Ghost Squad

It seems that in the past year, the Wii has become the main platform for arcade-style light-gun shooters, ranging from the excellent Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles to the horrid Target: Terror. So naturally Sega, the game company behind the popular House of the Dead Series, had to get on the bandwagon.

Enter Ghost Squad. Ghost Squad is your typical on-rails shooter that features fast-paced shooting action, a paper-thin storyline, and some hilariously bad dialogue. In it, you play as the titular Ghost Squad, a Special Forces Unit created by the United Nations that’s currently on a mission to wipe out a terrorist group known as the Indigo Wolves…or at least that’s what it says in the Instruction Booklet. All you really need to know is that you have to kill all of the terrorists and save the hostages.

There’s actually two parts to Ghost Squad’s gameplay. First off, there are the standard on-rails shooting, where you move automatically and shoot generic-looking terrorists before they shoot you. Then there are short action sequences where you do such things as disabling a time bomb, or fighting in hand-to-hand combat. The shooting action is top-notch, with incredibly accurate pointer controls and an Aim Reticule that you can toggle on or off before you begin the game, and the short action sections are pretty fun, too. Although I wish that the terrorists weren’t so easy to kill, as one or two hits will kill them every time no matter where you hit them at. Thankfully, there are plenty of these guys to kill, and the game does offer a decent challenge (especially the Jungle stage).

The graphics are a little rough around the edges.

Make no mistake: Ghost Squad is an arcade game; nothing more, nothing less. There are only three levels in it, and they take place in a Mountain Villa, a jungle (my personal favorite), and a hijacked airplane. Fortunately, each level has multiple branching paths and increasing difficulty levels that you unlock as you play through them multiple times. You can also unlock new weapons and costumes whenever you complete the game that you can apply to your character in the next playthrough. Each weapon has varying firepower, capacity of a clip (they all have unlimited ammo, though), and different abilities, such as an infinite clip or penetration abilities. The costumes range from different color variations of the default uniform to a Police uniform and even a Panda Suit. There’s also 2 other modes that you can unlock. One of them, Ninja Mode, replaces all of the terrorists in the game with ninjas, and instead of a gun you have to throw throwing stars at them. It’s quite humorous. Unfortunately, while it’s clear that there’s a lot to do in this game, I wish that Sega had put a little more effort in and included another 2 or 3 levels, because it would have added a lot to the longevity of the game.

Oh no. You're in battle.

Speaking of effort, it would have been nice if Sega had put more time into Ghost Squad than they did, because there’s definitely room for improvement. The game is a little weak in the graphics department, with characters that look a little angular, as well as environments that could benefit from better textures. Strangely enough, it seems that Sega put a lot of work into the lighting effects, and I must say they look great. Still, aside from the lighting, Ghost Squad looks like it was made in 2003 for the Playstation 2. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing (this is the Wii we’re talking about), the graphics could’ve been better. At least you get some decent background music and use of the Wii Remote’s speaker which you can hear gunshots through.

Luckily, there are quite a few things that keep Ghost Squad from being just a mediocre shooter. First of all, the game supports multiplayer, which means you can play through the game with up to four players. Also, every time you play through the main game in Arcade Mode, you can add your high scores to a worldwide leaderboard via Nintendo Wi-fi Connection. The voice-acting and dialogue is pretty hilarious, which gives the game a humorous side to it, and all of the unlockable goodies mentioned earlier will keep you coming back to Ghost Squad at least for a little while.

Overall, Ghost Squad is certainly a fun game, thanks to its fast-paced action and excellent multiplayer modes. Its only true fault is in its longevity. It would have been nice if Sega had added in a few more levels, instead of relying solely on the game’s bells and whistles. Despite that, Ghost Squad definitely has its audience, and if you enjoy a good on-rails shooter, but don’t mind if the game’s a bit shallow, then Ghost Squad is the game for you, and at only $30 brand new, there’s a lot of fun to be had here.

NOTE: This game is best played with a light-gun controller.

Scores

Graphics: 14/20
Sound: 17/20
Gameplay: 25/30
Longevity: 15/30

71/100 = 71% - Good