We have all had the dream of hearing "WE'VE GOT ONE" as the fire bell goes off, running to slide down the fire pole, donning the tan jumpsuit, loading up your nuclear accelerator proton pack, jumping into the Ecto-1, and racing off with those beautiful sirens blaring to come face to face with who knows what kind of ethereal, or corporeal entity that awaits many, many times. Well my friends, that wait is over. In as close of a way as possible, that is.
Let me introduce you to......
I can't recall exactly how I came across the "ALMOST" existence of this game. I want to say it was a post on Facebook that brought me to the knowledge of this amazing phenomena, but I honestly can't remember. It was around January/February 2015. The reason I say "ALMOST" existence, is because it was a Kickstarter project. I was a late comer to the campaign. It had already met it's goal for required production funds. I had to jump on board and back this project, using my allotted tax return play money. There was about two weeks left before it was going to end. MAN was it exciting waiting, and watching all of the stretch goals being announced, and met, knowing what will be included in our rewards. The figure designs, artwork for the board tiles, and ghost cards were AMAZING!!! How they were incorporating the first movie, The Real Ghostbusters, and Extreme Ghostbusters cartoons was such a blast from the past!!!
Finally, the campaign came to an end. Then, the wait for production, which seemed to take an eternity. They were promising a production completion of October. They surprisingly met it. During the production time they kept giving us updates with videos of prototype game play, artwork pictures, and even pictures of the figures, and game board tiles as they were produced. I was seriously like a kid looking through the window of a toy store, knowing that it was so close, but so far out of reach. Then came the update that all of the Kickstarter backer games were finished in production, loaded on a ship, and were making their way across the ocean.
The time arrived that I received my copy, and all of the stretch goal rewards. I opened the plastic wrap with such anticipation, taking in every sight, scent, and feel of the new game. Slowly, I lifted the lid, revealing yet another box concealing the contents. This was killing me. I open the second box, FINALLY getting to the masterpieces. What a sight everything was, and well worth the wait. I removed the tiles from their punch cards, unwrapped the ghost cards, player cards, scenarios, and read the instructions. It was FINALLY time to get to bustin!!!
At first sight, with all of the pieces, and components, the game looks pretty daunting. However, it is a surprisingly simple game to understand. It takes some time to read the instructions, but they are simple, and explain in a very clear way how to play.
This is a game for 1-4 players, and says ages 15+. However, first time playing was with my wife and sons(9 and 11). They were all able to understand it pretty easily, and LOVED it!!! My sons have seen both of the movies, but this was such a great memory to experience with them, and see the excitement they had while playing.
What I love most about this game, is that it is a type of Role Playing Game(RPG). You first pick which Ghostbuster you want to be out of Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston. Each Ghostbuster has it's figure, and corresponding card that lists the skills they can acquire by gaining Experience Points during game play.
You can play a single scenario, or you can play an entire campaign(which leads to a boss ghost). If you choose to play an entire campaign, the XP and skills that you earn carry over to each scenario. You play as a team to try and beat each scenario.
Each scenario explains which game board tiles to use, which ghosts to use and where they go, spirit gates/portals, and the goal.
Each ghost has a corresponding card that shows what they do, how to get a successful stream around them, how to trap them, and what happens when you get a successful stream, or if you miss.
A look at the board setup during gameplay.
Boss ghosts, and their cards.
The actual ghosts, boss ghosts, their accompanying cards, game board tiles, and scenarios that come in the retail version of this game will be different than what I received in mine, because of the stretch goal rewards for the Kickstarter backers. Along with that, backers received addition Ghostbusters characters to choose from. Below are pictures of them, and just some fun ones I played around with.
I absolutely love this game!!!! Cryptozoic Entertainment did an absolutely fantastic job creating this. They are planning on another game that will include Ghostbusters 2, possibly the remake coming out this year, as well as more from The Real Ghostbusters, and Extreme Ghostbusters cartoons. Whether it will be another Kickstarter, or not, they have not said. So keep an eye out on them. For all Ghostbusters fans, this is a definite have to own. It is available now. Just a word of caution, the figures are somewhat fragile. That is one thing that I wish they would have done better. Use better material for the figures.
Enjoy bustin some ghosts, and don't worry, you WILL get slimed!!!
