Casual games are clearly making their way into the video-game market more and more every day. This couldn’t be truer on the Wii which has been labelled by many as the party console of this generation, but what about casual games for the hardcore audience? Although it sounds stupid arcade shooters have been a source of casual entertainment for the hardcore gamers of past and present. Games like Time Crisis, Virtua Cop and now recently Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles all have done well in sales and sit high on some gamer’s lists.

Sega have decided they want to continue the trend with the a port of their arcade shooter Ghost Squad which until now never saw a console release. Much like arcade shooters before it, Ghost Squad is completely on rails, you simply point at the screen with a Wiimote and shoot, it’s that simple, making for some easy pick up and play action.

As this is a port of an arcade game it doesn’t exactly boast a fantastic story, characters or for that matter good voice acting but it’s still very funny when playing. You are part of an elite anti-terrorist unit known as the Ghost Squad, you and your partner go around doing good deeds to stop bad people who don’t wear shirts and have large beards from killing the president and several other people. Sounds like a terrible movie plot I know, but it’s just so comical that it barely even matters to the game.

What really matters is gameplay, here Ghost Squad performs superbly. The game features a few modes, first off is arcade where you (and a second player if you want) play through the 3 levels on offer. After each stage you are given an overall score and rank which can be uploaded to a leader board via Nintendo Wifi, it seems like a bit of a pointless feature but some people may like it.

As you progress your character will level up and gain new weapons and outfits. The outfits don’t really do a lot apart from make you laugh (huge panda suit anyone?) but the guns are great to add a bit more gameplay in as some can shoot through walls, others can fire a burst shot etc.

In additon to the guns and outfits you gain, you also unlock additional difficulty settings for each level. Those who truly want a challenge can up these levels of difficulty unlocking additional paths to take in each level, change enemy positions as well as having tougher bosses. A nice addition is being able to take all of these unlockables to the 4 player party mode.

Once in party mode each player can pick outfits and weaponry they wish to use, and then the leader (the first player) picks the stage and difficulty level. This is a real nice addition as I don’t recall another on rails shooter with a 4 player option. In party mode there are also 2 additional modes which can be unlocked as you play the game. The first is called Paradise Mode.

Paradise Modedoesnt really add anything special to the game, but it will make you and your friends laugh. The mode changes the skin models for most characters in the game to girls in bikinis, bosses with love hearts and water guns. It’s nice to know Sega have a great sense of humour and this follows on in Ninja Mode which changes the characters to look like ninjas, samurai and other Japanese inspired costumes. Characters also throw shuriken (or ninja stars) instead of shoot guns. I really like the multiplayer modes and had good fun playing them with friends.

The game also supports the Wii-Zapper unfortunately the game doesn’t work brilliants with it and is easier to play with just the Wiimote alone. It’s a bit of a shame but i’m sure most gamers would feel the same.

Closing Comments
While Ghost Squad is a good port of a fairly good arcade shooter, it won’t please everyone out there. I think a 4 player online mode would have been a great feature to put in the game. For £20 this game is good pick up and play multiplayer game which is easily accessible with enough content to keep the hardcore fans going. This gamer enjoyed the hell out of it and will be looking forward to House of the Dead Returns, who’s with me?

Score 8.2

+ Cheap price
+ Additional content
+ 4 Player modes

- Keeps the same graphics, voice acting, levels as original
- Wii-Zapper, need I say more?
- No GOOD use of Wifi