There are many areas that set Ghost Squad apart from its peers. Firstly, much like the arcade version it is based on, gun calibration is essential. After performing this simple task, looking down the barrel of whatever pistol grip you are using ensures shots are bang on target. When compared to some other Wii shooters, it’s almost a religious experience.
Then there’s the plot, which draws on and pumps up Time Crisis clichés, providing over-funded terrorists, plots to kill the President and being able to survive helicopter gunship rocket attacks by dusting oneself off. Oh, hang on; this doesn’t set it apart at all, ensuring the genre does not progress beyond the start of the millennium, but it’s what we love and staying firmly in the non-realistic camp allows more scope for silliness and fun.
You'll be leaping around corners in hotels, in the dark using super-cool heat-sensing goggles, making it difficult to pick out baddies from hostages. You'll be shooting objects next to people like you are in the A-Team: useful power-ups such as more bullets between reloads are hidden in various items. Creeping through the jungle, you'll be disarming mines using the government-sanctioned technique of button-mashing (don't try this the next time you are surrounded by claymores, kids!) Hand-to-hand combat crops up occasionally, needing rapid reaction times, as well as correct targeting to block knives and fists – a feature that works surprisingly naturally. Heart pounding sections with long-range sniping or laser-dot single-shot (single-try) under strict time limits boost the variety and look great. Be it clearing room to room on Air Force One or ragging a rigid inflatable sensless down a river while shooting down helicopters and jet-bikes, the visuals are always clean, vivid and colourful, very much in an old-school 'arcade' style by design – because it works.
Some recent gun-shooter outings like Umbrella Chronicles and Overkill have split the genre with their relatively lengthy playtime and slow, tense sections. Whilst you might play these through a few times, you’ll be playing Ghost Squad more times than you can keep track of. Its brief 3 levels have a few branching path choices, some of which are unlockable with progression via repeat play and the highly memorable scenes ensure you can gain the 'knowledge' quickly, leaving time to enjoy the nuances of what’s on offer.
Head shots and quick kills are the scoring priorities, and the aiming system makes these a joy to, well, aim for. Higher scores bring more experience points, which contribute to levelling progression. Levelling up gives new branching paths, some different outfits (that don’t affect gameplay), and a larger arsenal of guns that do affect proceedings. New weapons are not necessarily an improvement on the old, working better at different ranges and having different reload speeds vs. shot power. However, what they do achieve with great aplomb is making the game play through differently with each choice – and in this genre, this is not easy. The other effect that levelling has is to increase the difficulty level so that as you learn the levels it still remains challenging, enforcing more accuracy to survive intact. Superb.
Online score tracking allows you to compare your best efforts with that of the top 1000 and 2-player party modes fill out the offering, with some nice unlockable features. Ninja mode turns guns into throwing stars and the cheese continues with bikini mode, which turns guns into super-soakers, replete with gravity-obeying squirts of water taking out the bikini-clad girls – a nice change from the macho terrorists. Far from being purely gimmicks, these modes add an extra challenge and are essential parts of the package.
Just in case you were finding it all too easy, there is also the score-enhancing option to turn the targeting reticule off. In many other games of this ilk, taking this decision would be suicidal, but the aiming is so good, it’s worth a try to see if you have what it takes.
We played using the Nyko Perfect Shot pistol grip and can highly recommend this (or the Datel equivalent). The main point of this review is to ensure that any Wii owner with even a passing interest in gun shooters tries Ghost Squad. It has nigh-on perfect aiming, hilarious and fun levels, longevity through skill progression and variety not normally seen in an arcade game. It’s a brilliant example of how to provide what gamers want.
Score: 9/10