Ghostbusters: The Video Game / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation: In Ivo Shandor's castle the team find a portrait of Ivo's mother. This mainly exists to serve The Reveal, but it raises multiple questions - did Ivo love his mother and hang this picture to honour her? He never mentions her or seems to care when the painting is destroyed along with the castle. And on closer inspection, the painting also features a Gozerian Temple. Was Ivo using his mother's painting to flaunt his Religion of Evil? None of this is ever explained, leaving Ivo's relationship with his mother an enigma.
Annoying Video Game Helper: In the 2009 game the other Ghostbusters do try to carry their weight, but expect to be reviving them every minute or so. You shouldn't complain too much, though, since they'll be doing the same for you quite often.
Breather Level: The Return to Sedgewick Hotel level is much shorter than the Times Square, Library, and Museum levels preceding it, as well as the Lost Island and Cemetery levels afterwards. All total including the boss, there are only 4 enemy encounters.^note
Complete Monster (Realistic version):
- Ivo Shandor was a renowned architect and doctor who is the catalyst for the franchise as a whole. Notorious during his lifetime for performing unnecessary surgery, Ivo revived the Cult of Gozer to summon Gozer the Gozerian to wipe out humanity. To this end, he recruits numerous cultists, binding them to his service in life and afterlife, and renovates several famous landmarks to serve as conduits for ghost energy, including the infamous 55 Central Park West building that summoned Gozer in 1984. In 1991 Shandor possessed the mayor of New York City and unleashed a legion of ghosts to terrorize the city and use them as an energy source for his ritual. To complete said ritual, Shandor attempted to sacrifice one of his own descendants, Ilyssa Selwyn, to become a god and remake the world in his own image, even forsaking Gozer for failing him twice.
- The Spider Witch, a (supposedly) human follower of Ivo Shandor in life, operated in Hotel Sedgewick as a gruesome Serial Killer for the time she was alive. The Spider Witch lured men to her room where she proceeded to savagely murder them, hang up their bodies, and paint the room with their blood. No less vicious in undeath than she was in life, the Spider Witch is implied to be keeping the souls of some of her victims enslaved as the Webbed Fiends.
Demonic Spiders:
- The Black Slime Golems considering you fight two of them in cramped locales while being blasted by venom crawlers.
- Possessor Ghosts: not only do you have to remove them from their human hosts before actually busting them, but they can also turn the other Ghostbusters against you as easily as they do any other human. Expect a lot of running and sliming to keep yourself alive.
- There's the Grave Golems that make the Black Slime Golems look like pansies. Thought you could destroy them by ripping their "head" off, like most of the other golem-type enemies? Surprise! They don't need it, and it just leaves you open for attack!
Disappointing Last Level: Central Park Cemetery is surprisingly hard to navigate compared with the other levels, owing mostly to being extremely dark in places, only briefly illuminated by lightning strikes. And even when you can see clearly, the place is a confusing labyrinth of identical-looking fences, tombs, and destructible gravestones and trees. This means during combat you will frequently get stuck moving around, fallen allies can be unnecessarily difficult to reach, and ghosts have plenty of cover to hide behind. Further, a big cemetery might seem somewhat anticlimactic after visiting the ghost world and Shandor Island.
Fan Nickname: Ghostbusters 3 for most. This was years before Ghostbusters: Afterlife (a movie that is set years later and goes in a completely different direction) and the last time Harold Ramis would be involved in the franchise before his death. Considering this is also the last time we see the all of the original cast together (save Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver who couldn't be brought in due to late development), its not without justification.
Goddamned Bats:
- Has this in the form of flying books that screech like bats. The spider chandeliers qualify too, but they're not nearly as annoying as the Book Bats who come in much greater numbers. The presence and, in later levels, commonness of "little destroyable ghosts" is a commonly-stated strike against the game.
- The Stone Cherubs. DEAR GOD, the Stone Cherubs. They often hit the Rookie In the Back for an instant KO whether by shooting long-range arrows or by charging at him.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- The fact that this is the last time we will see all members of the original Ghostbusters. Or is it?
- In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it is said that there hadn't been a ghost sighting in 30 years. Afterlife was released and set in 2021, thirty years after the events of this game. If the video game can still be considered movie canon, then this game showed the last major boom in paranormal activity that the original Ghostbusters team experienced before they went out of business.
Heartwarming Moments:
- Any time you get knocked over and subsequently revived by one of your team mates. There is something very sweet about having your childhood heroes actually coming to your rescue. It is even more sweet when they praise you for your hard work, even expressing pride as the game goes on.
- In the back of the Firehouse, you can find a giant plaque reading “Thank you Ghostbusters” from a class of 3rd graders, covered in green hand prints and drawings. Words cannot describe how adorable it is.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- If you talk to the painting of Vigo (Max von Sydow) he will predict that “three more far away wars would come and they would tarnish the undistputed glory of the first three.” Guess what franchise Von Sydow would eventually join?
- One of the other things Vigo's painting can say is "I dreamt I was in a painting with ponies. It was nice." The video game originally came out in June 2009. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic came out in October 2010.
- The game is set on Thanksgiving 1991. 30 years later, Ghostbusters: Afterlife was released in November 2021.
- In the game, it was revealed that Ivo Shandor was the real Big Bad of the story, discarding Gozer for being a "disappointment" after their failed attempt at ending the world the first time around, having turned most of New York into one big supernatural conduit to achieve this. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it's revealed that, the film version of Ivo Shandor made his own back-up plan, having created a way to summon Gozer in 2021 if the 1984 attempt failed. Ironically, in that film its Gozer who disposes of him.
Just Here for Godzilla: The game is polished and fun enough to be good on it's own, but most fans will always remember it for bringing the original cast back together one last time.
Most Wonderful Sound:
- Mixed with the above. The iconic theme tune plays during the loading screen every time you die. If you're dying a lot, the song will either start grating on you, or soften the blow. Averted in the Remaster, as it loads so much faster they don't even bother to start the theme between loads.
- Not to mention the sound of the proton pack when you switch it on, the buzz of the PKE meter as you follow a signal, the hum of the proton stream as you blast ghosts, the beep the trap makes after a successful capture...
Moment of Awesome: You get to fight alongside the original Ghostbusters team and save the world. By the end, you may find yourself echoing Louis at the end of Ghostbusters II:
"I DID IT! I'M A GHOSTBUSTER!"
Nightmare Retardant:
- The Juvenile Giant Sloar, when looked at from a certain point of view, is Gypsy on steroids (and possibly roaring drunk, too, what with all the puking it does). Shandor's Destructor form can be seen as this, too: all the potential possibilities, and he limits himself to a stereotype cartoon devil.
- Possibly as a result of how stereotypical the devil form is, the "creepy robed man" of the stylized version comes off as legitimately more menacing.
- For some, the children's section at the library. It's a little creepy but the disembodied children's voices are actually happy, they're laughing like normal children as they 'play' by making things float, and when you leave they even say goodbye in normal if echoing tones. If there are any genuinely friendly ghosts to be found this would be them.
No Problem with Licensed Games: A very deliberate and intentional aversion of the usual "licensed video game" problems, thanks to the participation of the original cast and crew. Prior to the announcement of the second sequel, many fans consider it the true third movie of the series, especially in comparison to the base-breaking 2016 reboot.
Porting Disaster:
- The PC version has no multiplayer. While that can be ignored, what can't be ignored is the horrid mouse acceleration that makes it unplayable unless you use a controller (or use 3rd party fixes, fixes that assume you have a Logitech-brand mouse).
- The PS2 versions runs into a few optimization issues as well such as screen tearing and some of the facial animations not registering (Check the scene where the Mayor and Peck visit the Ghostbusters HQ). Though still plays well.
- The PS2 version had a ridiculous amount of bugs to it, ranging from Ghostbusters vanishing mid-level to full-on crashes.
Rewatch Bonus: Near the end, it's revealed that the Mayor was possessed by Ivo Shandor. Play the game again, and you'll notice that the Mayor only appears in cutscenes. This was done to prevent the Player activating his PKE Meter in the Mayor's presence.
Scrappy Mechanic: In the realistic and DS versions, you can get temporarily knocked down and lose all control of your character for several seconds. It's worse on the DS version, since it's quite easier to get immediately knocked down right after getting back up!
Signature Scene:
- The entirety of Times Square, where you get up close and personal with a rampaging Mr. Stay Puft.
- As for material totally new to the game, the visit to the ghost world library stands out best.
Take That, Scrappy!: Slimer gets abused a lot throughout the game, which can be interpreted by his detractors as a jab toward his overexposure in the later seasons of The Real Ghostbusters. In the main campaign, he's the Warm-Up Boss you get to beat up and force into a trap as he screams in fear. In multiplayer, there's a game called "Slime Dunk"; a whole section dedicated to you and other players beating up an entire legion of Slimers by flailing them around and shoving them into many traps painfully.
Tear Jerker:
- Getting knocked down while rushing to revive your team mates can be frustrating for most players, but devastating for long-time fans. You failed the Ghostbusters.
- Likewise, getting knocked over and having to listen while the others are slowly beaten, unable to help them.
- The remastered version adds a brief message at the end of the game's intro cutscene: "In loving memory of Harold Ramis".
That One Achievement: "Nice Shootin', Tex!" Complete the game with less than $100,000 in property damage. How hard could that be? For reference, it's easy to exceed a million dollars in damage in the Times Square level alone. Accidentally shooting a couple of cars or a bus can ruin any chance at the achievement right then and there.^note
That One Boss:
- Azetlor in the realistic versions. He's extremely aggressive, can move fast, has attacks that can drop you, Egon, and Ray in very few hits, has some of the highest health in the game, a fairly small vulnerable area, and can summon Book Bats to help him. Many players Rage Quit at this point. You need to move fast and continue reviving your teammates if you intend to survive The Collector. ^note
- The Gozerian Servitor in the stylized versions. It's a fairly difficult battle because 1) the Servitor's melee attack is very powerful and can remove half of your max health in a single blow, 2) he is accompanied by a few annoying Grave Scuttlers that are Demonic Spiders for all intents and purposes, 3) he can take a lot of punishment from your equipment and 4) you only have one ally, Ray, on your side, and only you can revive him if he goes down. If you get knocked out too, you'll have to start the whole battle over!
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Vigo for a few fans. While he only makes a cameo in the Ghostbusters HQ, all he does is act as an Easter egg instead of an actual character.
- Very few of the major ghosts are given any real characterization, the closest being Ivo Shandor, who spends almost all of their screen time disguised as another character completely. However, this leaves plenty of room for the team to banter with each other instead of developing briefly seen boss characters.
- While the Rookie as a Heroic Mime can be understood from a storytelling perspective, the developers wasted a perfectly good opportunity to allow players go crazy with customizing their own Ghostbuster, instead opting for a generic White Male Lead whose face is based on one of the developers.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- The game is designed to evoke nostalgia and recreates a lot of famous moments from the original film. The unfortunate result is that all three 'movies' end up having the same basic plot with a new coat of paint, and the game sometimes comes across as a trip through an interactive "greatest-hits" reel.
- And going in the opposite direction, while the film is not ignored, no scenes are recreated from Ghostbusters II. A rematch in the courtroom or the haunted tunnels could have been a lot of fun.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
- The realistic version of the game on the PS3 and 360 renders most of the characters fairly close to the way the actors looked in the movies. While it is still somewhat stylized, there are more than a few moments that look almost life-like.
- In some of the cutscenes using the game's graphics as opposed to CG, the Ghostbusters tend to move more like marionettes than people, and it's a bit unnerving. Even when the animation is good, people tend to find Ray to be the most unsettling due to the fact that the developers paid so much attention to making the characters look like their actors circa 1991 that they not only included Dan Aykroyd's heterochromia, but got the right colors on the right sides of his face (left eye brown, right eye green). Realistic faces + jerky animation + often-questionable lipsyncing = unsettling character models.
- The stylized version likewise are a bit surreal to look at due to the cartoony designs. It's meant to harken back to the The Real Ghostbusters, but the designs there were modeled to not look like their movie actors and be their own characters. While here, that is the case and they come off looking more like 3D caricatures of their likenesses, Peter especially due to the darken areas around his eyes in trying to look like Bill Murray.
Villain Decay:
- Vigo the Carpathian, the Big Bad of Ghostbusters II, is reduced to nothing more than his painting in the game, unable to do much of anything except talk. To add insult to injury, the painting is owned by the guys who beat him—the Ghostbusters.
- The game also made Stay Puft much weaker than before, to the point the player character can take him on. It's actually stated in the game that Gozer's second manifestation as Stay Puft was much weaker than the first.

YMMV / Ghostbusters: The Video Game

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