Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime

In the end Ghostbusters: Sanctum of the Slime feels like many of the other dungeon crawling, top down shooter titles released over the years and that lack of innovation is this title's ultimate downfall.

If you're a diehard Ghostbusters fan who sleeps in a Ghostbusters bed, takes your food to school/work in a Ghostbusters lunchbox, and can recite every line from both Ghostbusters flicks, chances are you'll get your money's worth out of Sanctum of Slime. Everyone else will find a pedestrian shooter that doesn't live up to the Ghostbuster name.

This game has some features we like from downloadable games and some others we don't. It offers simple and constant action, and a fun cooperative multiplayer, both offline and online, but it gets repetitive soon and has some desperate AI flaws.

I recommend that if you are thinking of getting this game, try and get three of your mates to get it as well. Then, get your Ghostbusting ass online for some co-op. That way, you may feel like its money well spent.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is recommended only for the lovers of the films with friends to play. The AI is frustrating, the design really poor and repetitive. This time the Ghostbusters have failed.

Beyond the general lack of Ghostbustiness, the repetitive design work, poor humor, and the irritating weapon-swapping forced upon me made me feel like I had just been slimed.

It's short and not much fun.

Had this not leveraged the Ghostbusters license, we'd probably not even be talking about this game.

At the end of the day, Ghostbuster: Sanctum of Slime is a fun romp for the first few levels, and if you don't expect much after that then you'll be on the right track. Because...We came. We saw. We left disappointed.

A fairly competent twin-stick competitive shooter. [Issue#109, p.122]

A distinctly sludgy shooter. [June 2011, p.102]

Too few varieties of enemy are included, sporting little variance of attack approach, to entertain anything other than your base reflexes. [Issue#71, p.102]

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime combines average level design, bad AI and repetitive gameplay. You will probably be happy when you see the credits.

A clear cash in on fans of the original movie.

In the end, referring to Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime by its abbreviated name, Ghostbusters: S.O.S., is probably the most appropriate thing to do. Even without the license, this is a game that's on life support. Coming in at 800 MSP ($10), it may seem like a fun impulse purchase, but your money is better spent by tracking down a used copy of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Even for the hardcore fans, there really isn't much to see here.

Recycled environments and mediocre gameplay overwhelm the multiplayer positives of this lackluster Ghostbusters adventure.

For the most part, the game is just boring with lackluster gameplay and reused environments, and then it gets frustrating. Toss in issues I didn't even mention such as unresponsive weapons and repetitive music, and I know I wouldn't want to suit up for this one.

Worst deal ever for the Busters fan out there: no classic movie team, lame new characters and the worst gathering of ghosts ever seen.

Unless ghostbusting is in your very marrow, Sanctum isn't worth the headaches. [June 2011, p.88]

Overall, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime has some great ideas that would have made for an excellent game if the execution had been done well. The repetitive nature of the game, the unintelligent AI and the lack of drop-in/drop-out play are key problems within the title that let it down massively. This is one Xbox Live Arcade title that should be avoided.

Outside of climbing up the leaderboards or finding every hidden item, there's little reason to return to the game once you've played through it once.

I hate to use the term "cash-in" but there really isn't any other description for Sanctum of Slime.

The absence of the original cast, along with some poor gameplay mechanics and dated graphics, make Sanctum of Slime almost unworthy even for its 10 euros price tag.

If it's the genre you're after, grab Lara Croft instead, or maybe dig up a copy of Hunter: The Reckoning from last-gen. If you're a die-hard Ghostbusters fan, there's a passable fix to be had here – just don't expect too much.

It isn't an awful game, by any measure – just a terminally dull one.

With the mood alternating between boredom and exasperation, Sanctum Of Slime is a spirit-crushing exercise that only a committed masochist could appreciate.

Even more mind-boggling, why would Atari release this pile of drivel when they had such a good thing going with Ghostbusters: The Video Game? It's a crass, extremely rude money grab that's designed to suck $10 out your pocket while simultaneously giving the middle finger to our aging Ghostbusters. I cannot recommend Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime to anyone, even the most dedicated fan.

I love the Ghostbusters and was really looking forward to some fresh protoplasmic delights, but this one just didn't quite fit the slimy form.

Sanctum of Slime is ultimately a missed opportunity that deserves to be missed.

Ghostbusters: SOS will break you down, challenging your patience and your goodwill toward the franchise. Even if you're a diehard Ghostbusters fan, don't let yourself be duped: this game is a waste of your $10.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime doesn't deserve the name 'Ghostbusters'. It's simply a terrible product that drops everything that makes Ghostbusters such an iconic franchise: the humour, characters and the ghosts. Even Ecto-1 has been replaced. What remains is an empty shell that doesn't contain a single drop of fun.

Quotation forthcoming.

The only really enjoyable thing in this game is the Ghostbusters orginal theme song in the menues. Yup, it's that bad.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is nothing more than a great disappointment. The gameplay is repetitive and lacks creative thought, and the same goes for the story and enemy design. The fact that players cant jump in or out of ongoing games is yet another problem, and the use of the Ghostbusters licence is completely wasted.

Sanctum of Slime is a bad top-down shooter with problematic co-op elements that makes terrible use of a beloved license. The game design is banal, the online co-op has issues and the single-player is an exercise is pained frustration.

The difficulty ramps up so much by the game's finale that I'm not convinced it's even possible for a solo player to finish this thing. And even if you could, I'm not sure why you'd want to; Sanctum of Slime has little to offer the die-hard Ghostbusters fan, and even less for the twin-stick shooter crowd.