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I don't so much know the "real" part, after all, which came first, the human or the animation? What is clear is the popularity of the cartoon spin off of the blockbusting movie Ghostbusters.

Consisting of the portly Ray Stantz, the ever intelligent Egon Spengler, the loud-mouthed Peter Venkman and late recruit Winston Zeddemore, the Ghostbusters are once again called out to kick spectral ass, this time in an attempt to save the city from hordes of ghoulies, demi-gods, zombies and just about anything else that has expired.

The most striking feature of the game is how little it has in common with the cartoon. In fact, the only thing that will convince the observer of the tie-in is the rather smart rendition of Ray Parker Jnr's Ghostbusters theme tune. The main character sprite is tiny, blocky and poorly-animated, bearing no resemblance to a human, or a ghost for that matter. The graphics for the opposition aren't much better either. They either shoot at you with an unnerving accuracy, or mill cluelessly around, all the while looking as ill-defined as the main character sprite, only somewhat bigger in certain cases.

Disposing of the ghosts is quite easy if you can master controlling your man. Moving between static objects and moving targets is frustrating and awkward, as the perspective the game is viewed at is not quite from overhead. Ghosts can be shot, or, even better, frazzled using your photon pack by holding the fire button. This causes a constant stream of pure zap to be emitted from your gun.

At the end of each level, if you can get that far between the tears of laughter, is a moderately proportioned guardian, who puts up less resistance than a Frenchman in 'Allo 'Allo. Finish him and collect the key to advance to the next level.

As if the game wasn't bad enough already, Activision have incorporated the beloved Bastardload tape system that is present on all their tape software. Sorry guys, but it's just not good enough.

I only wish there was a lighter note to this, but I can only advise against The Real Ghostbusters. It is an unplayable, unattractive piece of software which would receive the same review from me had it been released four years ago.