Maybe the Wii Zapper isn't so poorly designed after all. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=13976 Unlike Capcom's Umbrella Chronicles, which is a brand new game built for the Wii, Ghost Squad is an already-existing arcade shooter that is being ported to and enhanced for the Wii. Because Ghost Squad is essentially a complete game, it plays like it. There's also a key difference in how the Wii Zapper works in conjunction with the game that makes it play a lot better, too.
Ghost Squad plays much more like a traditional light-gun arcade shooter. That's because it is one, of course. The name of the game is a misnomer, as you don't really shoot ghosts. Instead, you're a part of an elite combat team that goes in and does the usual hostage rescue and counter-terrorism stuff not unlike the settings seen in the Tom Clancy games. The settings aren't as serious, though, since it is a fast-paced arcade game.
Like other games of the genre, Ghost Squad is an on-rails shooter in which you need to clear a room of enemies before moving to the next. Unlike similar games, however, you are occasionally given a choice of branching paths. You may want to go down a route that asks you to disarm a bomb, or perhaps you'll go a different route and give cover fire to your squadmates that go after the explosive. During gameplay your automatically-controlled character will duck behind cover, peek around doorways and look under tables and chairs. All of these actions are scripted, but it does make it look like you're playing as an actual person because of the motions your character goes through.
Aiming at things is as simple as pointing at where you want to shoot with the remote. Instead of using the main Zapper trigger to fire weapons, however, Ghost Squad uses the Z Button on the nunchuk. This small change in button layout makes it much, much easier to grip and fire the thing, so much so that you can just as easily hold the device one-handed like an actual gun. The front grip, then, makes the Zapper feel more like a two-pronged sub-machine gun. It's about as good of a layout as the oddly-shaped Zapper will provide.
The B Trigger on the front grip acts as the action button for the game. This button's context will change depending on what you're doing, but generally, it's used to skip cut-scenes and perform non-shooting actions. When I needed to disarm a bomb, for example, the action button was used to cut the wires and disable the explosive. The order in which to cut the wires comes in over a radio transmission from your base commander a few moments before you need to do the job, so there is a little bit of recall necessary to do it correctly.
The function of the analog stick is to change weapons. You really only have two of them: a rifle and a machine gun. The rifle can be used in single-shot (for better accuracy) and three-shot burst mode. The machine gun can level an entire room, but the ammo is limited. More ammo, health. and other items can be found by shooting at random objects around the level, such as bottles, dinner plates, crates. and just about anything else that doesn't look nailed down. Hitting these objects will also increase your score, but if you're too trigger happy. you might accidentally shoot an innocent bystander, which will cost you a life. If you're hit four times you're a goner, but it's easy enough to just continue and get back into the fight.
There are some special areas where you get a different weapon to clear certain situation. Once, I used a sniper rifle to take down a dozen enemies, but I had to do so within a time limit. A small point showed me where I was aiming, and I nailed everyone with a head shot very easily. Toward the end of the demo, I had to take down a helicopter using a rocket launcher. The rockets would home in to the target, provided I kept the targeting cursor hovering over the helicopter long enough for it lock-on. It took a long time to reload such a large weapon, but with the accuracy of the pointer, I didn't miss any of my shots.
Ghost Squad was definitely a fun game to play at the show. Wii enhancements like expanded multiplayer, a training mode, and online ranking will make it even better than it was in the arcades. Of course, chances are you've never played it in the arcades, so Sega's giving Wii owners a chance to try it out now.
Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Ghost Squad (Read 5929 times)
