Two strikes, you’re slimed.
PLAYERS: 1-2 alternating
PUBLISHER: Activision
DEVELOPER: Imagineering
GENRE: Action
RELEASE DATE: April 1990
Remember when I said Ghostbusters would be better if it were a side-scrolling action game?…
Ghostbusters II may be worse than the first. What am I saying, “may”! It’s totally worse than the first game, bro! In the first game, there was the possibility for progression, if you drove long enough, set the traps in the right position, actually managed to wrangle the ghosts. Zael’s Tower was impossible, but hey, you could get there. Ghostbusters II shatters any thought of progression. How anyone would ever manage to get past the first level – or indeed, would even want to – is only if you shook hands and made a pact with Vigo the Carpathian himself. Truly his evil power is what you need to get past even the simplest and stupidest of circumstances i.e. the first level.
Grievances (only from the first level, mind you):
- Not being able to jump over a tiny spider that your character, as nimble as he is, should be able to clearly jump over. Should you attempt to leap past it, it will jump up and take a “life,” which leads me to…
- Lives? What lives? The lower left-hand side of the screen shows that you have three lives, but in reality, you have one life and you can only get hit three times. If you get hit, the screen pauses for a second while your character lies splayed out on the sewer floor. A “life” is then taken away and you’re free to move away from the spider that you will never be able to jump over. JUST FACE IT, IT’S NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
- You have a slime gun, but it’s resistant against 80% of all enemies (not an accurate percentage, but pretty darn close). Seriously. Why would they give you a weapon to use if it’s not going to work against more than half of the enemies?
That’s three grievances over a level that I may or may not have even came close to beating. You know what that means? Potential for even more grievances. Who knows how long that sewer goes on. It is New York City, after all. According to GameFAQs, those kings of archaic gaming knowledge, there are driving levels in this game too. Because if anyone asked Activision what they wanted to see more of in the Ghostbusters sequel, it’s driving. Really, what more could you ask for? A competent “Ghostbusters” game? Congratulations, they released one a couple years ago. It’s about damn time.
F
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5 replies on “#254 – Ghostbusters II”
Whoa, whoa — Ghostbusters II is tough (especially once you start driving the Statue of Liberty), but I hesitate to believe it is as hard as you make it sound.
… that being said, I cannot argue with the F rating. Glad you could air some grievances here.
“I think Dan Aykroyd makes his own vodka now. “Two shots and you won’t be afraid of no ghosts, or your stomach contents back!”
Yup Crystal Head Vodka and it comes in cool bottles shaped like crystal skulls. The vodka isnt bad either.
The “spider you can’t jump over” is not actually an enemy. It represents the time restriction given at the beginning of each side-scrolling level. I could only imagine your frustration if you were honestly trying to defeat it. Travesty of a game, yes, but you couldn’t even make it to level 2?
@Mike Preciose: I didn’t care about defeating it. I cared about getting around it. It’s been a long time since I’ve attempted Ghostbusters 2 and some of my earlier reviews were completed in haste. I might have to revisit this one.
You probably shouldn’t waste your time. Bad things happen when you summon Viggo… I’ve heard there is a ghostbusters 3 movie coming out soon. Thankfully they won’t have a chance to butcher that one. Bustin’ makes me feel good