Ghost Squad (Wii)

Arcade fun, no quarters required.
1/31/2008 12:00 AM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

Ghost Squad, a port of the Sega light gun arcade game, is one of the most hilariously stupid good times you can have on the Wii. Stuffed full of humor (both intentional and not) and tailor-made for parties, it's the perfect alternative to mini-game collections when you have a few friends over to visit.

You play as a member of the Ghost Squad, an elite force of commandos that's dropped into impossible situations and, ghostlike, leaves no trace behind -- except for all the dead bodies, boot prints and shell casings, that is. But otherwise, you're practically invisible. The game encompasses three missions, all with the same basic goals: shoot the bad guys, save the good guys, and take out the boss at the end. Rocket science this is not.

As you move on rails through areas like the jungle and Air Force One, terrorists will pop out from hiding places, leaving you with just a split second to fire before they take a shot of their own. Innocent bystanders and hostages will sometimes get in the way, but shooting them is not only bad karma, it lowers your overall score. At certain points in a level, you'll be prompted to make a choice that will send you down different branching paths. You might have to choose between opening the left door or the right, searching for hostages or going straight for the enemy. The ability to mix and match sections of gameplay in this way drastically increases the replayability of Ghost Squad and keeps it from growing stale too quickly.

The gunplay is occasionally broken up by Action moments, in which you must aim at a highlighted area and hit the Action button. This is primarily used to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a knife-wielding enemy. By aiming at a highlighted body part on your opponent, you'll channel your inner Steven Seagal (from his 'Hard to Kill' days, not 'Half Past Dead') and fold the bad guy in half like laundry fresh from the dryer. It's a shame there aren't more sequences like this in Ghost Squad, because they do a fine job of rousing you from the shoot-everything-that-moves trance the game inspires.

As a light gun game, Ghost Squad is intended for use with the Wii Zapper, but the peripheral is in no way necessary. Simply using the Wii remote works quite well, though the Zapper does give you a bit of an edge if you prefer to play with the aiming reticule turned off, which nets you more points. Three different practice modes let you get comfortable with the controls before you try to tackle the game, but it's no more difficult than aiming at your target and hitting B. Even on Normal, the targeting is fairly forgiving, so as long as you manage to hit some part of your enemy, he's going down.

Ghost Squad further encourages repeat play by awarding you experience points for completing levels. As your character levels up, you'll unlock weapons and costumes, as well as new branches to the in-game paths. Most of the unlockables are upgrades that improve your game performance; some are just plain silly, like the panda costume. You can also eventually unlock a mode that will turn the game's terrorists into girls wearing bikinis, the knives into bananas, and your gun into a water pistol. Classic.