Review

Another famous '80 system ( mostly in Europe , Germany especially) was the Amstrad CPC. Ghostbusters II took a tour on this system too.
Activision transferred the official license to this computer as he did with the other ( except PC). What is all about?
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The official license refers to the 3 level action game released by Activision and developed by Blue Berry Software which has been ported 10 ago on all the most popular gaming platform of that time. There here we re discovers Ray in the sewers , Libby and the slime and three guys versus Vigo and Janosz. Enriched by digitized cutscenes from the movie. (Well, cutscenes made in 6 colors...).
What surprised me firstly was the GFX , which are a scaled down version of the Amiga/AtariST version. I except totally redone graphics as for the C64.The CPC was superior to the C64 without doubts but I did not except such a difference. To notice the use of a Yellow palette during the Title screen and the cutscenes which , in the first case, is very curious. I've to admit that the rendered Proton Stream in 3 colors works well, and maybe better than the most detailed that we found on Amiga. But this is a matter of taste.

Animation is similar to the others game and not so surprising, maybe some less frames seems to have been used but do not except a radical difference. I was impressed however by the scrolling which is definitely fluid. (I dunno if this is the emulator , however since you will use an emulator to play it it not so important.) Sounds were standard but the PStream SFX was nice to hear and less melodic than in the AtariST/Amiga game , this is positive in my view. The music in the other and can't compete with none of the Computer were this game has been adapted on. This is a weakness of the CPC .
The game plays at the others do and the only difference found are of technical nature. So , obviously there's no reasons to download this version if the Amiga/Atari is available , but human mind works in a strange way...

Docs and Cheats

Here follow the Amstrad CPC GB2 Docs based on playing experience (same as the Amiga):

SEWER TUNNEL:

Controls:

Direction keys or Joystick Moves the GB
Fire Button (+ direction): Use Selected weapon
Fire Button + Direction: Turn the GB
Space Bar : Choose a alternative weapon

Infos

In the Upper Right of The Screen you can see the Scoop , used to get slime sample once reached the bottom of the tunnel.

Below the Scoop there is the Depth meter. A 120 value means you are on the bottom of the tunnel.

Below the Depth Meter there is the Cable status display. Some spooks try to cut the rope you are attached to . we the cable is cut you fall and loose 1 life. This display let you know the damages the rope got from ghosts.

Next to the Cable Status display on the right are shown both the active weapon and the ammo for it.

On the bottom right of the screen there's Ray's picture and the Courage meter which act like a Life meter. Everytime you got hit from a ghost you loose some courage. 0 courage means -1 lives.

The Scoop

The scoop has to be composed by getting it's pieces from the border of the tunnel. To get them simply touch them with you feet. The Scoop will be automatically deployed when you reach the bottom of the tunnel and you are near enough the the slime river. You have to wait the it fills completely to complete the level.

The Bonuses

The Proton pack recharge : bring your PPack ammo back to maximum (25)
The Elixir: Increase the Courage level

The Weapons

The Proton Pack : standard weapon Shoot at ghosts to eliminated them. Can be used in all the 8 directions.

The Proton Bombs. Creates a Powerful Horizontal Proton stream which exist for a few seconds below or ... you which eliminate instantly the ghost in its range. Use Fire + Up or Down to activate it.

Ecto Shield : Protects you from everything for a short period of time. Also neutralize whatever got in contact with it. This weapon is not given as default but must be recovered from the borders of the tunnel like other bonuses.

THE LIBBY RIDE:

Controls

Directions Move the Fireball
Joy Fire Button Shoot
Space: order people to advance or coming back

Infos

Libby move itself so you only need to control the fireball.
Slime is the key. You need slime to move Libby. Shooting or being touched by a ghost means a loose of slime.
However eliminated ghosts will drop slimes which can be collect by peoples following you. This let you have a constant quantity of slime in reserve.

On the bottom right the available quantity of Mood Slime is shown. When the jar is empty you loose 1 life.

On the center there are 2 arrows ( <= & =>) . They indicates the directions of the people following you.

Below the arrows there is a long bar with red squares. This indicates the distance from the Museum of Art. When t is full you have completed your journey.

Below the long bar there is a smaller one. This indicate the charge of the fireball. When you shoot the charge decrease ( the bars empties). When you finish one Fireball charge it will be automatically refilled but you total slime amount ( in the jar) will decrease.

On the right of the small bar there is the clock. You should complete the level before the clock reaches midnight (12:00:00)

THE MUSEUM OF ART:

Part 1 : Getting in...

Controls

Down Fall from the rope / open hands
Up Slowdown you fall or stop it / close your hands

Infos

As in the movie you enter the museum using ropes. Controls each GB and have a nice landing.
ATTENTION: Slow down when near the ground . If you fall to quickly your GB may be stunned ( in that case it will be usable after a short period of time) or dead!

Part 2: Save Oscar, the world and have a happy new year.

Controls:

Directional Keys : move the Ghostbusters
Fire: Shoot proton Streams / Positive slime
Space : Change GB
Enter : Access to the weapons screen.

Infos

Here you have to act exactly as in the movie so take your VCR and enjoy!
In this level you have to move the GB indipentntly so use the Space Bar to choose which one to move.
As you may know Egon & Peter wear Proton Pack whereas Ray & Winston have Slime Blowers , if you wish to change it access the Weapon screen where you decided who wear what , this is useful when one or more GBs dies.
Remember the particularity and the purpose of each weapon.

On the Top left a pic of the GB identifies which one you are controlling.

Near the pic there is a green-red bar , this is your life . Life decreased when hit by Jonosz Vigo or GB shots.

Near to it there is a blur bar , this is your weapon energy. Both bars regenerates but be careful Vigo shots are very power ful so 2 consequent shot will kill the GB.

On the Top right there is Vigo pic. On its right a bar indicates the progress of metamorphosis in Oscar's body.

On the left there is Vigo's life On the far left Janosz life. Later Ray-Vigo life will appear.

Download

Get the Amstrad CPC Ghostbusters II game plus its emulator to run it on your computer. DOS emulator. Works in a Win9x Dos Box

Instructions and infos on how to launch and use the emulator are here.

For other platform (MacOS, Unix, DOS...) emulator check Zophar Domain.

Note: the game file itself (the .dsk file) is common to all the platforms.