Ghostbusters 2

They're back and they're ready to believe you! It's been five years since the Ghostbusters battled the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man to save New York from being overrun with spooks and slimers. Now Vigo, Scourge of Carpathia, threatens to bite the Big Apple. Trapped inside his own 17th century portrait standing in the Manhattan Museum of Art, Vigo plans to escape at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve and terrorize the world. He draws his power from the river of slime that flows beneath the city to the museum. This is no ordinary slime, mind you, it feeds off the nastiness and rudeness of New Yorkers. Mood Slime, if you will. Seeing what you're up against, only one question comes to mind. Who ya gonna call?

Armed only with your proton pack slime blower and ghost traps, you've got to make it through seven action-packed levels of ectoplasmic fun, shooting ghosts and dodging slimers in an attempt to save the Big Apple from Vigo's reign of terror.

Armed only with your proton pack slime blower and ghost traps, you've got to make it through seven blowing green slimers out of the air, beware of the flying objects that either rise and fall or bounce past you. Your slime blower has no effect on them.

If all else fails, set a ghost trap which snares everything that flies into it until its power runs out. Don't forget to shoot Ghostbuster logos as they float by. You get an extra life for every twenty logos you collect.

Level Two puts you behind the wheel of the ECTO-1A, as you cruise through the tenements, dodging barricades and ghostly enemies. Watch out for sections in this level where there's no roadway. You'll have to hit the blinking red arrow at high speed while pressing the jump button to make it to the other side.

In Level Three, your task is to rid the courtroom of flying objects and pesky poltergeists. Level Four has you once again manning the ECTO-1A for a drive through Central Park. As in Level Two, aim your slime blower at the floating green globs that pass overhead. When a bonus medallion falls from a destroyed glob, you must touch it to get one of five bonus abilities; a temporary shield: increased firepower, lasers, a screen blast, or an extra logo. Try not to hit the obstacles on the road or you lose valuable time.

Once you fight your way through the ghouls and spooks in the subway in Level Five, you've got yourself a date with Miss Liberty.

In Level Six, you take control of Statue of Liberty and march your way through the harbor and the skyscrapers of New York.

Watch out for low flying ghosts. These slimers travel in packs and one touch can put you out of commission permanently. Pressing A shoots a fireball out of Liberty's torch. That stops all ghosts in their tracks. If the competition gets tough, Press B. This releases Miss Liberty's book, which becomes a smart bomb that wipes out every enemy on the screen.

Occasionally, another book flies by. Shooting it down will replace it in your arsenal. If a floating torch happens to cross your path, shoot it. This gives you the ability to move Miss Liberty's arm and aim your shots.

Checking the message space at the bottom of the screen warns you if you're about to be attacked by invisible ghosts. You can't see them, but you'd better dodge their slime.

As in the running scenes in earlier levels, the museum stages in Level Seven require you to dodge and destroy ghosts and other flying objects. You must make it through this level four times (using all four Ghostbusters) with each time becoming progressively harder. If all the Ghostbusters make it to the restoration room, you can slime Vigo's portrait and save the Big Apple from impending doom.

Activision's Ghostbusters 2 is a snappy sequel to the ever popular Ghostbusters. Lots of goo and slime make for great gaming. Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!

The Ghostbusters are Back! And Activision brings you the slimiest scenes from the blockbuster movie. Shift into high gear in your Ectomobile. Exterminate the paranormal pests at the courthouse. Pound the pavement with the Statue of Liberty. And slime Vigo at the Museum of Art before he rings in a nasty New Year!

The Ghostbusters are Back! And Activision brings you the slimiest scenes from the blockbuster movie. Shift into high gear in your Ectomobile. Exterminate the paranormal pests at the courthouse. Pound the pavement with the Statue of Liberty. And slime Vigo at the Museum of Art before he rings in a nasty New Year!

Hear the hottest bustin' tunes from the movie, including the "Ghostbusters Theme" and "Higher and Higher!"

Eight levels packed with hundreds of ghostly enemies.

Digitized images of your favorite ghostbusting movie stars.

Ghostbusters II is a twist on the "running-jumping" type of game, with no less than three variations built-in. Unfortunately, it's so difficult that most of the potential for fun gets buried in frustrating games that end on the first level.

In the game Ghostbusters II, as in the movie, the soul of Vigo the Carpathian is trapped inside an old painting being restored in the Museum of Art. The bad vibes of New Yorkers (hardly fair to people from New York, yours truly happens to be one) increase, giving Vigo more and more life. At midnight, he will emerge from the painting and reign victorious over the whole city.

There are seven levels in Ghostbusters II. The first takes place in the streets. You guide a ghostbuster through the streets, firing your slime gun at the ghosts, who are trying to slime you. If a ghost manages to either slime or touch you, you lose one of your lives.

There are other flying creatures that cannot be slimed, but you can drop a trap (by pressing the "START" button) that will trap both ghosts and the other creatures. These other creatures will only stun you momentarily. Unfortunately, a trap can only be dropped behind you, so it doesn't help that much.

The slime gun takes out ghosts instantly, though trapping them is worth more points. You also have to be careful when using the slime gun, because if you fire your slime up, the slime will eventually fall back to earth, slowing you down if you get caught in it. Finding the Ghostbuster logo gives you a bonus life.

Levels 3 (courtroom), 5 (subway) and 7 (museum) are all variations of Level 1, except that in Level 7 you must guide all four of the Ghostbusters to the restoration room in order to defeat Vigo.

Levels 2 (tenements) and 4 (Central Park) are the driving portions of Ghostbusters II. You guide the Ecto-1 through the streets, dodging ghosts and obstacles by maneuvering between lanes. You can fire the car's slime gun, which actually fires two shells: one forward (handy for wiping out ghosts) and one straight up. This last is useful because bonus blobs that fly overhead can be shot, yielding bonus abilities.

You must be careful not to shoot the red blobs, which unleash a torrent of slime on you, wiping out your car and costing you a life. The ghosts also shoot back, and any hit from slime costs a life.

It you hit an obstacle in the street, you bounce off, causing your car to stop and become a sitting duck for ghosts to take potshots at. There are also "gushing manholes". If you hit one while it's up, you bounce off, but if you manage to drive over it while it is closed, it will bounce up, shoving the Ecto-1 into the air to collect bonus items hidden high up in the buildings.

The last variation is Level 6, which takes place in Manhattan's harbor. In this level you are in charge of controlling the Statue of Liberty. You can shoot the ghosts with torch fire, but the arm can't be aimed unless you've found the torch. If you find the book, then you get a smart bomb that can be used once to wipe out any enemy on the screen. In this level, bumping into ghosts (including some invisible ones) costs life force, depending on the type of the ghost. If you lose all life force, you lose one game life.

The graphics and animation, which are coupled with a bouncy soundtrack, get good marks. The backgrounds are well detailed, and it's never difficult to tell where you are in relation to other objects on the screen. Ghostbusters II is an interesting game, but extremely difficult. You must work your way through all the levels; there is no game save and no password feature. Thus, the frustration level can get extremely high as Vigo wins again...and again and again.

The gang is back in this video game sequel to the popular movie Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters 2 uses a number of minigames that are all tied together via the movie script. The Ghostbusters have to slime their way through scrolling action sequences, driving modes, and against the ultimate evil of Vigo! Each phase of the game introduces a new backdrop of characters, weapons and goals, while the familiar Ghostbuster tunes jam.