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"Second only to New Ghostbusters 2"

This is my favourite game for the Commodore 64, simply because the pro's outweighs the cons by a ton. Plus if you're a big fan of this sort of thing, like me, this was shaping out to be a brilliant game.

And it was. The story starts out as three scientists, who just got kicked out of university. Looking for a job, they dealt mostly in the paranormal and as ghost's were becoming a great nuisance in the New York, ghostbusting seemed like the perfect job at the perfect time.

The game starts off with you selecting your equipment, car and other essentials such as ghost traps, marshmallow detectors (you'll see why later), ghost vacuums etc. After you buy your stuff, the screen will cut to a map of the city and the fun begins!

Your car represents the No-Ghost logo that you can move around the roads of the map as you move it to the flashing buildings (the ones with ghosts) The screen will cut to a birds-eye view of the road with your car. Depending on the speed of the car, the time you reach the building will be varied. When you arrive, the screen will cut to outside the building where the primary Ghostbuster sets the trap. It doesn't matter where and once the trap is set, move him to an appropriate position and his particle thrower will be primed and ready. The second Ghostbuster will then hop out of your transport and also moves to a position to capture the ghost and out flies the streams, but whatever you do, DON'T CROSS THEM! It's hard to explain, but try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light- Egon Spengler. This is a very simply thought out way of Ghostbusting, but this is the Commodore 64.

The ghosts are intelligent. They know better than to trap themselves in the streams, which is uncommon in Commodore 64 games; lack of enemy intelligence which makes the game more challenging. If you manage to capture the ghost, which gets easier when you get the hang of it, the trap is full and another one must be used, depending on how many you bought. But hey! You get paid which what it's all about, right? If you don't however, you get treated to the ghost attacking/sliming the primary Ghostbuster thus injuring him (the electronic 'He Slimed Me!' is a true classic!) and the third one gets put to use. Just one Ghostbuster is relatively clean? No more traps left? No problem. The building at the bottom of the map in the centre is your H.Q. Deposit the traps in the containment unit. The light is green, the trap is clean. It can be used again.

And so on, which is admittedly repetitive but like all games, busting all these ghosts has an ultimate goal at the end. You have to make enough money at the end to go for the big catch; The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. At the bottom right of the map screen, there is the PKE energy. This is the cliche time-limit. At the very beginning, it would only climb one digit every five minutes. But as the game progresses, the ghosts will come more frequently even resulting in two buildings giving a call at the same time and thus the PKE energy climbs very rapidly. When it reaches 9999, the game's over.

The overall objection of the game is to make more money than your budget at the start, then you'll be trusted to take on the big boss at the building at the dead center of the map. Spook Central itself, the Shandor Building. Easier said than done. There are obstacles that'll take your money away. For example, Stay-Puft could show up when you least expect it and start tearing up downtown New York which can be very frustrating. Well, you can expect it and prevent it if you have marshmallow detectors.

The game is very challenging. It takes 5 or 6 attempts from the beginning to get to the Shandor Building, and when you get there, Stay Puft is hardly a sponge. The best strategies have a 50/50 chance of working.

Graphics: A third generation gamer will glance at it and sneer, but when you consider the qualities of C64, they'll be appreciated. 7

Controls: Just the joystick, But if you're feeling nostalgic… 7

Longevity: It'll take a few attempts to complete it and it can be repetitive. But it's fun at the same time and it'll be a while before you're bored. 7

Much better than it's NES counterpart and should be in it's own genre (Ghostbusting.) Reminisce if that Commodore in your attic still has some life. But if you're looking for the best, I say go for New Ghostbusters 2.




Reviewer's Score: 7/10 | Originally Posted: 07/23/03, Updated 07/23/03

"Ghostbusters is a classic game for a classic system."

Ghostbusters, an oldie by goodie game for the Commodore 64, is a classic game from Activision. The game's plot follows the plot of the 1984 movie. You control the 3 Ghostbusters (Winston drives the car and is not playable, apparently) as they catch New York City's ghosts. Trap ghosts by positioning two of the three busters beside the ghost, push the button to fire up the proton packs, and then push the beams into the ghost to force it over the trap. Then suck the ghost into its jail. For each ghost that is successfully trapped, you earn money to spend on better ghost equipment. There's all sorts of neat equipment, such as:

*Ghost traps (a must have - without these you cannot catch anything!) - Place one of these under the ghost and wait until it hovers over it. Then press the button and the demon's yours!
*Marshmallow Bait - useful for catching the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Without this, Puffy can stomp the city to bits, causing you to be sued by the city!
*Ghost vacuum - suck up the ghosts on the road and earn more money!
*Ghost bait - attract the ghosts to the vacuum area.
And my favorite item...
*Vision Goggles – allows you to see invisible ghosts.
*PKE Meter – lets you see where ghosts will appear next.
*Portable containment unit - allows you to refill ghost traps.

There are many more items, but these are the most useful, IMO.

The gameplay is great for a C64 game. Use the joystick (no keys in this one =( ) to move the Ghostbusters from left to right in the street scenes or to drive the Ecto-1 in the driving scenes. The hardest part about the control is convincing the game that you're pushing the "ghost trap activate" button, but other than that it's smooth.

The sound is faithful to the GB movie. The movie's theme song plays nonstop through the game, and if you should fail to trap a ghost, you hear a electronic voice shout "He slimed me!" If you suck a ghost into the ghost vacuum, you get a sucking sound. Lose the game and you are electronically laughed at. This is the extent of the sounds.

This game is designed with replay in mind. After winning the game you are given a password that allows you to start a new game with your previous bank account, allowing you to buy advanced weaponry and faster cars at the beginning of the game.

The downside of the game: once you buy your equipment you cannot buy more until the next game. Also, once you run out of ghost traps, you must drive back to GB headquarters to swap them out. This can be time consuming if you have only a few traps.

The game was also released for the NES with some "enhancements" (more weapons and harder goals), but I find that the C64 version of the game is the better of the two. It is not as buggy and is, to me, more fun. I sold my Commodore 64 years ago, and it's a shame that this game went with it – it's a C64 classic.


Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99

With the new Ghostbusters game to be released this coming month, there’s no better time to run the rule over its original predecessor released some 25-years ago. Back in 1984, everybody’s job of choice was that of a Ghostbuster, thanks to the multi-million grossing smash film starring Bill Murray – spin-off merchandise sales went, as expected, through the roof, and the obligatory video game tie-in was, ‘shock, horror!’, actually quite good.

Because of the films popularity, any subsequent licensed videogame was going to sell stacks no matter what the quality (a problem that is never more true than with the current machines), fortunately Activision did a pretty decent job to bring it to our small screens – and what seems laughably poor now, I recall being pretty darn exciting ‘back in the day’. To be fair, Activision didn’t exactly help themselves out, with full page adverts claiming it to “follow the film with incredible accuracy”, but they did their best to bring the spirit and humour of the film to us wannabe Venkman’s.

The premise is basic, after equipping your vehicle with all kinds of gadgets (and all being loaded on by a little forklift truck being driven by an even tinier little man) you move around an overhead map of the city to the flashing building that’s about to be spooked good and proper, and then once you’ve arrived it’s time to try and trap the ghosts in your erm, traps. Of course it gets trickier and tricker as you progress around the city with more and more ghouls doing their best to make your life a misery. Unbelievably, tedium does begin to set after ooh, around five minutes but it’s all so gloriously simple and well nurtured you can’t help but love it to bits.
Of course, the most dull thing was getting to the place to catch the ghosts to begin with....This game didn't make much sense

Of course, the most dull thing was getting to the place to catch the ghosts to begin with....This game didn't make much sense

No film license from 1984 could possibly be without its moments of comedy though, its attempts to reproduce Ray Parker Jnr’s theme tune are admirable but inevitably ear-bleedingly poor, and the frequent self-congratulatory shouts of “GHOSTBUSTERS!” when you trap your ghouls are akin to someone with tourette’s bellowing down a cheaply manufactured megaphone. Play it or watch it online – I defy you not to crack a smile.

With so many film tie-ins being released with alarming regularity, so many fall by the wayside and get forgotten. The fact that Ghostbusters is so fondly remembered some 25-years on must count for something, it may be frustratingly basic and with less depth than a kiddy-pool, but it has undeniable charm and that certain something which makes it very much a cult game in my eyes. Mr Parker Jnr claimed regularly that he “aint afraid of no ghost”, well I may not be either Ray, but I’m certainly a bit scared by the garish collision detection, laugh-out-loud audio and the fact that it cost me £9.99 for the privelidge. But like the film itself, it remains something of a guilty pleasure that provides nostalgic glee in spades when its lighting up your TV screen. Superb stuff.