When Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord was announced for the Meta Quest, the VR community instantly thought “that could make for a really cool experience!”. Now, this new title from Sony Pictures Virtual Reality is finally out, and it was developed by the seasoned VR experts at nDreams. We couldn’t wait to strap on our virtual proton packs and not be afraid of no ghosts, so here’s our review.
The narrative for Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord unfolds in the haunted streets of San Francisco, where a powerful spectral entity known as the Ghost Lord has emerged. As a new recruit of the Ghostbusters squad, your mission is to uncover the mystery behind the Ghost Lord’s sudden appearance and put an end to the paranormal chaos that followed. This premise, while exciting, is somewhat undermined by a few immersion-breaking glitches that impact the overall enjoyment of the story.
Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord introduces various gameplay modes, from standard ghost-busting missions to the newly added Heist and Seek that was added post-launch – a competitive mode where squads aim to thwart three bank-robbing brothers from the other side. The gameplay, with settings that were inspired by the iconic ghost-busting scenes from the movies, feature intuitive VR controls that bring the iconic Proton Pack and other gadgets to life. This provides an authentic Ghostbusters experience, but glitches still persist even though they seem less frequent than what people were indicating right after the launch.
One of the game’s standout features is the cooperative multiplayer experience, allowing you to team up with fellow Ghostbusters enthusiasts to tackle missions together – echoing the iconic movies we’re all familiar with. The camaraderie, especially in the chaotic battles against various ghost types, is one of the coolest parts here. It helps to have a crew of friends to play with though, as our experience with matchmaking wasn’t always great – though this tends to be something that gets better over time.
Visually, Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord captures the charm of the iconic franchise very well despite this game not being based around the familiar faces of the films. The stylized character models, expressive ghosts, and detailed environments contribute to a vibrant and immersive experience. It’s nice to see familiar faces like the stay puft marshmallow man, but there’s also a lack of variety in ghost designs, with many being color variations of the same ghosts. When you combine this with sometimes repetitive mission structures this is a game that could have and still can use more content.
Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord offers a progression system with both equipment upgrades and cosmetic options. Earning in-game currency from completed missions allows you to enhance your ghost-busting arsenal, though the upgrades don’t really feel like they add much to the experience at this point – something we’re hoping will get better as new modes and features get added.
Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord, despite the rough edges that still remain, brings the thrill of being a Ghostbuster to the immersive realm of virtual reality. The game’s success lies in its cooperative multiplayer dynamics and use of motion controls to put authentic Ghostbusters equipment in your hands. The visually captivating design also helps, though a more varied and polished ghost-hunting adventure is what we had hoped for. Fingers crossed for more updates coming our way soon.
Score: 6.6/10
Press Play Media 