85 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
85 lines
4.9 KiB
Plaintext
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GHOSTBUSTERS II
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There's a maxim in Hollywood that says lousy books make great movies and great
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books make lousy movies. GHOSTBUSTERS II, from the folks at Activision, suggests
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that we can add a saying of our own: Lousy movies make terrific computer games.
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(This review is based on the IBM-PC version.)
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Following the plot of the movie, you begin the game in court. The judge is
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about to throw the book at you when two ghosts appear. Zap the ghosts
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(destroying the courtroom in the meantime) and get $10,000. This is not as easy
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as it sounds. The ghosts move about like crazy, and it requires a lot of zaps to
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capture them. Meanwhile, the two of them are firing back at you -- get hit three
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times and it's the end of the sequence. There are gauges in the upper-right
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corner of the screen that tell you the energy level of the ghosts. More
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importantly, there's a thermometer on the upper left to tell you how hot your
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proton pack is. When it overheats, all you can do is duck fireballs until it
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cools down.
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Finishing this sequence -- either successfully or otherwise -- puts you in the
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Ghostbusters lab. There are now two missions that must be carried out; you'll
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need $55,000 to build the proper equipment to go against chief bad guy Vigo, and
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you're also going to need to find three songs that slime "likes." To raise
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money, answer the phone ("We got one!" yells the digitized voice of Annie
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Potts). Then, it's off to battle more ghosts in sequences similar to the
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courtroom sequence: Central Park, the docks, and a clothing store. Note that the
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havoc you can wreak in these sequences includes blasting the door off the
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changing rooms in the store. Behind the door is a woman clad only in panties.
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She spends the rest of the scene wriggling around, an effective distraction for
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older players, but something that parents of younger players may not appreciate.
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(Similarly, in the park sequence, you can destroy the top half of the
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Port-O-San, revealing a man quite upset to be interrupted.)
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To gather slime, you'll descend to the sewers. Ghosts and bats whiz around,
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/+arms reach up from the slime to try and pull you in. Hang onto the rope
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too long and you run the risk of losing your grip from fatigue. If you're
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successful in gathering some slime, bring it back to the lab and crank up the CD
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player to try to find some songs the gunk might like. The gunk will either
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bubble along happily or explode.
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If you're unsuccessful in battling ghosts or gathering slime, you wind up a
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prisoner in Parkview Hospital. You can use another Ghostbuster to climb down the
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wall, smash through a window and rescue the inmate, but beware of orderlies
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eager to make you a prisoner as well. If all four Ghostbusters end up in the
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hospital, the game is over.
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If you get all the money and the right three songs, head off to the museum in
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the Statue of Liberty to do battle with the evil Vigo. Well, you get the idea.
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There's a lot to do in this game; plenty to keep anyone occupied for a long
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time.
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Fortunately, the little "extras" make spending the time worthwhile. Terrific
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EGA graphics, lots of music (including Ray Parker, Jr.'s "Ghostbusters Theme"),
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and digitized photos and voices from the film all add up to a winner. If only
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they had put as much thought and energy into the movie! The only drawback that I
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could find is there's no way to save a game in progress.
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The IBM version of GHOSTBUSTERS II is supplied on four 5-1/4" and two 3-1/2"
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diskettes. The game can be installed on your hard disk. Although the install
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procedure only offers the option of installing to drives "C" or "D," I found I
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could copy the files to another partition and the game ran fine. 512K RAM is
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required. Activision notes in the accompanying documentation that if you're
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playing GHOSTBUSTERS II on a 4.77 MHz machine, it can take up to two minutes
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after one sequence ends to load the next.
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Graphics support is provided for CGA, EGA, Tandy 16 color, and monochrome. The
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AdLib and Roland MT-32 music cards are supported. The game can be played from
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the keyboard, with a joystick, or a mouse. Mouse users will be frustrated to
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find that some sequences require use of the joystick or keyboard. Those without
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a joystick or mouse will probably find the ghost-busting sequences practically
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impossible to complete; they're hard enough as it is.
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One helpful tip (which for many will not be as obvious as it sounds) is to
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thoroughly read the documentation before playing the game. Some of these
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sequences are just too involved to completely figure out on your own.
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I spent two hours watching GHOSTBUSTERS II, the motion picture, and came away
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feeling as if I'd wasted my time and money. I'll spend many more hours playing
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GHOSTBUSTERS II, the computer game, and having a heckuva good time.
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GHOSTBUSTERS II is published by Activision and distributed by Mediagenic.
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*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
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