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Ghostbusters Impressions

The Ghostbusters game is still early in it's development so we didn't get to see a whole lot of it at Sierra's Spring Event but what we did see was mighty impressive. First we were shown a little sample of what the Infernal Engine is capable of. The setting was the New York Public Library reading room which should be familiar to any Ghostbusters fan. The fully rendered backgrounds were gorgeous and we watched as a thousand boxes were moved about the room simultaneously, objects were sliced using the Proton Pack and slime tethers were used to link objects together and hang them from the ceiling. The whole time this demonstration was happening, more and more objects were being dropped into the environment to show exactly how much this hearty engine could handle. More boxes, people and even cars fell from the ceiling, filling the room with thousands of objects without a hiccup in the frame rate or a slowing down of the action. At one point a monster was created using hundreds of books that came flying of the library shelves only to be taken down, book by book by the power of the Proton Pack.

Soon we moved to an outside street scene where we observed some of the amazing crowd technology that will be employed in the game, particularly in a Thanksgiving Day parade that we unfortunately didn't get to see previewed. I will say though that the crowd technology in Ghostbusters is the best I have ever seen. With a camera perched high above an intersection, we were able to see fifteen hundred people at once, all moving with their own individual AI, moving aside if they bumped into each other and never passing through or getting stuck all jittery in a corner. We came down to ground level and were shown some crowd reactions which were also impressive. Some ran screaming into the night while others gave you a wide berth to do your ghostbusting and yet even others stayed around to watch.

After the engine demo we got to check out some of the actual gameplay, but it skipped around quite a bit, showing various stages and enemies including the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man who looked both awesome and terrifying as he peered through windows looking for a victim. Anyone who has seen the films will be familiar with the ghost catching mechanic employed in the game. The PK emitter is used to detect the ghosts and once you've detected them your handy dandy Proton Pack comes into play with its various powers such as Dark Energy, Freeze Beam, Shot Blast, Neutron Generator and the Slime Tether. Once the ghosts have had some of the fight taken out of them you can begin the process of grabbing them with your beam and capturing them in the ghost traps. Here was where the PS3s Sixxaxis controller came into play. Utilizing a mechanic similar to that of Folklore, you use the controller to capture to grab the ghosts and then by shaking the remote, slamming the ethereal enemies into the ground until they can finally be trapped. Some enemies require multiple Ghostbusters to bring them down and often your AI buddies will not only help you by throwing down the ghost traps for you but can also help by adding their steam to yours (don't cross them!). Just remember the three steps: Wrangle, Slam and capture.

Your fellow AI Ghostbusters aren't the only ones who can help you. You real life friends can join you as well with online co-op play and specific co-op missions and mini-games. Some competitive play missions will also be available for you ornery types. Each mission will of course yield you a fee which will allow you to then make improvements to your beam pack. For all of you who were hoping to tear up the streets of NYC in the ECTO 1, I'm afraid you are out of luck as the game will contain no driving levels although the infamous vehicle does make quite a few appearances. Since the build we saw was pretty early on, the voiceover recording hadn't been done yet, but we were assured that all the original cast members would be providing their voices for the game including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts, Harold Ramis and the rest of the gang.

As a huge fan of the original Ghostbusters, I was quite taken and duly impressed by what I saw of the game and will be waiting rather impatiently (as I'm sure most of you will) for it to rear it's head later this year. Ghostbusters will be coming to the Wii (with no online play), PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PC and DS this October and if the developers have their way, will come out right around Halloween. Perfect.

1:00 AM on Mon Apr 28 2008
By Flynn De Marco
15,721 views
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