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When Egon Spengler takes a lady out for a night, it's something special. On New Year's Eve for example, who does he bring out to party but the Statue of Liberty! As if that wasn't enough, he then had her fight a battle royal against an invading army of spooks on Broadway. How and why can he do such things? Not by Heineken, not by any mechanical means for that matter, but by slime power - and because he's a Ghostbuster II.

Now the team haven't exactly been flavour of the the month in Manhattan Central since their run-in with Mr. Stay Puft, when they took the top off a multi-million dollar apartment complex. The ensuing legal hassles made their supernatural adventures look sage. They were bankrupt, discredited as frauds and reduced to working on tacky-wacky TV shows. That was until now, when the fickle New York public finds it's got a slime problem of apocalyptic standards.

There's this Carpathian chappie who's taken a liking to living and won't stay dead. Vigo - for it is he! - like all good ghosts, just wants to have fun. Unfortunately, a spook's idea of a good time involves the seventh plane of hell and a short meeting with a guy carrying a trident. So once again the boys in the boiler suits are called back into action, and this is where the fun starts.

First and foremost in Ghostbusters II is a trip to collect some slime. This stuff has been slowly growing in the sewers for months. It feeds on human emotion and in such a happy, cheery city, it grows real quick and real mean. The authorities, however, still refuse to help the 'Busters to get a sample, and so they set up a fake road block and drill into a subway tunnel. This is where you join the action.

A 'volunteer' has been selected to go down the hundred-foot air shaft, past a whole host of ghosts, ghouls and things that go splat in the dark. You have to guide the saviour of humanity down on a rope, armed to his 'bustin teeth with proton beam rifle, PKR bombs and shields. Simple? You've got to be kidding!

All the way down are different kinds of spirit intent on stopping this brave attempt. Hands come out of the wall and grab you, traditional sheet ghosts float up sapping your courage, slimers spit slime and saw monsters try to cut your lifeline. To make matters worse, the old air shaft is in a bad state of repair and girders jut out, forcing you to swing past.

On the plus side are refills of ammunition - very necessary, as being surrounded by the undead makes you very light on the trigger finger! If you get spooked too often, your Ghostbusters face on the score panel gets gradually more terrified until you let go of the rope - not really a good idea as the fate of the world hangs on it too. Bottles of elixir are on hand to give you some Dutch courage, but these are few and far between, so timing is important as well as speed.

Items are collecting by landing both feet over them. But as if things weren't bad enough already, some fool has also dropped your slime scooper down the shaft too! It's split into three parts so you've also got to hang about (literally) to pick this up as well. You have got three lives, so hang loose!

Once you've managed to fill your beaker with slime, then the analysis can begin. The results are not good. Proof of the impending disaster, if you needed any, comes when you discover that ghosts are flying down Broadway and that the Lady Liberty is full of slime and walks! Taking the symbolic tank, you stride to the rescue and find out why Ghostbusters II is a Mastergame. The second section is a scrolling spook-'em-up of mind warping subtlety. You guide the First Lady of America down the road as spectral nasties swarm in from the right. You shoot flame from a multi-directional fireball, a fire that burns on ghost slime. The more shots you fire the lower your supply of slime gets, so obviously more is needed. By now you have the population on your side and they volunteer to rush out from the feet of the statue and grab the slime that the ghosts become when they're shot.

You control the people, sending them out to get supplies with a quick stab of the space bar. But Vigo is also sending his zombie minions out to stop the slime collectors, so you've not only got to blast the spooks back whence they came, but move the fireball into a position to protect the good citizens of the Big Apple. You end up watching umpteen things at once, and trying to control both citizens, a 152ft high statue and a spook-blasting flame... all at once.

The third and final level takes you to face Vigo mano mano in a city museum. You must destroy the ghost at the same time as rescuing Oscar, a baby kidnapped at the beginning of the movie. Each Ghostbuster is controlled seperately, and a battle of hair-raising proportions is the result as the movie and the game reach their final stages.

Frighteningly good graphics immediately set this game apart from everyday film licences, the statue being the centrepiece. It captures a cartoonesque quality that manages to convey the comic aspects of the movie excellently. Other Ghostbuster licences have stressed the darker side, relying on sombre colours to suggest terror, here you see it slowly etched onto the the Busters face during the first level.

The whole project is put together as a spoof movie. The programming credits come film-style, and each section of the game is introduced with a brief summary of the plot and digitised pictures. That tune - you know, the one you can't help humming - is there too, as is the '60s hit featured in the movie. It's a multi-load, but being a sequential game of only three sections not that painful to live with.

The Oliver Twins have bought all their expertise to bear on this project. Great gameplay and graphics are slightly spoiled by the easiness of Level One, but at last the Ghostbusters have come of age and star in a game worthy of their name. Humour pervades but not at the expense of action. If you want great gaming fun, give the Ghostbusters a call - they're back in business.

Get to Level Two.

One of the best film tie-ins since... er, Batman. Follows the usual pattern of "scene-from-the-film" stages, but captures the atmosphere superbly.

Green slime looks fine.

Graphics 94%
P. Convincing characters.
P. Digitised loading pics.

Sonics 91%
P. Excellent film music.
P. Fun 'splat' effects.

Grab Factor 83%
P. Very easy Level One. A real good-looker.

Staying Power 61%
P. Level Two is well 'ard.
N. Not hard enough, unfortunately.

Overall 94%
P. Even better than the movie.