A recent interview with one of the guys from Illfonic had some comments about why the Slime Blower wasn’t in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, and he said that it “just doesn’t make sense” for the game because “we don’t need to make the building dance.” He said that we could use it to positively charge all of the civilians, but you can just use the talk button. “It doesn’t make sense for the mechanics of this game.”
Well… I think it’s time to come up with all of the reasons why I think the Slime Blower makes sense for the game. Feel free to comment with your own additional ideas.
- Slime the Hauntable Objects – making them more difficult to haunt. Could also temporarily make that object impossible to possess.
- Slime Tether a Ghost – Holding them in place or dragging them toward a trap. They can fight their way out of it, like a Proton Tether.
- Positively Charge the Civilians – a different mechanic to help them out… however, this could do something different with the civilians than just talking to them. Some of them may inadvertently run away, making it more of a risk, and if they don’t run, they could help to calm other civilians for a little while. High risk, high reward.
- Slime Possessed Objects – Slowing them down – making it more difficult for a ghost to quickly escape.
- Tether Objects – Did a ghost hide your trap out of reach? Tether it. There could also be puzzles you use the slime blower on.
- Reverse the Haunt – Slime a room to lower the haunt, adding time to the match.
- Slime the Ghost – This could have a variety of effects. It could cause the ghost to go temporarily blind, or it could slow the ghost’s powers down, etc.
- Slime Grapple – In areas where the Grappling Hook doesn’t connect, the Slime Tether could lift you, or other busters, to great heights, such as the museum, to get up on top of the whale.
- Slime Collection – It could serve as a kind of cleaning device to clean slime from the floor. If the slime isn’t psychomagnotheric, you may not be able to positively charge it, so you’ll have to dispose of it another way. But if it is psychomagnotheric, perhaps you could positively charge it in your slime blower pack, as a way to refill your pack if you run out of slime. That, or you need to run back to the cart to grab a slime refill. Or just have the Slime never run out, but have the ability to grab more slime from what the ghosts leave behind, as samples. (Also: collecting Slime samples is something the Ghostbusters tend to do in the movies, that wouldn’t be a bad mechanic either.)
The Slime Blower could also be a tool that also can receive lots of upgrades, with various modes, range, power, and even the type of slime used. You could use the psychomagnotheric “mood” slime, But there are other types of slime that could be used for various other purposes.
What are other things a Slime Blower could bring to Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed?