I've had this game a couple days now & as usual I like to write up an initial review while the game is still new & fresh to me but still have enough plays to form an opinion. As time goes on, I may tweak my ratings.
What an interesting game this is. The couple times over the years I've seen one for sale in my area I gave it a lot of thought to it being something I would like but the timing never worked out. Not many made, 2k I think.
It interests me for a few reasons. 1 being that I was a fan of Ghostbusters growing up & this game clearly has that sort of theme. Also I appreciate games that go above & beyond with artwork detail & this game has loads of it. The art is more of a "fun" style or comic book style than a serious art piece like Paragon, which is fine by me. The game also makes use of so much color. A lot of green & pink (the colors of the slimes found in the Ghostbusters movies).
Before I just got this game, I only played 1 quick game on it before a couple years ago, so I didn't remember much. One thing I didn't realize was just how incredible the topper is on this game. Might be among the best toppers ever, especially in terms of functionality. In a pinball world filled with useless toppers, this one is a big part of the game. The skull can move left to right as it flashes & talks, & yes even the jaw of the skull moves up & down in sync with whatever it is saying. This had to be expensive to produce.
Another thing about the game that piqued my interest when seeing pics of it over the years was the layout. Not because it is the best layout I've ever seen, but because it is different. & when you have 2 or 3 other games that have a more standard pinball layout, IMHO it sure is nice to throw a unique playing game into the mix.
What also makes the game unique is that this was the game where Gottlieb made the switch to their newer style of flipper. Yet it was also the last system 80 game. Which means that this is the only game to use that newer & likely stronger flipper style but on a 42" long playfield rather than the 46" they all went to after this. What this seems to do is make for a lot of possibilities & shots are easy to reach. Many shots can be made with either flipper. There are tons of paths the ball can take & there is no predictable flow to the game. But again, that is what I like about it.
I was a little surprised by the complexity of the game. I was expecting fairly simple rules but honestly it took me some thinking & quite a few plays to see how the entire game worked. Even reading "how to play" in the manual didn't answer all my questions, some I had to find out as I played.
The rule set isn't deep, but what is there can be a little complex, if that makes sense. To where this might not be the best game for a casual player to pick up & understand right away. But for me this title was my guilty pleasure for myself, if others don't like it they can play my other games!
The game looks good in the dark although some areas on the PF can be a bit dark. Not a ton of spots on the game where they could fit GI lamps but they look good where they are put & flashers look cool. As far as lighting I think the backbox is the strongest point. A ton of flashers & lots of #44 bulbs as well, even a few #455 blinker bulbs mixed in. The flashers make zapping animations that go along with the art you see.
The sound seems pretty good. The quality of the music seems pretty good & the tune is catch, again similar to a Ghostbusters tune. Speech quality isn't quite as good but it is good enough that I can understand it all (barely). That is surely typical of any system 80 game though. Quite a few speech samples between the lady & one eye (the skull). If you enable the topper for attract mode he has quite a few different comments! You hear them more sparingly during play.
Bottom line is that I'll never claim BB to be a masterpiece of a game like TZ or MM, but I don't think it was ever designed to be that kind of game. It seems like it was made to be a fun game to look at & a good one to flip the ball around on, with a few clever gimmicks mixed in. I think anybody with similar tastes to mine should consider checking this game out & it is probably more affordable than it should be, just considering the topper alone.