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Just when you thought it was safe to open the fridge... The situation: your city is overrun with ghosties and ghoulies of all descriptions. You - and a friend in the two player version - have to battle against the other worldly forces across a dozen landscapes to reach and destroy the source of the ethereal interference. This saves the city and (presumably) the world.

Your only other companion is 'Slimer', an ectoplasmic joker with an affection for humans. One touch of the slippery sidekick sends any ghost running for cover. Problem is, Slimer is a fickle friend who needs some proof of your need for help: hence you need to bust some ghosts on your own, trap the essence in your backpack and show the colloidal companion that you need aid!

Players are armed with the standard streamer guns so necessary to catch discorporeal beings and store them. These fire two different ways: a single press of the button releases a bolt that reduces your opponents into so much extra-dimensional energy (translation: a ghost sprite). A long burst releases a stream which sucks this ghost essence into your backpack: giving you extra points and sometimes a 'Slimer'.

There is, however, a price to be paid, in that the backpacks need energy to operate. This energy can be replaced by touching energy packs: some objects release them when shot. Running out of energy doesn't happen often, but it's bad news when you do because the ghosts swarm all over you.

The idea is to go up the screen avoiding ghosts and picking up extra points. At the end of each level is a guardian and a portal. When a guardian is destroyed, it drops a key, which lets you pass under the portal. Under? It's only a graphic quirk, but it could have been avoided.

Each level is more than one screen wide, so that the playing area scrolls to keep up with you. There are different routes to the end, so that, after playing a level a couple of times, you find out which ways are best for points or progressing in the game.

Starting on a series of skyscrapers, you travel through a series of strange swamps and graveyards. Each level has different nasties attacking you, and the variety of sudden death is quite extensive enough for me, thank you very much: mummies, monks, things with teeth, acid drops, zombies... and that's just the first level!

There's a really good rendition of Ray Parker Jnr's Ghostbusters theme tune when you load up, but as you start to play it takes about a second for that appealing touch to evaporate, purely because the colours are desperately, dreadfully dull. Playing in a darkened room helps somewhat (you notice areas that you didn't before) but it really is off-putting. In fact this is one of that very rare species of game that actually looks better on a green screen monitor than in colour.

Another annoying factor you have only to pass close to a ghost to lose a life. Collision detection is way off. The only remedy is to blast those ghosts from as far away as possible. Oh yes, and the game crashed once, necessitating a reload. Each level is loaded individually too.

That apart, I rather enjoyed it; it's really a little easy for a hardened game player. Looks fairly naff but there's some fun there if you're patient.

Great music, and I appreciate the opportunity to meet Mr. Slimer in person.

But oh dear! The Real Ghostbusters is let down badly by its drab appearance. I guess it's so dark for atmosphere, but frankly I'd rather see what I was doing. Not my fave of '89.

Reach the guardian on level three.

Better than colour!

Graphics 50%
P. Scrolling sprites and movement are fine.
B. But truly awful, muddy colours.

Sonics 72%
P. Brill theme tune and decent spot effects.

Grab Factor 49%
P. Looks a big let down.

Staying Power 61%
P. Needs skill to complete.

Overall 57%
P. Very average arcade conversion.