Ghostbusters

Movie-to-game conversions, as we all know, are generally bad. Awful, in fact. Yet Ghostbusters has a surprisingly good track record when it comes to game conversions, and this latest addition to the beloved franchise definitely doesn't let the side down. There was a danger this game wasn't even going to appear, and we'd like to kick off this review by saying we're very happy that it did.

The real benefit of using Ghostbusters to inspire a game is that it really needn't adhere to any restrictive plot points. If the game's about catching ghosts using laser beams and traps, it can hold its head high and know it's keeping to the established format of the paranormal investigators. Indeed, the action-based antics of Venkman, Ray, Spengler and Winston lend themselves to a host of gaming possibilities, and Vivendi has come up with a superb method of crafting a team based ecto-warrior experience.

Based in New York, the city is once again overrun with ghosts, and it's up to the team to put them away. Each area of the city is locked until the previous one is free from supernatural nuisances, and each zone is further separated into ten or so levels. This makes for a pretty expansive game, and even though you'll get the hang of it very quickly, playing through to completion will take a good while.

Each level consists of a loose maze, not unlike the kind of environment you'd expect to find in a platform game. But you're not running and jumping around these platforms – your objective is to guide a ghost through the labyrinthine locations (like the New York library and Sedgewick Hotel) and into the trap at the end. The 'Busters are positioned around the outside edges of the platforms, armed with their trusty particle throwers, ready to capture the ghost in a stream and pass it along to the next supernatural eliminator.

Being mostly insubstantial (other than dripping a bit of ectoplasm) the ghosts float around in a frictionless atmosphere, so pushing one in a certain direction using the particle thrower and it keeps moving until it gets caught in the next stream. They do tend to float back toward the ground, and bounce off the walls like a well thrown bouncy ball, however. Each Ghostbuster has an arrow determining the direction their proton gun will propel the spook, which isn't always the way you'd ideally like to send it.

To make things even trickier, you've to keep the spectres away from the walls and floors covered in green slime – if it gets slimed three times, it can escape through the inter-dimensional rift, and you've to start the level over. This is the crux of the gameplay; using the Ghostbusters to delicately buffer the ghosts around the maze until they can be coaxed into the trap, and it works like a nuclear-accelerated charm.

A major feature of the movie was the skill required by the team to capture and hold the ghosts using their proton packs, and this is one of the first times a game has managed to really capture that vital essence. It's easy to set a ghost off at a right lick, but stopping it to change its course is very difficult when sending one out of control like that – especially considering the intricacy of later levels.

A superb one-thumb game that incorporates all the ecto-action and supernatural spills of the source material, Ghostbusters will have you cheerfully humming the theme tune all day long.