"The light gun phenomenon has started"

It's about time. It's about time light gun games are coming to Wii. And Ghost Squad makes for a great start. Sure, it's a cheesy, over-the-top foray into a terrorist-killing fantasy, but you'd be hard pressed not to find its histrionic dialogue and chunky graphics amusing and somewhat charming. When the president of the United States gives you a high five after you knock his captor out the cargo hold of Air Force One, you've got something special, there.

Ghost Squad is a port of a 2004 arcade shooter, and the conversion to Wii loses very little in the process. In fact, the Wii is the best place this game could have wound up in. It's short, simple, but incredibly addicting, and the controls are spot on. The standalone Wii remote option has a great feel to it and makes popping terrorists in the head more satisfying than is healthy. You can even turn the cursor off and attempt to play the game like a real light gun shooter, though this is tricky since you are pointing at the sensor bar and not the screen itself. And, hearkening to its arcade roots, reloading requires moving the cursor off the screen. It sounds like a gimmick; it ends up being a very nice touch.

In arcade mode, you (and possibly a friend) travel through three missions that range from a mountain resort to Air Force One to a terrorist hideout in the jungle. The game is on rails, of course, so your only concern should be blasting terrorists as they pop up (and not blasting hostages, but it's hard to refrain). Ghost Squad will frequently move into little "sub quests," however, where firing willy-nilly only gets you into trouble. During these moments, you may need to disarm mines, snipe bad guys, and provide cover for teammates. These aren't as fun as the normal shooting sequences, but the variety was probably needed. I'm only disconcerted by the boss battles that don't play out as creatively as one would hope. The Air Force One boss, for instance, only requires you to get a head shot before the guy hauls the president away.

The three missions, in the end, only span about 20 minutes. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you serious? Why, yes. Yes, I am. Fortunately, the game is only $30, but that's still a big price tag for only 20 minutes of gameplay. In retrospect, however, it's not really 20 minutes. Each time you successfully complete a mission, a higher level of that mission becomes available. There are actually 16 levels in all for each mission. Granted, it's not fair to refer to them as "levels," because it's still the same mission. It just happens to be a little harder, a little longer, and offers more branching pathways to take. Level 1 of the resort mission is very straightforward, but Level 9 offers quite a few points where you can choose where to go to next. Will you break in the front door and shoot up the place, or will you go around back and hold off enemies trying to get inside? So it's not the same every time you play, and even though you can whisk through it in 20 minutes, there's definitely a need to do it again. The score you get after all three missions are over also goes towards unlocking new costumes and weapons, like a shotgun or an automatic with infinite ammo and the capacity to overheat.

To further strengthen the replay, Ghost Squad supports a party mode for up to four players. It's rather hectic with four cursors flying around the screen and doesn't leave you with much to shoot yourself, but what other four-player Wii games are there that aren't... you know... crappy? For a good laugh, party mode includes a "paradise mode" and "ninja mode" that put interesting twists on the old character models. It's both disturbing and hilarious to run around shooting bikini-clad girls with dolphin-shaped squirt guns. Yes, that's exactly how it goes. And ninja mode is... well... take a wild guess what ninja mode is.

Final Comments:
I have always adored light gun shooters in the arcade, and Ghost Squad brings that same campy goodness to the Wii. This is the epitome of pick-up-and-play value, a game you can quickly run through once or twice with hardcore and casual gamers alike. The only thing I really hold against Ghost Squad is that it's much too short, despite doing several cool things to keep you coming back and being pretty darn fun anyway. True, this is an arcade port, and arcade games are inherently short-lived, but that doesn't mean developers can't take some initiative and add new levels and content on top of what's already there. Nevertheless, this is good stuff.

Score: 8.5

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/07

Game Release: Ghost Squad (US, 11/20/07)