GC '07: Ghost Squad Hands-On

We just took a look at Ghost Squad, Sega's upcoming rail shooter for the Wii, and we have a couple developments to report about this upcoming war on terror. If you've been following the game at all, you know it's a rail shooter in the classic Sega vein, but with some important differences.

It's these differences that we're going to tell you about now. The first thing that distinguished Ghost Squad from other thrilling blastfests in the Sega library was the hostage rescue system. Instead of shooting hostages, you can release them while delivering comforting verbal messages like "Get on your knees!" You might happen upon a room with up to five hostages, all waiting to be freed, as terrorists jump on the screen and prepare to fire. You free everyone you can, while saving your own neck, juggling life and liberty as you go.

But nothing makes freedom ring like a good old headshot, which we tried to put on a bad guy who was kidnapping that holy grail of evil ambition, the President. The bad guy was shooting at us and running to his jet plane, and we only had one shot. We lined it up, pulled the trigger, and "Kaplang!"--hit the jet instead. He jumped in, laughing at us, and our mission was aborted. Sorry, Mr. President.

Earlier, as we walked from one terrorist cabin to another, we spotted a bad guy hanging out on the deck, so we grabbed a sniper rifle and took him down. His buddies inside saw him take the hit, and all five came running out, practically daring us to shoot them all. We happily obliged. Freedom 6, Terror 0.

And that's just the beginning of a score we're sure will get into deep digits before Ghost Squad is done and the day has finally been saved. As we learn more about this game, we'll keep you informed, until it eventually ships in the fourth quarter of this year.