Don't blink...
Each mission in Ghost Squad does have an overall purpose, such as rescuing the President, and concludes with an end-of-level objective, which is an enjoyable diversion, and requires both a steady hand and quick reactions as you use the likes of a sniper rifle to take down a number of terrorists against the clock or blow up a helicopter with a rocket launcher.The missions are a good blast while they last, but disappointingly it took me just 30 minutes to discover everything I needed to know about the game. I’ve spent longer periods sitting on the loo than I have completing the three single player missions in Ghost Squad.
If you exhaust the full extent of the mission mode, or if you decide to explore all 48 difficulty levels to really test your reflexes and aiming to the max, then Ghost Squad does have considerable replay value, but it still shows everything that it has to offer within the first half an hour of gameplay.
As for using the Wii-Zapper, I can’t really comment as I’ve only played Ghost Squad with the Wii-mote. You simply have to move the cursor around the screen and point it at the heads of the terrorists, so it’s hardly the most complicated of controls to map to the controller, but it works well and moving the Wii-mote off screen to reload is an intuitive reaction that's akin to playing an Arcade shooter.
Perfectionists will no doubt take pride in unlocking everything that the game has to offer, or through achieving the highest possible scores by repeating the missions, and for them it will be worth paying £25 for this budget priced title. Others, like me, may simply feel that Ghost Squad just doesn’t offer enough variety or depth in the levels and as a result will head down to the game shop to get a refund before the trade in price drops.
Don’t get me wrong, Ghost Squad does achieve what it set out to achieve and is a believable and enjoyable port of an existing arcade game; it just does so without the frills and fancy graphics of other shooters and lacks variety and depth in its missions.
Ghost Squad is a decent blast while it lasts and gamers looking to compete in the online ranking leader-board, or those who don’t mind repeating those levels over and over again in search of true perfection will certainly get their money’s worth. Personally, I’d had my fill of Ghost Squad after the first 30 minutes and would like to have seen many more levels and perhaps a few more game modes.
Pros
Does what it says on the tin
Missions are a good blast
Multiple paths may keep you coming back for more
4 player party mode
Cons
It’s over before it’s started
Lack of variety/ repetitive
Cut-scenes add nothing to the game
A decent blast with friends for a weekend or any perfectionists keen to prove their light-gun skills to the world.
HEXUS Awards
Ghost Squad– Wii
