Ghostbusters

Horror turns to Comedy, spoilers ahead...

OK, So it's not really a Survival Horror but it has ghosts in it and as a huge Ghostbusters fan I thought it my duty to review it here.

2009 marks the 25th Anniversary of the first film (released 1984) and to mark to occasion a whole lot of Ghostbuster stuff has been going off. The original films have been remastered and released as Blu-Ray discs, a new film is in the works and Ghostbusters the video game was released.
Usually games made from a film franchise aren't exactly gaming classics but this game was always due to be different. Not only was the game written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, who were the writers for the original films but Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson joined them in lending their voices to the project. Other stars of notable talent include Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz), Brian Doyle Murray (Mayor Mulligan), William Atherton (Walter Peck) and Alyssa Milano (Ilyssa Selwyn).

The story takes part in 1991, three years after the events of Ghostbusters and sees the return of the Sumerian God, Gozer. You play as a new recruit to the Ghostbusting team who is never named throughout the game and your job is to act as the Guinea pig for Rays and Egon's new equipment.
The game starts off with Ray and the gang telling you about your role until ghostbusters regular, Slimer breaks loose from the containment grid. Your attempt at catching Slimer is the basis of the training part of the game where Ray trains you in the use the Proton Pack and the traps. Slimer escapes though and leads the Ghostbusters to Hotel Sedgwick where Slimer was caught in the first film all the way back in 1984.

Dr Ilyssa Selwyn who is an expert in the Sumerian culture lends a hand as well as forming the love interest for Peter Venkman throughout the game.
Walter Peck now works for the Paranormal Contract Oversight Committee (P-COC) and the Mayor of New York has ordered him to work with the Ghostbusters to make sure that little damage is being caused to the city as possible.

There are several locations to explore such as the Public Library, the History Museum and the New York Streets. There are a huge array of Ghosts too featuring regulars such as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (right) and the Librarian.
You are also trained in the use of the PKE meter which can be used to scan the many ghosts you'll come across to gain information about them including which piece of equipment (there's four in total) is best to defeat it.
The PKE also leads you to a variety of possessed items that can be found throughout the various levels, all of which you'll find back at the Fire Station.
The proton pack has 4 different uses. The Proton Accelerator is the main one which you use to wear the ghosts out and capture them. The Portable Plasma Distributor contains green slime that is used to neutralise Black Slime and other dark matter as well as acting as a rope to move things too heavy to pick up by hand. The Dark Matter Generator helps slow ghosts and other targets down leaving you more time to tire the ghost down. The Meson Composite Collider acts like a machine gun in some ways shooting several shots a time. This is a more powerful version of the Proton Stream.

Lets talk a bit about the cast. As mentioned earlier all the original Ghostbusters appear and all are brilliant in it and the games developers have done a good job in creating likenesses for them, Peter Venkman walks around with a strut for example.
Dan Aykroyd is the star though as the over enthusiastic Ray Stantz. You spend most of your time with Ray which is a good thing, at least it was for me because Ray's my favourite. The chemistry between these guys is still there especially the bond between Egon and Ray while Winston is still there to make the occasional funny quip.
There are some scenes where the voice acting is quite poor especially coming from Bill Murray whose Garfield impersonation keeps coming through.

Even though it doesn't matter much, the game isn't completely free roaming but it's enough. In the later mission when the team goes to an alternate Central Park, the rookie (you) has to open the gate from the inside by pulling a lever in order to let the Ecto-1 in. They obviously weren't going to make it easy so even though the lever is just behind a fence near the main gate, you still have to explore the park for around 20 minutes before you get to it. What's more once the gate is opened Ray joins you by just jumping the fence separating the main gate from the button. I had to laugh.

There's plenty of stuff in this game to keep fans of Ghostbusters happy. The music for example is taken mostly from the film and a surge of excitement runs through you once the game starts with the sound of Ray Parker JR's classic theme tune.
In between the various missions you get to spend some time in the Fire House where Slimer lives (once you've recaptured him) and a familiar painting is standing near the reception desk. Interact with the Vigo the Carpathian and he'll talk to you.

In the UK, the game has only been released on the PS3 but trophies are plentiful. You get the obvious ones E.g. A trophy is earned after you complete a mission and when you complete the game. However, some trophies are hidden and have to be sought out. E.g. There's a room in the Sedgwick Hotel (that could be easily overlooked) that is covered in Black Slime. Get rid of it then you'll get a trophy all of which are named after quotes in the original films. There's a lot here for those gamers that like to overachieve the games they play.

The game isn't perfect. It would be better if your character had a name and a voice as you never hear him talk. Another improvement would be if you could interact with Ray and Co when in your company whether in the firehouse or on call.
Some things were out of the developers control though because Rick Moranis is now retired meaning that Louis Tully who was always the comedy within the Ghostbusters films isn't present.
Another disappointment is that you can't drive the Ecto-1 yourself which most people were looking forward to.

The game isn't really meant to be scary but there are some moments that shoots chills down tour spine. The Library Level is the best example of this. Several things will make you jump an the sounds of children in the background once you reach the children's reading area is quite unsettling.

If you're not a fan of the Ghostbusters films then not only is your taste in films ridiculously poor but this game really wouldn't entertain you at all. However I am a Ghostbusters fan so I'll give it....

9/10

Survival Horror Survey

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Sometimes it's hard to think of what to write about in this blog, especially when there isn't necessarily a specific game to write about.
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The Grudge on Nintendo Wii.

Formerly known as Feel, the newest Survival Horror game for the Wii is taken from the popular Japanese Horror, Ju-On (The Grudge).

The west has been waiting for Project Zero IV (Fatal Frame IV) for a while now and it looks like nothing is going to happen about it. Nintendo however have decided (in Japan anyway) to release a game that looks every bit Project Zero. Why wouldn't it really seeing that Project Zero is obviously influenced by Japanese horror films such as The Grudge and The Ring.

The game was first introduced as a game named Feel which was accompanied by a trailer showing the reactions of several Japanese gamers playing it (see below). A week later it was officially announced that the game was The Grudge and would be released in the USA on Halloween 2009. The UK and Europe still has to wait for a confirmation of a release date. However, the game was shown at the Movie Comic Media Expo which was in London so it should see a release in the UK.

The game is described as a "Haunted House simulator" and the game rates you based on how calm you stay throughout the game. Any flinch of your hand is recognised by the Wii-mote and lowers your score. You will finish the game no matter how low your score is but according to Rising Star, the games developer "it is those with a steady hand and nerves of steel that will have the most to gain from this experience."

Trailer Video

It would be boring if it was set in a house so luckily there are a few more locations you will get to look around including an abandoned warehouse, a dimly lit hospital and, the one I'm most looking forward to, a mannequin factory.

I'm a bit bitter that Nintendo are releasing this whilst at the same time giving Project Zero a complete brush off but this game does look scary. I'm also interested in seeing whether years of playing Survival Horrors has desensitised me at all.

Here are some links for you to find out more:

CVG.com
Official Website (Japanese)

More Alan Wake revealed at E3!

Finally, what a lot of people have been waiting for and hoping to see at this years E3 convention in LA.

Writer Sam Lake and game Producer Jay Ranki gave a demonstration during the Microsoft Press Conference yesterday. They start off with a short trailer which is narrated by the games protagonist explaining the disappearance of his wife, Alice. A guy named Rusty is introduced and the following demonstration shows Alan chasing after him in a dark forest.

One thing that I wanted to know about this game was what kind of creatures we would be defeating and now we know, kind of. We're not told exactly what they are but they look like ordinary, regular people though we can't see them properly due the darkness. They do however seem to be vulnerable to Alan's Flashlight and the light given off by Flares. At one point during game play the words "Use the light" show up on the wall.
Bats also make appearance attacking a chair lift that Alan ends up riding down but whether they show up again remains to be seen.

After the whole demo is completed a woman's voice, likely to be Alice asking Alan to "Wake Up" leading us to believe that what we played was a dream.

The video (gametrailer.com) can be seen below:

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To top it all off it is confirmed that Alan Wake will be released in Spring 2010. Still a long way to go but what's one year when you've been waiting four?

For new screenshots of the game click HERE

The game is looking brilliant and any doubts that the game was actually going to be released have been blown out of the water. Roll on next spring.