A fun game that is too short for it's own good
The Good: Addictive gameplay – Really fun – Multiple paths to choose from – Lots of unlockables – You can upload your scores and watch leaderboards via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
The Bad: Too Short
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Ghost Squad is one of those games you don't expect to be good. I mean let's face it: What's so good about a three year old port of an arcade game, specially considering how bad these wiimakes released last year have been. But Ghost Squad manages to do what most Wii ports don't and that's being actually fun.
In the game you'll play as a member of a U.N. squadron called GHOST (Global Humanitarian Operation and Special Tactics) who's after a terrorist group called The Indigo Wolves. These terrorist plan to kidnap the president of the . The story is cliqué, but it brings you several fun moments with funny characters and it's just fun because it doesn't take itself too seriously.
Ghost Squad is an On Rails shooter, and a very good one. You aim with the wiimote as you move and shoot the bad guys with the B button, that's the way the game goes. It's a very traditional arcade shooter, but it also brings some new tweaks to the formula like: Hand to hand and knife combat, done by moving the targeting reticle to the place where you want to punch and press the assigned button. And also you'll be defusing bombs and land mines. It may not be innovative but the gameplay is just plain fun, and you'll keep coming back for better scores.
The game only consist of three missions, yes three. They took me about 45 minutes to beat. The first mission takes place in a hotel, where you'll have to rescue the president. Second mission takes place in the Air Force One, where you'll also have to rescue the president. And the last one takes place in the Indigo Wolves' jungle base. Luckily each mission has different paths to choose from, each has it's different set of objectives and will give you certain amount of points for completing them. This increases the replay value of the game to a certain point, after a while it can get repetitive. There's also a mode to play without the targeting reticle to get more points, it sounds hard, but it really isn't.
Ghost Squad also has tons of unlockables, like different weapons and costumes, they dont have any effect is the story but it's just fun to see your character dressed like a panda bear.
The main arcade mode is up to 2 players, but the real multiplayer fun comes after unlocking the party mode, which includes two sub modes up to 4 players. The first one is “Ninja Mode”, where you'll have a set of ninja stars and your enemies have been replaced with ninjas. The other mode, which is the funniest one by far is called “Paradise mode” where the terrorist are replaced with bikini girls shooting with water guns (yes they are as dangerous as they sound), this mode is really worth unlocking because it is really fun in multiplayer. You can also upload your scores via Nintendo Wi-Fi connection and you can see the local, regional and worldwide leaderboards.
Graphically it looks just like the 2004 arcade game with flat character models and blocky things everywhere, there wasn’t a graphical improvement when porting it to the Wii, this however is part of the arcade charm the game has so it doesn't take any points from it. The game sounds just as it looks, which means the arcade beats are really good and the voice acting sounds like it comes from the Cartoon Network show Johnny Bravo.
It can also be played with the Wii Zapper, but it doesn't really add anything to the experience and can be played just fine without it.
In the end Ghost Squad is a really fun and addictive game, but it's just too short for it's own good. It's fun enough for a rental, but i wouldn't recommend buying it as the experience wears off really quickly.
