Ghostbusters

The Good
When "Ghostbusters" came out in 1984, it became (and remains) one of my favorite movies. When it was announced that David Crane, the maker of "Pitfall" was making a computer game version, there was an overwhelming need to own this game.

The premise is unique. The bank gives you the funds needed to open your own Ghostbusters franchise. You choose the car, the equipment, and have to patrol the city in order to keep it ghost-free and enough money in your account. As things get closer to a meltdown in New York, players have to attend to multiple hauntings all over the city as well as frequent visits by the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, and the looming threat of the Gatekeeper and Keymaster. It retained all of the main elements of what made the movie so popular, right down to the theme song and crossing the streams. Though sparse by today's standards, the graphics were recognizable, and had some fun animations to them.

The Bad
The main thing that remained tedious about gameplay was the car scenes. They were long and offered very little to do, unless you bought the Ghost Catcher for your car. The early versions of this title haven't aged as well, certainly not in comparison to the superior Sega Master System version, which allowed more diversity in driving, a stair climbing scene, more items, and a showdown with Zuul. But the SMS version had the advantage of being a port of a game that was 3-4 years old at that point, hence the improvements.

There's really no ending for the Apple version. A quick door closing scene, and a wordy "You Win" message. Also laying Ghost Bait to stop Stay-Puft seemed rather hit or miss at times as to whether it would work or not.

The Bottom Line
All things aside, this was one of the much-anticipated games for my Apple IIc, and the business-minded approach to the game was definitely novel, with some elements of strategy used to catch the ghosts. Of all the Ghostbuster games available, this is still the most fun of the lot, and I wish some version of it would resurface for the current generation of consoles.

For a time when movie-based games had very little to do with their subject matter, "Ghostbusters" made a genuine and competent attempt to bring the fun and cleverness of the film home.

It may not have gameplay that's fully stood the test of time, but it still provides some enjoyable moments.

The Good
Well, first of all, I like the Ghostbusters quite a bit. I loved both movies to death, and bought them on DVD once I got the chance later. The first Ghostbusters game I played was on commodore 64, and it was AWESOME!

So, I found out later that another version of the game got released for the NES, needless to say, I picked it up right away (or rather my mom did for me) and it was good. It played almost exactly like the commodore 64 version which I was happy about, but it also added in some new features that were pretty cool.

The first thing I would like to mention is, in a way this is an early version of business sim games. You start your own franchise and have to purchase gear to get to busting ghosts, in which to make more money, all while stopping the dreaded Gozer, and it's minions.

Well, the first different thing about this version from the com 64 was that you didn't start with any gear, and you only had one vehicle you had to drive the good old Ecto-1, which was fine by me, I love that car. Instead, you have first drive to the Store in order to purchase some equipment with your loaned 10,000 in order to begin your ghost catching business.

The other changed thing is the driving scenes. They are more evolved this time and feel a little like an arcade game, your car is displayed smaller on the screen giving you room to move forward for speed, and back for slower speed. Also, you had to dodge bad drivers (ghosts driving?) or you would owe them money which was directly taken from your stash of cash.

Also, you had gas this time, so you have to drive to the gas station once in awhile in order to fill up the Ecto-1 and continue busting ghost.

I could go on and on about the changes, but I'll save you the time and say that it feels more evolved game wise and business wise, and is pretty darn fun.

The Bad
Well... I don't like the newly added Stair climbing scene. It's really slow... I MEAN REALLY SLOW. You have to hold forward and press the A button over and over again in order to go up the stairs and it's really boring and much too hard. Not to mention it really starts to kill your thumb.

The ending is *** as well. It just Congrats you on a job well done (in a funny but poor translation paragraph) so it feels like everything you did was pointless. It wasn't though, if you like business games, you most likely enjoyed yourself catching ghosts and making loads of cash.

The Bottom Line
It's an early business sim. So most people look at how dated it is, and how weird it looks (just look at the screen shots on this web site) and think that it is boring, and to some it probably is. If you like tactic business games like me, you will enjoy it most likely.

I rate it a 8/10. It's not as good as the commodore 64 version, however it is good on it's own. Thumbs up!

The Good
Ghostbusters for the Atari 2600 was one of the last games published for the system, right around the same time the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in North America, ushering the next generation of video game consoles. So, this game has a sizable advantage over other games on the system, since Atari programmers would have discovered many tricks to maximize performance on the system. But this game also was at a big disadvantage compared to other systems, especially what would become the third-generation console champion, the NES.

The graphics on the Atari 2600 version are much simpler than what you'd get on other consoles, but they are still recognizable for what they are supposed to be. You can tell a roamer from a slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is as intimidating as it should be, and the plasma guns and traps are decent. You can recognize the Ecto-1 for what it should look like, although allowances must still be made due to the limitations of the system.

The music is particularly good for the Atari. It even had me bopping in my seat along with the music while I was playing, and the gameplay is smooth. The instructions booklet gives you all the information you need to play the game in only a few pages.

The Bad
There are still a few problems with the game that take some getting used to. The first issue is that you can't always tell when the round is finished right away. It would have helped if there was an audio cue, or a round finished screen, to let you know it's time to start a new game or buy more equipment for the next round.

It would help to have an indicator on the screen for how many traps you have remaining, or how many men you have left before you need to go back to the headquarters.

As I said earlier, the graphics are decent, but they pale in comparison to other ports of this game, so the fact that it was available on other systems guaranteed that they were going to be the better buy than this one.

And while the gameplay is smooth, it does get repetitive because you're only ever doing the exact same thing over and over. And finally, it's too easy for the slimers to escape over the reach of your plasma guns, so half the time you don't have a chance to catch them.

The Bottom Line
Overall, it's a fun game on a limited system. Even more fun to keep track of your best scores and try to beat it next time or compare with your friends. If your only gaming system was an Atari 2600, then this game would definitely be worth buying, but if you had any other system with a port of this game, that one would be more worth it.