actual game play feel that you are a Ghost Buster. It felt like effort was placed in it, and that effort paid off. It's fun, challenging to an extent, and addictive. Now the one question is, why didn't they make the Ghost Busters games like this? And why aren't there more like this now?
Graphics 7 Sound 5 Addictive 8 Depth 7 Story 5 Difficulty 7
Ghostbusters Description: If you thought the Ghostbusters went out of business after their last victory - you're wrong! The ghosts are back in town! Peter, Raymond and Egon are back on their feet and ready to save the world. But again ghostbusting requires a lot of money, a lot of equipment and of course, a lot of guts. Are you daring enough to guide the Ghostbusters throughout their mission? Are you determined enough to solve the dreaded mystery of the missing stone tablet? Once you step into the world of fiends, there's no turning back! Ghosts, ghouls, goblins - you name it. They all await your arrival. So before you head out, don't forget to stock up on powerful weapons. It's the only way to take control!
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