GhostBusters the board game

[FuManJew]

Yesterday I got to play the new Ghostbusters board game. Here are my thoughts:

Miniatures- The miniatures are fantastic. You get quite a bit in the base set and all of them look amazing. I think the base set comes with 20 x class 1 ghosts, 15 x class 2 ghosts, and 10 x class 3 ghosts. Plus three bosses: slimmer, Stay-Puft, and one other (I don’t recall this one from the films and didn’t immediately recognize its name). Also included is four ghostbusters and Ecto-1.

Game pieces - The base box come with some nice game pieces like custom d6 dice with the Ghostbuster logo on the 6 and the gate die which has the symbols from the first movie when Venkman was doing the physic test at the university There is also some standard card stock tokens to represent slime and gates. The biggest issue with the Game materials is that the card stock used for the character sheets is very thin, and considering that you have to slide a marker across the bottom to keep track of your buster’s EXP, I could see the card getting warped or damaged after a few games.

Game play – The game works within a scenario or campaign. I think the game comes with three one shot scenarios and three campaigns of 4 games. The scenarios have nice back stories and each setup is different which adds to the challenge. The turn breaks down as such: Each ghostbuster gets two actions and one maneuver a turn, the actions consist of movement, shooting, driving Ecto-1, cleaning slime off another ghostbuster, or using all your actions to clean slime off yourself. The maneuvers consist of getting into or out of Ecto-1 or passing ghost traps to another ghostbuster. After all ghostbusters have had their turn then you roll for ghost spawning. The main objective for each scenario is to close the gates (if you’re playing the boss battle then you must close the gates then fight the boss). The methods for closing the gate change in each scenario, which adds to the variety. There are a certain number of ghosts (various classes) that start on the board and occasionally some will spawn from the gates, but more often than not they escape from your trap. Catching ghosts is pretty straight forward, once you have line of sight then you fire often needing a 3 or 4+ to successfully hit, depending on the class some ghosts require more than one hit to capture. If you miss the shot then the ghost moves either in a random direction or toward the ghostbuster. But other than missing a shot (or hitting a higher class ghost will cause it to move) the ghosts remain static. Depending on your character or scenario capturing ghosts at times tend to be a low priority. I found myself hoping the ghosts had a more active role in the game or that like LNOE someone played as the ghosts. In the base set you can only choose from the 4 main ghostbusters (although they are releasing more in upcoming expansions). Each Ghostbuster has a predefined role, Stanz is the healer, Zedmore excels in ghost containment, Venkman is strong in combat and defense, Egon is mostly offensive. Because there are no random traits or upgrades (beyond their EXP bonuses which help the group and add to the Ghostbuster’s predestined role) I felt that after a few games and each player got a feel for their character and role within the group the game because almost too easy. There are certain mechanics that ramp up the difficulty, but only in making the ghosts and bosses harder.

Verdict – The game is fun and would be more fun with the right players and some booze, the game mechanics are very simple, making it easy to learn. The mini’s are great and fully painted would be fantastic looking. However, the gameplay can get boring as it plays like a beat-em up style video game - shoot ghosts, close gates, repeat. What this game needs is some sort of environment mechanic like Arkham Horror encounters or the Environment cards in LNOE to add some randomness and excitement. Also, more movement with ghosts or having a ghost player would greatly help the game. Considering the base game without any Kickstarter expansions is $80-85 bucks I would say buy this only if you are a hardcore fan. I love the movies and the cartoons, but the game wasn’t fun enough…to justify the price.