Dan Aykroyd was quoted saying the game was "essentially the third movie" when he was interviewed about it during release.
Source from Wikipedia:
[12]"The 'Real' Ghostbusters." Game Informer, 81. Aykroyd:"I've seen work on the video game, I've watched it progress, my rap now to people is 'This is essentially the third movie.'"
At the time, a third Ghostbusters movie really seemed grim, and to be honest it never really happened with the original cast. This was the closest that they could get to getting almost all of the original cast back together, sans Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver; whom both apparently regretted not signing up for. I think Sigourney said that she would have joined the cast if someone told her that Bill Murray was doing the game. Bill Murray getting involved was an incredibly huge deal for the time. Given that he was the sole reason why a third movie never got made.
Sigourney Weaver ended up doing Alien Isolation because she missed the boat on Ghostbusters 2009. Alien Isolation was also a great game.
Ghostbusters 2009, while a little clunky around the edges was really the best attempt at a Ghostbusters game at that point in time. The plot was set in 1991 or 1992, a couple years after Ghostbusters II. It was heavily written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The concept of the player being a 'new recruit' to be a guinea pig for all of the newest gadgets was a great idea. The Wii version (which has cartoony graphics had the option to choose between a male or female player).
It was a really fan service game, bringing back many moments from the movies. But did a decent job telling a new story. All four of the main cast members got a lot of dialogue in the game. The game would bounce the player around from being aided by Peter Venkmen, Ray Stanz, Winston Zedmore and Egon Spengler pretty evenly. Sometimes you would be with all four Ghostbusters, sometimes one. Or sometimes two. But it did a good job giving all of the characters equal 'NPC' time. There are some familiar locations like the sledgewick hotel and the library. The firehouse was well done. The wrangle and trap mechanics were decent.
The game did a really good job. In a way it was one of the first to do this... retroactive nostalgia inspired official/ unofficial movie to game sequel concept that has been showing up a bit more frequently over the last decade or so.
Ghostbusters 2009 was a sequel to a 1989 movie, with the original cast returning. Alien Isolation did the same thing by being a official/ un-official in-between sequel to Alien with Sigourney Weaver returning as Ripley. Robocop Rogue City falls into this category by being a sequel to Robocop 2, and brings back Weller. I guess The Warriors from 2005 falls into this concept as it is a un-official game sequel to the movie with the original cast returning to voice their roles. Back to the Future: The Game by Telltale was an unofficial sequel to the third movie, features Christopher Lloyd, Claudia Wells, and even Thomas F. Wilson. Michael J. Fox did not return.
