Ghost Squad

By Tom Bramwell Published 11 September, 2007

Casper tango bravo alpha.

Light gun shooters haven't always been popular at home, and not just because pointing the gun off-screen to reload sometimes incurs collateral damage ("why is my plant pot in the fire"). Instead it's the old dichotomy of arcade and home - what's brilliantly brief in amongst the slots is bewilderingly insubstantial when your receipt says 39.99.

Making your arcade game work in the home is difficult to do, as SEGA will grimly attest - but SEGA's also one of the best examples of a publisher figuring it out, having delivered OutRun 2006 to universal acclaim. That game offered isolated, untouched arcade versions alongside modified and expanded adaptations that built on what we liked about the coin-op originals without betraying their memory.

Doing the same for a light gun game might seem harder, but Ghost Squad's set-up suggests it could succeed - and the game's Wiimote controls are a surprisingly splendid substitute for the massive assault rifle weaponry hooked up to the game down the pier.

In it, you take control of a member of the Global Humanitarian-Operation and Special Tactics Squad (a backronym that's only outdone by our own sadly non-fictional Serious Organised Crime Agency), and it's up to you and up to three comrades to take down some of those pesky terrorists you hear about on the news. These ones are a bit more successful than ours though, and have managed to do things like smuggle about 48 of themselves onto Air Force One.

'Ghost Squad' Screenshot 1

Why thank you!

So, you get in there in the manner of that anti-terrorist film with the tube between the two planes and it blows up and one of them falls out but we can't remember what it's called, and then you point the Wiimote at the screen and hit the B button until they're all dead. Executive Decision. That was it. You can also use the Wii Zapper with the Wiimote, although, as we'll discover when I write the next paragraph, the lack of it is no inconvenience.

That's because, perhaps thanks to countless hours of trying to navigate YouTube using Opera for Wii, we're quite good at quickly pointing at things accurately while holding the Wiimote like a TV remote. In Ghost Squad, that's a skill that makes all the difference, because the game recognises quick kills and headshots and rewards them heartily. As they scramble on-screen they're dead in an instant as our quick-draw gunplay downs them with alarming efficiency. We didn't know we had it in us, but it bodes well for the game.

Ghost Squad also introduces a certain amount of variety into the traditional on-rails amble, and that's where it starts to paddle into the choppy wake left by successful arcade ports like OutRun. As well as having 25 unlockable weapons, online gameplay and a four-player mode, you can also opt for different objectives within a level (save all the hostages or kill all the terrorists, for example). In the Japanese arcade original, a sort of save-game ID card system let you experience the game differently with alternate enemy positions and pathways, and that should endure here too, all of which feeds into the potential for replay.

'Ghost Squad' Screenshot 2

Graphically it is what you might call 'functional'.

Gunplay isn't all you do either, with a bit of bomb-defusal at one point, while another of the missions we've played culminates in a boss fight with a helicopter where the idea is to hover your aiming reticule over the chopper long enough to get a lock-on before firing, proving once and for all that those impressive buzz-bar skills we built up at school fetes were in fact excellent training for surface-to-air super-murder.

All of which adds up to an experience that will probably prove insubstantial in the manner to which we've become accustomed, but which ought also to generate a bit of repeat play, and less of a sense of repetition - helped along, as in other genre classics, by delightfully daft dialogue of the trembling finger held aloft while growling "Yooooou!!!" variety. Plus: acting. In the final moments of our hands-on demo, when we took down the chopper, we high-fived with our squad-mate and then stood looking into his eyes intensely while the camera panned out and the level ended.

And in the game. Which is due out this winter exclusively on Wii.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Twincoil #1 4 years ago

    "Graphically it is what you might call 'functional'"

    Ahh, 'functioncal' being the new 'shit'

  • ProtoformX #2 4 years ago

    Well, yes and no. Compared to the PS3 and 360 the Wii's graphics are obviously worse but people who buy Wii's don't care about graphics too much I'd say - otherwise they wouldn't buy one.

  • secombe #3 4 years ago

    Looking good, another game to add to the 'around Christmas' purchase list probably.

    Makes me want to rig the DC up and have a blast on Confidential Mission.

  • Kryon #4 4 years ago

    Visually it actually looks like one of the Wiis better titles in these new <a href=http://c64s.com/ga mes/gif/1613.gif>screens</a> I've found ;)

  • TripSkyway #5 4 years ago

    Sounds pretty good.

  • figaro7 #6 4 years ago

    Sounds great, adding upgrades, online multi and different paths will give this game massive legs and could be a bit hit for parties! Cant wait!

  • ZeroAX #7 4 years ago

    meh doesn't sound like something great. and the fact that it comes after galaxy/prime/paper mario and before brawl want help it's sales

  • spliffhead #8 4 years ago

    No ghosts in it wtf!

  • RedPanda #9 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Verwandlung #10 4 years ago

    I'd rather call it ugly.

  • Saladin #11 4 years ago

    How could you forget Executive Decision?! One of those rare gems of a film where Steven Seagal actually dies!

  • Killerbee #12 4 years ago

    I'm definitely looking forward to getting myself a light gun shooter on the Wii - at the moment Umbrella Chronicles is looking like the best bet, but this is definitely now on my radar.

    I'd love to hear more about whether the Wii Zapper really helps make these games more fun to play or whether it's just a gimmick...

  • Rirekon #13 4 years ago

    Buys.

  • thefilthandthefury #14 4 years ago

    Looks ace! The Wii really needs more of these arcade games. It could be like the Dreamcast 2!

  • andromeda #15 4 years ago

    i want me some teeth like that

  • w00t #16 4 years ago

    Sounds fun - especially the multiplayer.

    Oh, and funny review :)

  • Cloudane #17 4 years ago

    thefilthandthefury, NEVER put the Dreamcast and Wii in the same sentence.

    I'm looking forward to it as I bought, played and loved every Namco developed light-gun game on the PS2 and that lovely G-Con gun makes the Wii Zapper looks rubbish.

    The graphics could be better, mind...

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #18 4 years ago

    So is it as good as Space Giraffe?

  • Nithron #19 4 years ago

    Played this in the arcades - it's actually surprisingly good, for a lightgun shooter. I gotta wonder, though, is there actually a *law* somewhere preventing companies from hiring decent voice actors/writers for light gun games?

  • JackyB #20 4 years ago

    Cloudane... why so precious about the Dreamcast? Sure it has some great games. But so did the gamecube, probably more. People are not precious about that.
    Edited by 1 at 11/09/07 @ 11:25

  • JackyB #21 4 years ago

    And dont get me started on the N64

  • Cloudane #22 4 years ago

    Jacky, I just don't think Dreamcast and Wii go in the same group because the Wii has nothing on the Dreamcast.

    Well, not yet anyway and calling it the Dreamcast 2 is a bit insulting.

    But I agree with your GameCube comments; it really is a lovely console with some great games.

  • AliRay #23 4 years ago

    This will be BAD. I'm a huge fan of the Wii, played most of it's shooters and I reckon this is gonna get slated in the reviews :(

  • ruckus #24 4 years ago

    The GameCube is by far my fave console - anyway this would have been far better if you were fighting ghosts or maybe if you were ghosts fighting... squids: Ghost Squids \o/

  • thejeek #25 4 years ago

    Charlie romeo alpha papa?

  • BobsUncle #26 4 years ago

    Tom Clancy has copyright on the word "Ghost". Oh shit, now I owe him 30 bucks.

  • JackyB #27 4 years ago

    "I just don't think Dreamcast and Wii go in the same group because the Wii has nothing on the Dreamcast. "

    Metroid and Mario will definately repair that some what. And the rest of the release schedule also looks promising, with the likes of nights, umbrella chronicles, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics etc. Give it time

  • The-Bodybuilder #28 4 years ago

    >"Looks ace! The Wii really needs more of these arcade games. It could be like the Dreamcast 2! "

    Such herecy should not be allowed.

    OFF WITH HIS HEAD.

  • The-Bodybuilder #29 4 years ago

    >"But so did the gamecube, probably more."

    herecy. left and right, it's all herecy.

  • JackyB #30 4 years ago

    @bodybulider. Herecy. what games did the Dreamcast have to match Metroid Prime or Resi 4? what games did the Dreamcast have to match Mario 64,Goldeneye or Ocarina? both the Gamecube and N64 suffered, as did the Dreamcast, but they had better games. So why should i shed a tear for it?

  • stoopidgreg #31 4 years ago

    "the game's Wiimote controls are a surprisingly splendid substitute for the massive assault rifle weaponry hooked up to the game down the pier."

    what, are you too weak to hold a plastic gun? ;)

  • Shyvah #32 4 years ago

    @JackyB

    If you need to ask...

  • peeetah #33 4 years ago

    Was good in the arcade and could work on wii if they add to the length.

  • cyber_nicco #34 4 years ago

    "That's because, perhaps thanks to countless hours of trying to navigate YouTube using Opera for Wii, we're quite good at quickly pointing at things accurately while holding the Wiimote like a TV remote. In Ghost Squad, that's a skill that makes all the difference, because the game recognises quick kills and headshots and rewards them heartily. As they scramble on-screen they're dead in an instant as our quick-draw gunplay downs them with alarming efficiency. We didn't know we had it in us, but it bodes well for the game."

    ROFL

    Is it possible, like virtually all games that use an imprecise input method, that they just give you a much larger margin of error? Come on, you can't seriously just assume you are so awesome and that means that the game is great, can you? Just like Wii sports, and a plethora of upcoming titles, these games are made easier for the masses to enjoy by just requiring one to wave and point that Wiimote thingie in a general direction and style meant to accomplish something. I can see it now... Oh, this baseball game is so awesome because I swing the bat and hit home runs!!! When in fact, if you were to watch the video of your grandma playing (and having a blast) you would realize she is just twitching and shoving the remote around as if she were having a seizure.

    Pshaw.

  • pyrat6 #35 4 years ago

    @cyber-blokey This point would be valid if it weren't for the fact that I consistently beat my friend at baseball, while he consistently beats me at tennis. I would expect the games to average out if the controls 'cheated' allowing for sloppy play.

    I think it may be generous to beginners - but it's scarily precise once you get to the Pro levels.

  • JackyB #36 4 years ago



    If you need to ask...

    If you can't answer.........
    Edited by 1 at 12/09/07 @ 10:08

  • Shyvah #37 4 years ago

    @JackyB

    Oh ok then...

    MSR, Jet Set Radio, F355 Challenge, Soul Caliber, Samba De Amigo, Ikaruga, Rez, Crazy Taxi, Bangai-o, Shenmue, Space Channel 5...

  • JackyB #38 4 years ago

    Shyvah
    Oh ok then...

    MSR, Jet Set Radio, F355 Challenge, Soul Caliber, Samba De Amigo, Ikaruga, Rez, Crazy Taxi, Bangai-o, Shenmue, Space Channel 5...

    Thanks for the list. Great games. But you'll have to convince me that any of those are in the top ten of all time, unlike the 5 games i mentioned, which pretty much cannot be disputed.

  • Shyvah #39 4 years ago

    Well they may not be in your top 5, but some of them are in mine. Don't get me wrong, I loved Goldeneye and Ocarina, but the Dreamcast had excellent titles too.

  • JackyB #40 4 years ago

    Well they may not be in your top 5, but some of them are in mine. Don't get me wrong, I loved Goldeneye and Ocarina, but the Dreamcast had excellent titles too.

    fairplay.

  • ph101 #41 4 years ago

    @cyber_nicco - unfortunatly you fail to to see the difference between the motion sensing acceleromter on the wii and the pointing technology which is clearly very accurate for anyone who has tried it who isn't completely clueless, and fails to grasp that the pointing mechanism works relative to the sensor bar. You can get twitch style accuracy shots with the wiimote pointer in games like zelda bow/arrow or in resi 4.

  • captain-future #42 4 years ago

    Banana sword fighting? Count me in!

    When is it released in PAL-regions?