Ghostbusters

The Good
Ghostbusters for the Atari 2600 was one of the last games published for the system, right around the same time the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in North America, ushering the next generation of video game consoles. So, this game has a sizable advantage over other games on the system, since Atari programmers would have discovered many tricks to maximize performance on the system. But this game also was at a big disadvantage compared to other systems, especially what would become the third-generation console champion, the NES.

The graphics on the Atari 2600 version are much simpler than what you'd get on other consoles, but they are still recognizable for what they are supposed to be. You can tell a roamer from a slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is as intimidating as it should be, and the plasma guns and traps are decent. You can recognize the Ecto-1 for what it should look like, although allowances must still be made due to the limitations of the system.

The music is particularly good for the Atari. It even had me bopping in my seat along with the music while I was playing, and the gameplay is smooth. The instructions booklet gives you all the information you need to play the game in only a few pages.

The Bad
There are still a few problems with the game that take some getting used to. The first issue is that you can't always tell when the round is finished right away. It would have helped if there was an audio cue, or a round finished screen, to let you know it's time to start a new game or buy more equipment for the next round.

It would help to have an indicator on the screen for how many traps you have remaining, or how many men you have left before you need to go back to the headquarters.

As I said earlier, the graphics are decent, but they pale in comparison to other ports of this game, so the fact that it was available on other systems guaranteed that they were going to be the better buy than this one.

And while the gameplay is smooth, it does get repetitive because you're only ever doing the exact same thing over and over. And finally, it's too easy for the slimers to escape over the reach of your plasma guns, so half the time you don't have a chance to catch them.

The Bottom Line
Overall, it's a fun game on a limited system. Even more fun to keep track of your best scores and try to beat it next time or compare with your friends. If your only gaming system was an Atari 2600, then this game would definitely be worth buying, but if you had any other system with a port of this game, that one would be more worth it.