If you ask my friends what I will completely nerd out for, more than anything else, you're going to get three answers: Video games, Ghostbusters, and Batman. And rightly so, this summer has been a blast. I picked up Batman on release day and played through it from end to end within the week. The fourth-quarter gaming rush isn't over yet, but Batman is definitely one of my favorite games so far this year. Right after finishing that, I was finally able to get my hands on Ghostbusters. It's… not as good.

So why am I bringing up the two? Both are well known, well loved franchises, both games were made with involvement from writers and actors very experienced with the characters. The two are, however, completely different, and it's easy to see why one succeeds and the other fails.





Batman knows its fans. From the moment you don the cape-and-cowl, you are Batman. Everything you do is Batman. The fighting, exploring, sneaking, and investigating are all things we're used to seeing Batman do and they were pulled off by the game developer with much success. The voice acting and writing blast it straight through the roof. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill's voices and Paul Dini's writing give it that legitimacy that fans of the character are going to ask for.

Ghostbusters has the talent, but not the tools. The writing and voice acting are great. It's not quite as snappy as the original movie, but then how do you reproduce writing like that? The use of music, past characters and locations from the movie help with the ridiculous amounts of fanservice. However, the gameplay is rife with minor and major problems that remind you constantly that you're playing a video game. I booted up the game on normal difficulty as usual, and just a level or two in I was already swearing at the game. Every couple seconds another 'Buster was falling on his back requiring my help. I slogged through and things cooled off and became manageable. This rhythm continued throughout the game: sharp increases in difficulty that make putting the game down seem like a good option followed by more normal segments. Instead of reminding you why you love Ghostbusters, the game spends a lot of time reminding you of the things that irritate you in games. The fun ghosts zoom around too fast to see, and that "Mission Failed" screen followed by a thirty-second-plus loading screen comes up far more often than they should. And if I ever have to slam those cherubs into that grate again, I will hunt down the developers.





Paired together, the games demonstrate how to do a licensed game right and wrong. Vary the activities the player is doing; Batman keeps the player switching between its different aspects constantly and more importantly, seamlessly. The player never gets a chance to become too irritated with a part that doesn't work. Keep the illusion going; the Ghostbusters I know got knocked around a bit and never had all the answers, but they stayed clever and witty and always got back up. The ones in the game spend more time on the floor gasping for life than they do Bustin'. The game was at its best during the easier sections, not because I don't like hard games, but because it's so flow dependent. The second you mess up or go somewhere the game isn't expecting, it reminds you.