Preview: Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime

I got the opportunity recently to demo the upcoming Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime game and it was a pretty fun time. Due to hit sometime in this Spring the game follows 4 rookie Ghostbusters who are  tasked with the job of saving New York City from the harassment of restless souls.

The game can be played solo (with the other 3 characters as A.I) or you can take the ghost bustin’ online with 3 of your buddies.’Sanctum of Slime’ is a top down view game, similar to the recently released ‘Dead Nation’, which utilizes the left controller stick to move the character while the right stick fires your proton stream.  While the proton stream is the primary (and default) weapon in the game there are two other types of weapons, the Plasma Inductor and Fermion Shock,  that are gained as you progress through the game. You have to switch between the different weapons to defeat different types of enemies, which is easy to do on the fly using one of the trigger/bumper buttons.

Each stage has several “rooms” each one needing to be cleared of ghosts and specters before you move onto the next room ultimately reaching a boss battle. While I didn’t get to fight a boss in my demo session I was told that the player(s) need to work together to weaken the boss enough to get him caught in a trap, which is very cool. While most of the stages will take place in locations traversed on foot there will be a semi-on-rails section riding in an Ectomobile while blasting ghosts through the city streets. I sadly did not play this either but it looked really cool in the trailer.

The story is told through comic book panels, which are drawn by the artist that is currently drawing the Ghostbuster comics, and follows 4 new characters. Sadly the original Ghostbusters won’t be available as playable characters but I was told that there will be mentions of them and references to their adventures in the game.

From what I experienced the game was fun to play and should be a decent title in the GhostBuster franchise. Look for ‘Sanctum of Slime’ to be available on the PSN, XBL, and PC some time this Spring. In the meantime check out the gallery I caught in a trap just for you. And remember…don’t cross the streams!