Bust ghosts with your friends with Ghostbusters World!
Crossovers between two popular franchises are nothing new, and the idea is pretty brilliant from a business standpoint since a crossover would attract two fanbases at the same time. Ghostbusters World seems to be an unofficial crossover between Pokemon GO and Ghostbusters due to the similarity in gameplay. Like Pokemon GO, Ghostbusters World makes use of the revolutionary augmented reality technology and applies it to the world and lore of the Ghostbusters movies. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, but the real question is whether Ghostbusters World has enough of an identity to set itself apart from Pokemon GO and other augmented reality games.
Starting Out
If you’ve played Pokemon GO before then the gameplay of Ghostbusters World won’t be completely new to you. The objective of the game is to explore and catch ghosts that are roaming around your neighborhood. Exploration in the game involves walking in real life as the world map in the game reflects real life locations. Ghosts appear randomly throughout the map, and players must walk closer to them in order to interact. Once battle commences, players must reduce the health of ghosts in order to catch them.
Traditional RPG with Revolutionary Augmented Reality
The ghost battles are where Ghostbusters World really sets itself apart from Pokemon GO since they integrate traditional RPG elements a lot more than other augmented reality games. As mentioned above, players must weaken the ghost with weapons like the Proton Beam before trapping the ghost. Similar to standard RPGs, battling other ghosts allow players to level up ghosts that they’ve caught for future battles.
Raids take the RPG elements to the next level thanks to its turn-based battle system. Players can team up with friends to defeat more powerful ghosts. They might even get to battle a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!
Ghosts battles are also where players can take full advantage of the augmented reality technology. Playing with cameras on will make it seem like ghosts are directly in front of the players.
More Modes, More Fun
Ghostbusters World comes with several modes. Aside from the standard exploration mode, Ghostbusters World has also made a PVP and Story mode available. PVP mode is a multiplayer mode where players can play against each other. The Story mode has cutscenes and a brand new story from the writer of the Ghostbusters Comic, Erik Burnham. Players can grind their ghosts to higher levels in Story mode for PVP battles.
Out of Pokemon’s Shadow
You just can’t deny Ghostbusters World’s similarity to Pokemon GO. Their gameplay and aesthetic are just too similar to ignore. That said, this doesn’t mean Ghostbusters World has nothing of note to offer. Obviously, the developers gave a lot of thought on how to integrate the Ghostbusters mythos into this gameplay, and they did a pretty good job. Interacting with and collecting ghosts is a pretty exciting activity. Seeing your favorite ghosts, characters, and items from the Ghostbusters will no doubt be an exhilarating experience for any fan of the franchise.
