Ghost Squad Review
One of the last vacations my family took as a whole was to Destin Beach in Florida. The weather turned on the car trip down, and most of the long weekend was spent indoors, alternately watching television and complaining. The one bright spot was the resort's arcade, which, to my delight, had a Ghost Squad cabinet that someone had broken. The game still worked gloriously, but due to some jimmying, it no longer required the 75 cents to play. As the rain pounded down outside, my brother and I spent two straight afternoons honing out machine gun skills and defending the world from terrorists.
So, needless to say, I was thrilled when Sega announced a home version for the Nintendo Wii. Even better, it would be compatible with the new Wii Zapper. After months of anticipation and endlessly recycled fond memories, Ghost Squad is finally here. As it turns out, it is just as fun as I remember, but retrieving those memories takes more time than beating the whole home version of Ghost Squad beginning to end.
The game is an arcade perfect port, right down to the smallest detail. It is still a Time Crisis rip-off with you blasting through three environments to save the world from generic terrorist group #377. All that is just fine, except all three levels can be finished in under 20 minutes. Ghost Squad is great fun, but an episode of Family Matters is about 10 whole minutes more entertainment. Not too hot for thirty bucks.
Sega attempted to make the package a little more lengthy, but there isn't much. Each of the three levels has branching paths, and will require more than three or so playthroughs to complete them all. On top of this, beating the game in different ways will unlock a few new features, the most entertaining of which is Paradise Mode. This transforms all the game's characters into bikini-clad beach bunnies. It's funny for a minute or two, but still… thirty bucks is a lot for three levels and a few giggles.
I'll be hanging onto Ghost Squad for nostalgia reasons alone. I'm sure it will be great fun when my brother and I get together soon, but other than that, it really is too short to recommend to all but the most hardcore of light gun fans and suckers for arcade ports. As fun as the old 'shoot the terrorists' premise is, Ghost Squad just doesn't have enough going for it to make it worth a purchase.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
65%. 
