 |
The producer of the upcoming "Ghostbusters" Wii title gave me some details on the game and how it's similar to and different from the Xbox 360/PS3 version.
***
At an Atari event held last week, I got to see the new "Ghostbusters" video game for the Wii. The Wii version was set up in a midtown Manhattan bar next to the PS3 version, and the differences were immediately apparent. Todd Slepian, the Atari producer working on the Wii title, told me that the PS3 and Xbox 360 version is going for realism, while the Wii version is going for "a more Pixar-like kind of look."
"The Wii is not as powerful of a system as the PS3 and the 360," Slepian said, of why they went with the cartoony graphics. "You can't get away with the things you can do on the next-gen systems, so why bother? The Wii is more arcade-y, and I love how it looks. And [actor/writer] Dan Aykroyd loves how it looks."
Gameplay-wise, the Wii title is certainly different than the other platforms. Developed by Red Fly Studio, the makers of the Wii's "Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars," "Ghostbusters" makes full use of the nunchuk and Wii remote to have players wrangling and trapping ghosts throughout the game. Though the controls are subject to change, right now the B button fires your primary weapon, the Proton Pack. To capture a ghost, you fire your stream by aiming the Wii remote at the ghost until it becomes dazed. Once dazed, the stream becomes a trap, and you can begin wrangling it into the trap.
"While wrangling," Slepian explained, "you'll see commands such as a left arrow, so you swing your Wii-mote to the left slamming the ghost left, thus, weakening it. But it's not like a quicktime event because you have more control over the movements. You're not mashing buttons."
Other equipment, such as your PKE meter and power goggles, are mapped to the d-pad, and are used to show you hidden things, such as collectibles, secret rooms, obstacles or ghosts. You also use these tools to help you solve puzzles needed to progress through the levels.
And if you ever get stuck, they'll be hints in the game to help players out. "You learn through the course of playing the game that if you're lost, use your PKE meter, it'll kind of give you an idea what to do," Slepian said. "We're also adding a lot of tips and hints for players in case they do get lost to try and hold their hand a little bit. There will be some audio cues, but there wil also be some pop-ups every now and again that will say, 'Press the A button' or 'Equip the PKE meter.'"
The level shown was in the middle of the game taking place in the New York Public Library. Slepian was using his Proton Pack to blow up books and shelves in the area (the environments are destructible) and racking up dollars in damage. But that's not a bad thing; in fact, the more damage you do, the better. "The city loves the Ghostbusters," Slepian said, "and the Environmental Protection Agency is actually going to go foot the bill."
The total damage done and collectibles found is used to determine your rating at the end of the level -- "Responsible Buster" or "Crazy Buster" were given as examples. In two-player co-op mode, which lets two players go through the campaign or just certain levels if they wish (missions are selected back at the Firehouse), the total damage is used to compare scores. "We think that destroying stuff is fun so we really wanted to promote the user to do that," Slepian said.
According to Slepian, the game has seven or eight missions, and each mission contains between three and five levels. The total game time is about eight to ten hours, but players can go back and re-play levels to find all the collectibles and hidden items.
Other than the gameplay mechanics, the story is basically the same as the other versions. The game shares the same dialogue, so the voices of the movie's cast -- Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and William Atherton -- are included as well. "A lot of the audio is shared [with the other versions], and there are some similar cutscenes and dialogue, but there are a lot of differences," Slepian said. "The level layout is different, some enemies are different and the look and feel of the game is different. I really feel you'll get a different experience between the Wii and next-gen."
I asked Slepian since the story was the same if he thought the game would appeal to hardcore gamers or "Ghostbusters" fans who are planning to play the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. "Well, I think the Wii is geared more towards the younger casual player," he explained, "but if you really play the game, there's something for both the casual and hardcore gamer. I think it definitely has appeal to both [audiences]."
"This is the first action game on the Wii I have played from start to finish," he added. "On the Wii you start a game, sometimes you get bored with it after a while and you put it down. But the combination of the awesome story and gameplay creates a really addictive game."
I also wondered if there would be an online component to the game. "Not now, but maybe on 'Ghostbusters 2.'"
Did Slepian just confirm "Ghostbusters 2"?
"Absolutely not!" he said. "But you never know, right?"
***
The "Ghostbusters" game on Wii, PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and DS will be out on June 19.
Related Posts:
A Video Game History Of 'Ghostbusters' Ecto-1
Ghostbusters Game Built To Offer Scares Or Laughs Every 15 Feet
'Ghostbusters' Developer Prefers Working On PS3 First
The 'Ghostbusters' Video Game Revival In Good Hands, Streams Can Be Crossed