Three years after it’s release on the Sega Chihiro arcade system, which is known for having similar hardware to the original Xbox, SEGA ported Ghost Squad to the Wii. The game is a light gun game similar to the The House of the Dead series, but with a different structure. As far as arcade ports go, it definitely isn’t the worst, but it’s not too impressive either.
Light gun on the Wii
As far as the gameplay goes in this game there isn’t much to explain. All you have to do most of the time is point at the screen with your Wii Remote and shoot targets on the screen.
Unlike some other light gun games like The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (also on the Wii), where you are just shooting enemies the whole time, Ghost Squad introduces a bunch of new mechanics to break things up. For example, there are parts where you have to actively save hostages with one button while also shooting enemies with another. Missions like this break up the long shooting sections, and are sparse enough to never become annoying or detract from the main game.
One of the most interesting aspects of this game is the camera angle. Unlike some other light gun games where you generally face the action head on, in this game the camera is much more dynamic. It follows roughly what the members of the Ghost Squad would be seeing as they sneak around to avoid alerting the bad guys. This makes for more interesting ways for enemies to appear on screen than you would typically see in this genre.
Sega arcade style
This game definitely has the 90s and early 2000s Sega feel. The voice acting is cheesy, and the scenario is pretty ridiculous. If you are a fan of this type of stuff, this game is pretty much more of the same. Really anyone should find some enjoyment out of how this game presents itself.
Another thing that this game will bring you back to is the arcade era in general. That means if you are looking for a typical console style game this game definitely isn’t it. Instead, you will master a short but tightly designed game over tons of playthroughs. The game does at least have somewhat more varied paths to go through than the average arcade game does, though.
The port
Ghost Squad isn’t an overly popular arcade game, so most people probably have no idea what the original was like. This port doesn’t really have many issues as far as a general Wii game goes. The lack of a totally smooth 60 FPS is unfortunate, but it is completely playable without that.
As far content goes this game is more than a little bit disappointing. Basically what you do is you play through the game a ton of times and slowly collect different weapons and cosmetic stuff to play through the game with. The weapon changes are kinda interesting, but with the same enemy layouts they don’t change the game as much as you would imagine. There are also some extra joke modes where there are even more cosmetic changes and you get a themed weapon, but you probably won’t spend much time there. The game does have a lot of paths to go through each time you play once you unlock them, though. Basically if you are hoping to do anything besides play slightly remixed versions of the original arcade version that isn’t what you will get.
Overall
The game is definitely worth buying for the price it is going for at the time of this review (which isn’t much different than the price it was at launch). Unless you demand a good price to content ratio or you hate light gun games you should play it if you can. Wii collectors should definitely check this one out if they are looking for good games that necessitate you having a Wii, since it’s hard to see this game releasing on anything else anytime soon.
Overall the game is a 8.0 out of 10.
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