Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

Ever since I was a child rushing over to the VHS rewinder to queue up another showing of Ghostbusters, I’ve dreamt of a multiplayer game in its unflinchingly silly universe. Whether it’s the over-the-top spectral miscreants or the ridiculous ghost-sucking vacuums carried by phantom-catching vigilantes in janitor’s outfits, it’s hard to imagine a world more ripe for an asymmetrical multiplayer game where a team of ghost cops goes head-to-head against a vengeful wraith. Unfortunately, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed’s attempt to fill this void is only a qualified success, as it often absolutely nails the ghost-hunting fantasy, but gets stuck in the thick slime of balancing issues, questionable level design, a story that only barely qualifies being called one, and most of all, a severe shortage of content. I had plenty of genuinely hilarious and satisfying moments running around as a ghost and monkeying with my irksome, would-be captors, and hunting down spooky foes with friends can be a lot of fun, but after a couple hours I’d seen all there was to see and was ready to consign this meager jaunt to the shelf next to my prized Ghostbusters VHS.