Ghostbusters II

aka: Cazafantasmas II
Moby ID: 70330
Amiga Specs
Included in See Also

Description official description

The UK-produced adaptation of Ghostbusters II contains three action scenes based on the film:

In the first scene, the Ghostbusters must collect slime samples from the sewers. One Ghostbuster is being lowered into a shaft on a cable and must collect the samples at the bottom. On the way down, many ghosts will try to stop him. Some of them try to saw off the cable, others deplete his courage upon touching him. He can destroy them with proton beams or bombs or employ a shield so they can't touch him. Weapon power-ups and elixirs that restore courage can be found on ledges in the shaft and can be reached by swinging. Several parts of a slime scooper must also be collected in this way before the samples can be collected.

In the second scene, the Ghostbusters have animated the Statue of Liberty via the slime and with her help must travel to the Museum of Art. Lady Liberty automatically walks to the right and can use her torch to shoot at the many enemy ghosts in her way. Her slime supply drains constantly however. Defeated ghosts drop slime, which can be collected by sending out the little people at Liberty's feet to pick it up and return it so the supply can be refilled.

In the third scene, the Ghostbusters confront big bad Vigo in the museum, seen in isometric view. First, all four of them have to be lowered into the museum on ropes, their speed controlled via joystick movements. Dropping too fast can stun them and take them out of the following fight. In the fight, the player can switch between the four guys at any time. Goals are to defeat Janosz, carry away baby Oscar before Vigo can enter him (Janosz will come after Oscar if he's still alive) and finally catch Vigo in the crossfire of two proton beams.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Amiga version)

7 People

Programming Team
Graphics
Music & FX

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 69% (based on 20 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.4 out of 5 (based on 33 ratings with 1 reviews)

Very nice movie-based game.

The Good
Considering how lame videogames adapting a movie of the season often were, "Ghostbusters II" felt quite refreshing at the time. Like many adaptations do, it takes a few key scenes of the movie and expands them in the shape of mini-games. Surprisingly, only three scenes were adapted, but the results are otherwise very good.

  • In Van Nuys, you get to control Ray as he descends into the subterranean river of slime to get a sample. You need to maneuver through the obstacles, deal with different enemies, the most annoying of them hands who try to sever Ray's cable, and obtain the different pieces of equipment to take the samples.

  • In Broadway, you need to escort the Liberty Statue and the citizens who have joined her in her parade and defend them from the ghosts, while recovering as much slime as possible.

  • Finally, in the Museum, you need to control all four ghostbusters in order to rescue Dana's baby and defeat Vigo.

All stages feature very good graphics and adequate sounds, while the music and stills from the movie are used sparsely to recreate the plot.

The Bad
Although the three sub-games are great, and long enough to please even the hardcore gamers, there's probably people out there who would have preferred different stages or just more of them. I'm not one of them, but I still think their point of view is valid.

Plus I never knew what to do in Stage 3 after Vigo possessed some of the Ghostbusters. That was annoying.

The Bottom Line
I've spoken before in various occasions about how I feel about movie to videogame adaptations of the era. Ocean made a few great ones, such as "Robocop" and "Batman - The movie" but once they settled into a model they became increasingly similar.

The licenses that fell into other hands are more of a mixed bag, mostly forgotten games such as "Jaws" or "Dick Tracy" that well deserve the oblivion.

But luckily "Ghostbusters II" is not one of those games. It's fun, exciting, original and uses very well the limited capabilities of the Amstrad CPC, something that became increasingly rare in this era, when manufacturers started planning their games for 16 bit computers such as the Atari ST or the Amiga and lowered their standards regarding the 8 bits computers.

Amstrad CPC · by Neville (3554) · 2014

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

New Ghostbusters II
Released 1990 on NES
Ghostbusters
Released 1990 on Genesis
Ghostbusters
Released 2006 on Windows
Ghostbusters
Released 2016 on Arcade
Ghostbusters
Released 1986 on PC Booter, NES, 1987 on SEGA Master System...
Ghostbusters
Released 2016 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Ghostbusters
Released 2013 on iPhone, iPad
Extreme Ghostbusters
Released 2002 on Game Boy Advance
Extreme Ghostbusters
Released 2001 on Game Boy Color

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 70330
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Terok Nor.

Atari 2600 added by RKL. Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Amstrad CPC added by cafeine. MSX added by koffiepad.

Additional contributors: Martin Smith.

Game added December 29, 2014. Last modified March 15, 2024.