Busting Ghosts is preferable on Wii?
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Dec 3rd 2008 at 6:20PM }
Kotaku got to try out the Wii version of Ghostbusters and, predictably enough, revealed that it differs quite a lot from its high-definition cousins on the other machines. The voice-acting and script aside, the Wii build sports its own level designs (which are smaller, naturally), a Wii-specific control scheme, and a far more cartoony visual style.
Precisely none of which is surprising. Games developed for a spread of consoles often look and feel quite different on the Wii, but this doesn't seem to harm Ghostbusters. Kotaku reports that the Wii title has been built from the ground up, and deems waggling a Wiimote to capture spooks "a little more intuitive" than punching buttons.
On a personal note, we definitely prefer the rounder, more rubbery character models found in Ghostbusters Wii. The franchise always felt pretty goofy to us, so these just fit more closely to our expectations of a Ghostbusters game. We've included a couple of comparison shots in our gallery for you to peruse and make your own minds up.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TwEE @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:40PM
Um.. whos the blonde ghostbuster? Is that Peter Venkman?
jborah007 @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:45PM
Sometimes, Wii graphics make me want to throw up. I like the cartoony style, but if they were going to take that little effort to make the game look good, shouldn't they have gone with a more cel shaded style. I would prefer a NMH style ghostbuster, hell, i would probably even buy the game (probably not)
iMeh @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:55PM
the "realistic" art style doesn't work well for every game. Artistic direction seems to be fairly important in games nowadays.
KingKRule @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:55PM
Im going to have to agree Wii graphics can do so much better then what these screens are showing... hopefully this is just an early build and the graphics will be smoothed out.
Drahken @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:51PM
That is most certainly not Venkman. Did they replace him with someone new because they couldn't get Bill Murray after all? I thought they managed to get all of the original actors?
hvnlysoldr @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:45PM
That's the new guy. AKA Mr. Expendable and lab rat for new inventions. The 4 Real Ghostbusters in all versions are not default player in single player story mode. Although there's a more elaborate create a player for both male and female in the other versions, there's basically one male and one female model for the Wii version.
Drahken @ Dec 3rd 2008 10:15PM
Ah, I see. Well thank god for that.
WalkingCarpet @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:17PM
I can understand being "cartoony" to get away with less detail, but these look like a little bit of toon and a whole lot of just not trying to make it look good...
hvnlysoldr @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:50PM
I know the Real Ghostbusters cartoon models of them were supposed to not resemble them, but they're very nostalgic.
psyborg @ Dec 4th 2008 3:10AM
I think it looks good; good style, nice lighting, nice particle effects it seems. And remember people Ghostbusters was a cartoon too.
As a hardcore Ghosbuster fan I'm pretty beside myself right now with the fact that there is 3 distinctly different Ghostbuster games coming out. The third being the DS game which I hear is reminiscent of the oldschool top-down NES games.
mrmarkrobson @ Dec 8th 2008 4:49PM
i constantly feel that as graphics are slowly getting to the point of diminishing returns, style and art direction are going to really make and break games, as well as have them age well...this ghostbusters wii game is a great example of that
others id say are
zelda TP is already showing its age, and Cellda, with exception on a few rough edges and its old looking UI, still looks amazing.
Gears is another series that the graphics to continue to get better, but its the art direction and stylized realism that will make that game age better than its realistic competitors like COD4 etc
granted, going either realistic or illustrated styles varies from property to property, and great games pull strength from their visuals to help enhance immersion
I'm really impressed by the wii ghostbusters visuals
the 360 version just reeks of of unreal engine, and after mirror's edge we know that the engine shouldnt dictate how the game looks,
on the other hand, id love to see these visuals on a system with more horsepower!