There’s been an upswell of interest in Ghostbusters lately, culminating in that phony grim n’ gritty Ghostbusters game that made the rounds waaaay back in January (Jesus, 2007 jetted right past me. I remember being annoyed at that like it was yesterday). It seems that someone has been paying attention, since the official Ghostbusters franchise has lumbered back to life… in the world of video games.
Yes, we’re getting a reunion of all the original Ghostbusters – Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and most essentially, Ernie Hudson – but they’ll be coming to your video game consoles and not your neighborhood movie theater. Aykroyd and Ramis will be writing the story, set in the early 90s, after the events of Ghostbusters II. And some familiar voices will be appearing, such as William Atherton, Brian Doyle Murray and Annie Potts. I guess Sigourney Weaver is out this time.
There will be two versions of the game – one for PC, PS3, and the 360 from game developers Terminal Reality (the people who made the Blair Witch game. Gulp), and one for the PS2, Wii and DS, described as being for casual gamers and families.
For some reason this is more amazing to me than getting Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall back for the Godfather game. I just never thought Murray would return to the role, but maybe an easy paycheck for minimal work convinced him. I hope he puts some effort into it.
The game is being released next fall. My fingers are crossed that it’s worth a damn. If I had to guess, it grew out of the CGI Ghostbusters feature Aykroyd was yapping about earlier this year, so check out this old article for a peek at what may be the storyline of the game.