Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed offers a fantastic online experience that lends itself exceptionally well to the comedy horror franchise.

Flaws and all, Ghostbusters has always been one of my favourites, but its video game history has been spotty at best. Luckily, Spirits Unleashed is easily one of the best iterations of the brand, an engaging multiplayer experience that both makes you really feel like a Ghostbuster but makes the task of being bad guy just as fun if not more so. It isn’t perfect, nothing across the history of busting ghosts has ever been, but the inclusion of bots and hopefully some future content updates means this isn’t going to die an unfortunate early death and become just another entry in Tobin’s Spirit Guide.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a clear love letter to a much-beloved franchise, and it’s IllFonic’s most polished product to date. It’s a great multiplayer title that takes the core gameplay of Prop Hunt and spins it into something all of its own. While it’s unclear how the game will grow and evolve with time, what’s presented in the base package is a ton of fun to play, both as a Ghostbuster and a Ghost. That said, while bots are a nice inclusion, they’re not a substitute for real players.

This is the perfect October release to coincide with Halloween but can easily last beyond the season. Consider it a successful effort that’ll bust out of any ecto-containment system.

And, as I sit here writing this, I can’t wait to zip up my flight suit and step back into my combat boots to bust some more. A lot of love was poured into Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, and it speaks to me. I can only hope that Illfonic is able to support it for months or even years to come because I can definitely see myself returning to it again and again. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an unlicensed nuclear accelerator to strap to my back.

It’s a shame I can’t see myself playing more Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed. It feels like developer IllFonic pulled out all the stops to make this a great asymmetrical title, including notable attention to detail with all the Ghostbusters callbacks. In single player, the enemy AI was fine, but the teammate AI was horrible, driving home the fact that I was playing alone. If I could convince four other humans to play with me, I could invest hours of time without blinking; it’s a shame this game requires five people to enjoy it properly.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is an excellent, fun, stressful multiplayer game. If you love online gaming, this game is worth a purchase.

Without a doubt about it, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is the best asymmetrical multiplayer experience made by Illfonic and a good example of how to make good use of a famous film franchise. Hunting ghosts and haunting buildings is extremely fun especially in company, but in the long run it could be boring due to the presence of only one game mode.

Ghostbusters by name, Ghostbusters by nature. Spirits Unleashed is true to its iconic roots, and everything from the brand translates smoothly into a frantic asymmetric experience, albeit a bit too complicated for its own good.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a great fit for asymmetrical multiplayer. I’ll take any chance to engage with a film that made a huge impact on my childhood. Also, the film lends itself very well to this style of gameplay. My hope is that future support includes new content. I’d love to see maps set in iconic locations, like the Sedgewick Hotel. Additional ghosts and equipment (like the pink slime gun) would be great, too. There’s a solid foundation to work with and future plans would go a long way to keeping the experience fresh.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed brings family-friendly fun to the asymmetrical multiplayer horror space, and provides warm nostalgia for Ghostbusters fans.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is supposed to be a fun multiplayer game, but the lack of content makes it a boring experience. It seems like you’re always playing the same stuff over and over again. It’s nice for a couple of hours, but after that, it doesn’t have enough to keep your attention.

Ghostbusters fans will no doubt appreciate the ability to create their own Ghostbuster, upgrade their kit, and hunt ghosts, but once the nostalgia wears off and the only thing that matters is winning, the game may start to show its flaws. Playing as the ghost, on the other hand, has its own inherent challenges of finding the balance between being outmatched and doing the steamrolling. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed has all the right pieces when it comes to making a GB game that feels authentic – it's bringing those pieces together in the right way every time that can hurt its fun factor.

While a bit surface level at times, the cooperative experience of busting ghosts always brought a smile to my face. Whether you’re priming the proton pack or spooking civilians, fans of Ghostbusters will find a lot to love. However, fans of existing asymmetrical experiences may struggle to look beyond the simplicity.

Overall, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a well-crafted game that has a lot of polish and a ton of quality content to enjoy. Each stage is large and full of different things to do no matter what kind of playstyle you prefer. There are many different roles to play whether you’re a ghostbuster or a ghost and the core framework of both roles offers a variety of mayhem to either solve or create. Changing up how you play each role is easy with upgrade chains and skill trees and it’s got a generous leveling up system as well to minimize grinding. It’s a good-looking game with room for improvement when it comes to reflections, but nails the sound design perfectly for a team-based Ghostbusters adventure.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed offers a solvent, balanced and honest asymmetrical experience that bets on direct fun, delivering, in addition, a good adaptation of the franchise to which it goes. A modest title that knows how to grow from the simplicity of its approach, giving rise to what, for me, is the most solid proposal that Illfonic has signed so far.

Spirits Unleashed is an interesting game for long time Ghostbusters' fans, but it needs a bit more to offer in order to entertain in the long-term.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed has its heart in the right place. It looks, feels, and sounds like Ghostbusters, and with some friends, you can relive the days of playing pretend Ghostbusters. However, it doesn't do much with its gameplay formula beyond the bare minimum. It's great in short bursts, but wears thin after several matches.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a pleasant addition to the pantheon, but its impression on players might be woefully short-lived. It’s a meticulous representation of Ghostbusters lore but thin gameplay options hold it back from its full potential.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed does a terrific job of capturing the feeling of being a Ghostbuster. Illfonic clearly put a lot of time, effort, and love of the IP into this game, and playing it with pals is initially very fun, whether you're playing as a Ghostbuster or a ghost. However, the game's shelf life is incredibly short, as the gameplay loop quickly becomes repetitive and stale. There are wonderful elements here--deep customization being a key one--but none of it feels impactful when the core gameplay so quickly stagnates. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed may make me into a Ghostbuster, but the job has a disappointingly small shelf life.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed has its positive points and could be an option for fans of the franchise and those who like asynchronous multiplayer. Other than that, the lack of content, evolution and variation reaffirms a shallow and uninteresting game to dedicate several hours to.

Illfonic delivers another asymmetric multiplayer game based on a famous franchise with great but unexpressed potential, just like Predator: Hunting Ground and Friday The 13th: The Game. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed desperately needs new maps and modes to attract a bigger audience and be the game it was meant to be.

While Ghostbusters: Spirit Unleashed can be a decent experience with its brand of chaotic asymmetric multiplayer, significant shortcomings in its design and lack of content variety among others stop it from being as great as it could have been.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed had the potential to be a rockin’ asymmetrical game with references to the movies we love. However, redundancy, cross-play issues and lack of content make it a mediocre installment.