Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

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.