Ghost Squad Wii Review

Light gun games came to prominence during a popularity boom in the 1990s. Names ranging from Lethal Enforcers through to fun games like Point Blank, the light gun game genre has been dying a slow painful death in [img]ghostsquad_wii_1[/img]recent times. The problem has always been generally when you buy a light gun game for console, you also have to pay for a gun peripheral which is almost always exclusive to that game/series. With the Nintendo Wii however, this is not the case as the Wiimote already acts much like a light gun.




Ghost Squad cashes in on the world's terrorism news focus by placing you in a team of three, sent around the world to eliminate terrorist threats. As you would expect, the storyline is not the key factor to this game and is made up of three very cliche missions. Basically, you're told to go in, shoot a few guys, get to the bosses and take them down. Nothing to write home about.




[img]ghostsquad_wii_2[/img]The game itself however is an arcade perfect port of the Ghost Squad arcade game and this has both its ups and downs. It's possible to finish this game in less than an hour but this is not really a game or genre designed for longevity. The key to enjoying the gameplay here lies in firing it up for ten to fifteen minutes every so often, or with friends.




It is still disappointing however that SEGA really struggled to make this a more compelling package for the console gamer. Rather than add new missions for the console, they just put a party mode in. However as you finish the main missions you get points which can be spent to unlock items in the game such as panda suits for the ghosts or having the enemies appear as women in bikinis which, while being quite weird, does add some replay value to the game.




The shooting gameplay itself plays really well. Relying on the Wii mote for control was a masterstroke by SEGA as it allows the price of entry to be low, and everyone who has a Wii knows how to use it. The thing is, SEGA has not taken advantage of the motion controls as well as they could have. It is only used to aim and shoot, whereas moving around or dodging with the Wii mote as per Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles would have been better.




The gameplay is also on rails, and while this is not a surprise, the game very quickly turns into just shoot and aim. Granted, this is the arcade game replicated all the way, but it does become boring quickly and some of the mission sections seem to drag on just a little too long thanks to the repetitive nature of the game.




[img]ghostsquad_wii_3[/img]What SEGA did get right is the system to put this game on. Had they chosen the PS3 or 360 the game would have been lambasted for it's poor visuals but as it turns out, this is one of the better looking Wii games in the market. It offers destructible environments and the animation are of high quality, but they really have not improved upon the arcade release other than the implementation of Wii controls.




While Ghost Squad is not the best light gun game on the Wii, it offers a nice diversion for those who want to play something other than Links Crossbow Training. It does rely on friends/party mode a little bit and a love for light gun games, but if you have those two things then you will find a lot of fun times can be had with Ghost Squad.