Game Info --------------------------------------------------- Developer: Foursfield Publisher: Activision Year of Release: 1990 Game Review & Impressions --------------------------------------------------- The original Ghostbusters is one of the greatest movies of the 1980s, possibly of all time. The witty script, excellent casting and impressive visual effects made this a true classic, one which is endlessly watchable. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the sequel. It's not terrible, but it comes nowhere close to matching the original for quality. Unfortunately, this isn't a great premise for creating a video game adaptation, especially when most games based on movie licenses suck, and Ghostbusters II definitely sucks. Firstly, it's clearly an Atari ST game ported to the Amiga: no optimisation for custom chips, although any such thing would do little to improve the overall experience. Secondly, the game's levels are just utterly boring and overly difficult, resulting something devoid of any fun. The first level sees Ray lowered below the streets of Manhattan to grab a sample from the river of slime running below the city streets. Ray needs to grab sections of the scoop lodged in the walls of the ventilation shaft on his descent, zapping any ghosts and ghoulies rising from the depths. Power-ups and extra proton pack power can be collected from crevices and platforms, but you need to pixel perfect with your rope swinging to make sure Stantz's boots touch the edge of the object to grab them. The second level sees the Ghostbusters controlling the Statue of Liberty, empowered by positive slime, striding through the streets if New York on the way to the Museum of Art where Vigo the Carpathian is attempting to re-establish his corporeal form. This is just a dull and jerky shoot 'em up that outstays its welcome pretty quickly. The game's final stage is the most baffling, chiefly because it involves controlling the Ghostbusters as they rappel into the museum via rope, but descending too quickly results in instant death! If you somehow manage make it to the ground safely, it's a relatively simple task to zap Vigo back into the paining and beat the game. There's little more to say about this, other than it's rubbish. The design is poor, the controls jerky, and there's nothing about it that will make you want to play it. In fact, getting slimed would be a preferable experience than being made to play this. Chapters --------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Title sequence 00:54 Stage 1 03:22 Stage 2 08:34 Stage 3