FZR & Ronin

The prom continues, but my date has ditched me! Will I ever find love? And what’s in the magic lamp?

You guys know me by now. You’ve either heard me on Sleepy Cast talking about Ghostbusters or you’ve seen videos of me talking about Ghostbusters. In short, I fuckin’ love Ghostbusters. And it is my great love of this franchise that makes my review so credible; no one will be harder on a Ghostbusters game then a true Ghostbusters fan. That’s this guy right here. To be honest, when I first heard about a Ghostbusters game, I was pretty sure this game was gonna suck the big hard one, if you feel me. And all it’s trouble during development didn’t make me feel any better. I was hoping for, at the very least, an ‘Ok’ game; something passable, with a few cute lines here and there. What did we get? We got a really good game that made me smile the whole way through.

Dan Aykroyd has stated on many occasions that this is Ghostbusters 3…which is funny, because now they are making Ghostbusters 3. Anyway, this is a fully thought out story happening two years after Ghostbusters 2 and was written Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It’s not some cheap attempt to make money off the fans, a lot of love when into this game. The story follows the Busters’ and the new recruit (your character) as those pesky Gozerians are at it again. As I mentioned, you’re playing has the new rookie who is never given a name. In the beginning I thought this was kind of lame, but in the end it works quite nicely. I don’t wanna hear this new guy talking and ruining the flow of Ghostbusters chi! By playing as the silent observer, you become a part of the story without interfering with it. It was a brilliant decision and the story actually has a better Ghostbusters feeling then GB2 had.

The story is all well and good, but it ultimately it all boils down to the important question- is this game fun? And it is. Handling the proton pack feels just like you always thought it would. Ghost bustin’ is a three step process: zap em’, cap em’, and trap em’. You begin by sustaining a burst of concentrated proton against the negatively charged ectoplasmic entities. Once you’ve whittled the ghost health down, the game prompts you to fire off the capture stream which allows you to wrangle the ghost towards the trap. Once there, nature takes its course and the ghost is captured and ready to be taken to your custom made storage facility. One of my fears was that this would be all you’d do in the game, which would get old really fast. But there are several enemy types beyond ghosts that don’t have to be captured in the trap. Lesser spirits, demons, even ghoulish zombies! The Ghostbusters fight slime zombies in a fuckin’ grave yard! How bad ass is that? And aside from the proton packs basic proton beam, Terminal Reality took a few liberties and created new streams for the pack to fire, like the Boson Dart- a concentrated proton blast. Most of the other streams run the typical shooter genera weapons. You have the shotgun-like Shock Blast, the rapid fire Overload Pulse, and the Slime Blower…Hey, not all of it is genera based. While some enemy types are weaker to certain streams, admittedly you can pretty much just stick with the proton stream.

Another key piece of Ghostbusters equipment is your Paragoggles and PKE Meter. Equipping these puts you into a first person mode which let you see more paranormal activity in the area, such has the ectoplasmic residue the ghost leave behind, which you’ll intern use to track down the wrascally ghost. They’re all the games way of keeping you on the path you should be going on. You bring up the goggles and use the read out to get back on the proper path. It also shows any cursed artifacts and gives you a heads up on the enemy spook, via Tobin’s Spirit Guide. It’s such a small thing that goes a long way, and again shows a lot of time went into the presentation of game. The PKE Meter is meant to be your navigator, while the Proton Pack serves as a HUD showing health, and your streams overheat level. It all goes into making a more immersive experience.

This isn’t to say the game is flawless. The in game animated sequences vary from very good looking, to almost robotic in their movements. And the lip sync quite often doesn’t sync. It’s rarely perfect in any game, but it can get mighty bad in Ghostbusters. There are also audio problems where two characters lines will over lap each other. And remember when I said how the PKE acts as a navigator and the pack is your HUD? Yeah…that doesn’t always work in your favor. It works well most of the time, but there were enough points where I wished a fuckin’ red arrow or something would pop up on the screen to give me a hand. And the two little bars that represent your health are quite little and hard to see. I didn’t die that much, (Authors Note: As I write this, I have not yet gone through the game on its hardest setting) but I can see how it could quickly cause a controller to be thrown. Oh yeah, the final boss is lame as hell! Now let’s talk about the multiplayer. I’ll come out and say that there is NO co-op campaign mode. Yes, this sucks hard. I can understand why they didn’t make the campaign co-op, they wanted a deeper story mode. But the fact that there are four Ghostbusters and no co-op campaign of any kind hurts the replay value. It does have 6 multiplayer modes though. Most of them revolve around the same idea of catching ghosts with some constriction added. Personally my favorite is the Slime Dunk mode where you have to dunk more Slimers in the trap then the other players. It’s fun and all, but damn…no co-op just plain fucking sucks.

This is a Ghostbusters fans dream come true! A Busters’ game that doesn’t suck! There’s a lot of fan service here, everything from the Proton Packs to the PKE just looks and feels right. If you’re an uber fan, it’s a must own. However, the casual fan of Ghostbusters may feel a bit cheated by the only average multiplayer options. Perhaps a sequel of some sort could fix this, but for now, we’ll just have to settle. Now if you’ll excuse me, there are ghosts that need bustin’. And bustin’ makes me feel good.

4 out of 5

Time for part three bitches! When we last left Spoony, he’d paid for your sins in FF8 by showing how shitty the ‘junction system’ is. But that is only the surface of the shitberg that is Final Fantasy 8′s gameplay. Now, he tackles the worse part: the fucking cards!

Alright, I’m sure you guys are wondering where the new episode of Sleepy Cast is. Well, Memphis got rocked by a nasty storm Friday. A nice chunk of the city had the power knocked out (though it’s not has bad as Hurricane Elvis was back in 03). I feel pretty lucky that I got power back Saturday. FZR on the other hand; has I write this has not gotten power back, and is hiding out in an undisclosed hotel where Miley Cyrus’s lawyers can’t find him. That slick pimp. We’re hoping to record Ep. 81 Sunday, so look forward to it then. But while you wait for that, I figure I’ll help wet your appetite by filling you in on some of projects we’re working on:

Site redesign. The layout is pretty good has it is, but FZR and I think we can too better.

Some videos. Us sleepy folk have been wanting to do more videos. Thing is we have tons of ideas and it’s hard to sort them all out. But more of those are coming. And I’m also working on my own ranting vlog.

Ghostbusters the Game. By the time you read this, it’ll be out in stores. And you can bet your ass hair that FZR and Ronin are gonna be all over it like an Allie Sin video. So, like it or not here that comes.

Ep. 100 and our 2 year anniversary. Ohhh yeah. Sadly, Ep. 100 and the 2yr anniversary won’t be on the same day, but lets face it; it was seer luck that we got that lucky by having the 1 year mark and Ep. 50 on the same day. We’ve got something special planned for Episode.100, but we’re pretty clueless about the 2 yr anniversary Ep. So Sleepy Faithful, be sure to send in your comments and messages here on the site, or at Sleepycast1@yahoo.com.

Ronin out

We Have the Talent! – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the Firehouse Tutorial level.

The Flowers are Still Standing! – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Welcome to the Hotel Sedgewick” level.

Once S’more into the Breach – Bronze /20 pts.
Complete the “Panic in Times Square” level.

Get Her! – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Checking Out the Library” level.

Ghost Fever Grips New York – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Museum of (Super)Natural History” level.

Somebody Saw a Cockroach on 12 – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Return to the Sedgewick” level.

Let Me Guess, Gozer Worshippers – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Lost Island Rising” level.

Disaster of Biblical Proportions – Bronze/20 pts.
Complete the “Central Park Cemetery” level.

We Came, We Saw… – Silver/50 pts.
Complete the game on “Casual” or “Experienced” difficulty.

Are You a God? – Gold/100 pts.
Complete the game on “Professional” difficulty.

Slam Dunk! – Bronze/15 pts.
Slam dunk a ghost into a trap.

Slime Dunk! – Bronze/15 pts.
Trap a ghost using the Slime Tether.

Stasis Dunk! – Bronze/15 pts.
Trap a ghost using the Stasis Stream.

I Ain’t ‘Fraid of No Ghost! – Bronze/10 pts.
Trap a ghost.

Aim for the Flat Top! – Bronze/10 pts.
Eliminate a creature.

Heat ‘Em Up – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Proton Gun.

Mother Pus Bucket! – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Slime Gun.

We be fast! They be slow! – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Dark Matter Generator.

I Don’t Want My Face Burned Off – Bronze/20 pts.
Purchase all upgrades for the Meson Collider.

We Have the Tools! – Silver/40 pts.
Purchase all equipment upgrades.

The Destructor – Bronze/30 pts.
Cause more than $5,000,000 in property damage.

Nice Shootin’, Tex! – Bronze/30 pts.
Cause less than $100,000 in property damage.

…And You Want to Keep It? – Bronze/20 pts.
Collect a Cursed Artifact.

Spores, Molds, and Fungus – Gold/40 pts.
Collect all Cursed Artifacts.

I’m Picking Up a Signal… – Bronze/20 pts.
Obtain a 100% PKE scan on a paranormal creature.

Back Off Man. I’m a Scientist – Gold/40 pts.
Obtain 100% PKE scans for every paranormal creature.

I’m a Ghostbuster, Not a Doctor! – Bronze/20 pts.
Revive your fellow Ghostbusters 20 times.

I Feel So Funky – Bronze/5 pts.
Get slimed by a charging ghost.

Total Protonic Reversal – Bronze/5 pts.
Knock yourself down, with your own weapon.

You Gotta Try This Pole! – Bronze/5 pts.
Slide down the fire pole.

It’s Slime Time – Bronze/20 pts.
Use the Slime Tether on 15 ghosts.

I Looked at the Trap, Ray! – Bronze/20 pts.
Recover 20 of your own full ghost traps.

Kosher! – Bronze/10 pts.
Remedy a dubious food choice to make the bar mitzvah as orthodox as it can be.

I Love You When You Rough-House! – Bronze/10 pts.
The tidy architectural office could use some Proton-based humbling.

But the Kids Love Us! – Bronze/20 pts.
The children’s reading room has a story to tell, but it will take more than your eyes to see it.

You Never Studied – Bronze/10 pts.
Keep your ears open to learn everything you can about the Civil War.

I’ve Quit Better Jobs Than This. – Bronze/20 pts.
Some ghosts had a real blowout in the Coat Room. Clean it up?

Hedgebuster – Bronze/10 pts.
The hedge maze is a real eyesore – do some Protonic pruning.

One down, on the Ground! – Bronze/20 pts.
Airborne coffins are an affront to gravity. Use your equipment to avenge Mother Nature!

Ghostbusters Drinking Game – Silver/40 pts.
Quench your thirst wherever possible to avoid being scared spitless.

Loans Paid Off – Bronze/10 pts.
Earn over $100,000 in your multiplayer Ghostbusting career.

On the Payroll – Bronze/10 pts.
Successfully complete one multiplayer campaign.

Egon’s Guinea Pig – Bronze/10 pts.
Use one of every Pickup (both Power-ups and Equipment).

Payday! – Bronze/10 pts.
Be the overall top earner in each multiplayer campaign setting.

It’s a Living – Bronze/10 pts.
Trap over 50 ghosts in your multiplayer Ghostbusting career.

Wanted! – Bronze/10 pts.
Defeat three Most Wanted Ghosts.

Employee of the Month – Bronze/10 pts.
Be the top earner in each multiplayer job type.

No Job Too Big – Bronze/10 pts.
Defeat all Most Wanted Ghosts.

Gozer’s Most Wanted – Bronze/15 pts.
Complete each level in the game successfully.

Overachiever – Silver/15 pts.
Get over $2,500,000 cash in multiplayer, earn over 30 awards, complete 50 jobs successfully.

Since part one was so loved by all, it’s time for part two! In this video, Noah goes into what was among my most hated features of FF8, magic drawing!