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This is the game of the book of the T-shirt of the pop video of the film. The plot is that the Ghostbusters team has become so successful, they are offering franchises, and you have taken one up.

Starting with a loan of £10,000, you have to purchase the equipment you think you need to run the franchise successfully. The object is to make sufficient profit during the main sequence to qualify for the short end game in which you tackle the evil god Gozer at his headquarters, the Temple of Zuul.

Equipment selection is made by menu, and can only be done at the start of the game, so choose carefully! You'll discover the optimum of vehicle and equipment by trial and error. For instance, there's a choice of four cars ranging from a clapped out VW which is cheap, but slow and not very spacious, through an old hearse and a station wagon to a fast sports vehicle (the latter actually carries fewer items than the previous two!).

Once you've picked your car, fit it out. Here there's a trade-off between the money you've left yourself, the prices of the various items and the load your vehicle can carry: one of the strategy elements in the game. The equipment menus are graphical, and you make your choices by driving a little fork lift truck around the screen and moving the items into position on the car.

Choose from PK detectors, ghost vacuums, Marshmallow Man detectors (look, I know it sounds silly if you haven't seen the film!), ghost bait, ghost traps, image intensifiers, and a portable laser confinement system. (This is very expensive and you won't be able to afford it until you've won a few games and built up your bank balance).

Once equipped, the main game starts. A map of the city, centres on the Temple of Zuul, indicates locations where Slimers are manifesting themselves. At the same time, Roamers are drifting in from the edge of the screen, attracted by the PK energy build-up at the Temple. Plot a course to the trouble spots, if possible touching Roamers to freeze them. You then get an aerial view of your car as your drive along the streets, and if you bought a ghost vacuum you can suck up the frozen Roamers on the way.

You need two men and an empty trap to catch a Slimer once you get to the scene. Drop the trap in the centre, use the proton lances of your men to manoeuvre the ghost over the trap, and fire it. Success boosts your bank balance, failure gets one of your men slimed. Trips back to base are necessary to empty traps (unless you have the laser system) and replace Slimer victims. Towards the latter stages of the game, you need to drop ghost bait at just the right time to stop the giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from demolishing city blocks.

As more Roamers arrive at Zuul, the PK level rises, and everything happens faster until the PK hits 9999. If you haven't made a profit, the game ends here. Otherwise, you get the chance to sneak at least two of your men into the Temple for a final confrontation with Gozer.

It's hard to be objective in an appraisal of this version because I've seen the far superior Commodore 64 game. The Ray Parker theme tune which plays over the title page (complete with displayed lyrics and sing-along bouncing ball!) and throughout the actual game, is not bad, but the speech synthesis doesn't really come off.

The hardware just isn't built for it, and it might have been better to drop it (then there might have been room in memory for the large logo on the title page, which has been omitted).

The graphics flicker a lot, which suggests the programmer didn't bother with the frame flyback sync on the CPC464 which should minimize the problem - I wonder why? It gets a bit hard on the eyes after a while.

To sum up, a strategy/arcade game with a difference, and the bonus of a tie-in with a popular film and pop song, but tries to stretch the 464's capabilities just a shade too far for comfort.