With the latest tweaks to IllFonic’s Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed and a bit of new content that’s not technically a full on DLC, I can return to this game. It was released late October, in time for the Halloween crowd, but unless you put your name down for a copy, it was hard to find a physical copy during that month.
When I eventually got it gifted to me during holiday break and I sat down to play, the difficulty level was just crazy. The missions can’t be won solo because the AI bots aren’t all that helpful. Gamers need to depend on real life teammates in LAN parties or online to succeed. To catch that pesky ghost requires cooperation and communication rather than waiting for the next case to goop all over them. When news of a DLC was announced, I hoped it included some essential fixes.
Thankfully, it’s not important to achieve victory since after so many missions, the cut scenes will show up to move the story along. But as for that wish-list, none of the improvements spiritually manifested.
While there are daily and weekly rewards to entice players to keep going, I can’t justify playing everyday. I’m more thankful that the game quickly dropped in price since its release last year. I’m the type of investigator who prefers regular visits to a location to ascertain that it’s really haunted or not. With this game, we all know that these vapours want to take over the place, but to stop them in the time limit isn’t easy.
The update to Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed gives us gamers a few new things. The latest map reminds me of Riverview, an abandoned and haunted mental health facility in Coquitlam, BC, and the added items are helpful. I have yet to find Mulcher, since I’m dying to try catching it.
Sadly, the game isn’t any easier with these items. Experience is everything, but if the uphill climb is neigh impossible, some people will give up. I get that you’re not supposed to escape unscathed, but even on those lonely nights where I’m playing solo and can’t assemble a big enough team online, I won’t be “Saving the Day,” as sung by Alessi.
Additinally, the mini-games are part of the mission instead of made separate. Maybe one day, a developer will code in those games from the cabinets found in the Firehouse. I always wanted that to happen.
Narratively, the tale here is about putting a book–Torbin’s Spirit Guide to be specific–to rest! The concept of exorcising this haunted book is at least good. It’s in line with Ghostbusters: The Video Game in terms of how that continued the tale prior to Afterlife. As for this latest entry to the digital world, I won’t say too much because those video snippets are online on the Ghostbusters News YouTube channel to view (and provided below). I doubt any of it is truly canon, since Phoebe or Trevor aren’t anywhere in this game.
3 Stars out of 5
Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (Spoiler Alert)
