Ghost Squad

It's been practically 2 years to the day since I picked up my Nintendo Wii, and I have to admit that the novelty wore out very quickly. At only 3 months old my Wii was condemned to the retro shelf, doomed to collect dust, hoping that one day games would come along that would peak my interest once again, to put the Wii back in the limelight next to my PS3 and 360. Sure enough interesting games came, and just like the tide, they went again. But one game in particular has hung around, continuing to receive hours of love and appreciation from me. That game is Ghost Squad.

Ghost Squad first stormed into our arcades in 2004. I have to admit that it peaked my interest back then, but seeing kids dying incredibly quickly and the high cost of a play, in England, our arcade machines typically cost £1 a play, that's roughly $1.50, just for a single life on games such as Ghost Squad and Time Crises. I just couldn't justify it. Turns out, that if I had, I would have lost a lot of money, because Ghost Squad is addictive.

Ghost Squad is your typical, run of the mill on-the-rails arcade shooter, of similar vein to the Time Crises and House of the Dead series. For those who have never played an on-the-rails shooter (does such a person actually exist?), the premise is incredibly simple. Movement is automated, you'll be put into a scene with a lot of bad guys, you have to aim, and shoot at the baddies that you want to make dead. If you don't make them dead, the baddies will try and make you dead. You can't reach an amicable agreement, you can't settle down for scones and tea, it's shoot or be shot. Simple.

The Wii version of Ghost Squad is a faithful port to the arcade title, which you can play on your own or co-operative with a buddy, with a few extra modes tacked onto the side, a dash of on-line functionality here, a teaspoon of 4 player local co-operative fun there. It all comes together in a very neat package. A package you can pick up for well under £20 I believe. Bargain.

The story for Ghost Squad is a deep and extremely complex one, you're a member of an elite team called... The Ghost Squad. You're tasked with shooting bad guys and rescuing hostages. You'll travel from a variety of locations such as a Villa, a Plane and the Jungle to shoot these bad guys, and rescue hostages. At the end of each of these three levels you will be tasked with shooting a bigger, badder guy. The main story spans an epic length of roughly 30 minutes. I have to admit, it's a roller-coaster of a ride and I came out the other side a better man for it.

In all seriousness, you won't get an elaborate story in Ghost Squad, and quite rightly so, as it just wouldn't fit. All you have to know is that in the Villa level you have to shoot terrorists that kidnapped the 'President' and other 'leaders, there's a renowned head-terrorist called Alex Havok, whom you have to kill at the end of the level by blowing his helicopter to bits.

The second level is based on Air Force one, more hostages to rescue, more baddies to shoot. At the end you have a single chance with a sniper shot at a terrorist by the name of Zimone, he's got the 'President' held in one arm, and a live grenade in the other. Kill him, and the President gives you a kickin' rad high five. Reason enough for saving his life in my opinion.

The third level sees you go to the jungle, to shoot more bad guys, and only one hostage this time, some guy called Doctor McCoy. He's a little whiny bitch. Save Doctor McCoy, shoot some weirdo in armour and you've completed the game.

This is a rare instance where less is more when it comes to the main story, without bogging you down with background info, tiny details that you don't really care about, it just lets you get on with the objectives.



I can't stress it enough, re-playability is the name of the game here. You'll start each stage at level one. Successfully complete that stage, and you'll unlock level 2, this will carry on up to level 20. This isn't your character's level, this is strictly the level of difficulty on each stage. So for instance, you can unlock level 20 on the Villa stage, but really struggle on the Jungle stage and still be down at level 10.

When you start down at level one, enemies will be obliterated under a hail of your bullets, the stage will roll forward without you being prompted, it'll be straight forward and very easy. The higher the level, the harder the baddies become. They won't necessarily need more shots to take down, it's just that they're quicker and more accurate. The positive side of a higher difficulty however, is that you'll unlock alternative routes, expanding each stage immensely. You'll clear a particular batch of baddies, and reach a crossroads. 'Do you want to go rescue hostages, provide fire support for blue team, or go wreck the baddies up down in the basement?'. Awesome.

You'll probably find that you absolutely own the Villa, even at the higher levels, but the Jungle will make you it's bitch. I'm level 15 on Villa at the moment, but really struggling on Jungle, down at level 8 I believe. This isn't really a negative in my mind, purely a challenge, and a nice way to mix it up.

As their names suggest, the bad guys are really bad, and the only thing they deserve is Gun-ishment. Luckily for us, the Ghost Squad is on hand to dish it out. In doing so, each bad guy that's brought to justice on the bullet train will earn you points. At the end of the main story, it'll compile all your points, and if you've been a good boy, hand out character levels. The higher level you are, the higher your rank. The higher the rank, the wider your arsenal and outfit selection. You'll start off with your normal boring swat clothes, but don't worry, you'll be unlocking macho man and cowboy outfits in no time. The weapons are varied, but to be quite honest the default semi-automatic does a good enough job that I don't really see the point in using anything else.


The Wii controls are really good, they're practically on the cusp on being stonking great. The aim is responsive, I've never had a dispute with Ghost Squad where I'm aiming in one spot, and it says I'm aiming at the ceiling. B is shoot, which makes perfect sense, and A is everything else, like beating guys to a pulp, defusing bombs and handcuffing the hostages. Kinky. My only complaint is that you don't get to high five the President in a quick-time response game, “Press A now!!”. Maybe I'm easily impressed, but when you shoot badguys, they're responses are context sensitive. For instance, shoot a guy in the arm, and he'll clutch his injured arm, and go down crying like a wimp. Shoot a guy in the face, and well, he'll just go down hard. It would have been very easy for the studio to take the easy route out and just have stock death animations, but they're attention to detail paid off, good job.

For a 2004 arcade title, the graphics fit right in on the Wii, Ghost Squad isn't going to win any awards for best graphics that's for sure, but everything is clear, you can easily make out who you can and can't shoot. The character models are well re-used and re-abused, the environments are remarkably unmemorable, but just like the main story, I don't think the stories really needed to be built upon any further, as it would most likely serve as a distraction.

On the other hand, you'll definitely remember the sounds of Ghost Squad. Not necessarily from the flat gun sounds, or the amusing character death noises, but mainly from the main commentator, and the opening title screen. GHOSSST SQWA-D! It's hard to work out if this much cheese is tongue in cheek or if it was the result of some poor delusional designer. Regardless, it's awesome and hilarious.

As for the extra content, you have a Party mode, where you can play bump your standard 2 player co-operative mode up to a 4 player co operative mode. It's incredibly messy, you'll absolutely obliterate the enemies. It's a really good laugh. You can mix things up further by changing the skins in either Ninja, or Paradise mode. Ninja mode sees you throw shurikans instead of shooting your guns, and everything is dressed as a ninja. Paradise mode is really bizarre, all the baddys are swapped out for bikini clad women terrorists, and you're armed with dolphin shaped water pistols. I don't know, or want to know what are in these water pistols, but the bikini clad girls don't seem to like it.

Apart from changing the skins, and adding an extra 2 players into the mix, the only other noteworthy features are the training area, which is completely unnecessary and rather pointless. You also get the ability to upload your high score onto the Nintendo leader boards. I'm by no means a bad player, but I'm absolutely no where near the top rankings, so it gives you a rough idea of how much some people play Ghost Squad.


There isn't really much more to add, Ghost Squad is an incredibly fun game to play, just don't expect any form of story or any new cutting edge gameplay mechanics / graphics. Ghost Squad is shallow on the surface, but adds some real depth in the form of levelling up the stages and your character. Unlocking new routes will take some time and effort, and they're honestly worth it.

At the end of the game, what you'll get from Ghost Squad is a game where you can chill out on the sofa after a rubbish day, switch off your brain, chill out and laugh like a mad goon as you take terrorists out and hi-five the President.

The good:
- Excellent on the rails shooter
- Mindless fun
- Replayability is through the roof

The bad:
- Boss for 3rd stage is a tad bit too difficult
- Doctor McCoy.
- No sign of a sequel.

Fun factor - 10
Visuals - 8
Audio - 8
Multiplayer - 7
Value - 9

Overall – 8 / 10