Sega Nerds

ATEI Show 2007 - Part 9 - Ghost Squad: Evolution

Posted by Graham. Filed under Arcade, G, Video. Tagged with Exhibition/ Show, Fan Stuff.

Foreword: Sorry for the distinct lack of ATEI updates of late. It’s been a while since the show, but I have a few more games to write up about. Problems with work, breaking my hand and general lazyness have gotten in the way. But I shall endeavour to continue.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Ghost Squad is a lightgun gun game that was released sometime back in either 2004 or 2005- depending on country and which version you played- soon after the 2004 release, they released an updated version of the game in 2005 - and (the ‘franchise’) soon became the ‘Top Earning Gun Game’ of 2005.

In the game you played a member of the Ghost Squad (hence the name), a tactical armed unit - think Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon and it’s a similar affair. In the game you take on terrorism, rescue hostages and try to save the President (of America- who else?). Ghost Squad was a great experience in the arcade, as an avid player myself I can telll you, the game had some great graphics, the gameplay was solid and a lot of fun.

The game had little events that took place in a break from the normal shooting- an example being that someone would jump out at you and grab your weapon and then try to stab you- you are then given only a few seconds to disarm him- by moving your gun reticule over his knife and hold down an action button (on your lightgun).

It’s a bit like the events in the recent Call of Duty 3, when you have hand-to-hand combat with a nazi- but a lot better and more intense. It was tougher than it sounds, as you often only have a few seconds in which to complete the task and sometimes you had to hit several points in the few seconds you had. The game was great because of the level designs and environments too. So it was no suuprise that Sega wanted to continue with this fine game and make a sequel…

However, a sequel this is not. Ghost Squad Evolution is an updated version ofthe original Ghost Squad game. How it is updated? To be honest I have no idea. I think you now have a selection of weapons to choose from and different players to select- which you can see briefly in the short video (see below) and are mentioned in the official Sega press release:

Press release scans from Arcade Belgium (But I also have the originals)

I only played on the game for maybe 10 minutes, the queue was quite large when I got my chance to play (obviously word had spread I was there!)- plus the area was pretty tight, what with a row of Virtua Tennis cabinets behind us- so I decided not to play for too long (I could have happily sat there and played all day though!). But in the 10 minutes I had of play, I couldn’t see any difference between ‘Evolution’ and the original cabinet, at least not in graphics or gameplay. The level I played on was situated in a Jungle environment and is definitely on the original game- after playing through the level several times previously, I knew straight away that this wasn’t a sequel.

So really I don’t have much to tell you about this game. Disappointing I know. But I can tell you that the game is still great fun - even after 2-3 years of it being on the market. The graphics still look great, plenty of detail and very smooth. The gameplay is still thoroughly enjoyable- especially with two players. And the challenge-enjoyment ratio is still good- all too often you have great games that are either too hard or too easy, which can ruin any enjoyment, and I’m glad Sega didn’t decide to tweak this with their ‘update’.

It would have been nice to know exactly what they have updated for sure though. For some games they had booth babes designated to them (Outrun2, Love and Berry, Manic Panic Ghosts and Too Spicy) But for the rest gamers had to figure out what they were to do- which wasn’t too bad, considering all other games were more obvious, but it would have been good to ask someone what had been updated in the game- I did ask one of the ‘babes’, but they told me that really they had been informed on only a couple of games each, the games they were showing off, so they couldn’t really give me any information on the games. Indeed one of the babes was asked to look after Manic Panic Ghosts for a few minutes while the usual girl over seeing the game went for a ‘comfort break’- and she didn’t know how to play the game! I had to show her! (yes your friendly neighbourhood ~G~ to the rescue, once again). I even browsed the Internet before typing this up to look for any extra details on the game, but I couldn’t find anything on the game- only details for the original Ghost Squad. Even the offical site has no mention of this updated version.

Image of the large Ghost Squad gun. Detailing certain features.

In fact Sega did not seem so keen to show off the game as they did with most of their other products. I previously reported how AfterBurner Climax had several cabinets all spread out and Love and Berry had a large section to itself with huge adverts, but Ghost Squad: Evolution had two cabinets which they had bunched up next to House of the Dead 4 and were cramped by the row of Virtua Tennis 3 cabinets behind them, clearly Sega were trying to promote their proper sequels and newer franchises.

So I feel like I have failed you a little here, for which I can only apologise and ask if anyone does happen to know exactly what has changed in ‘Evolution’ please do contact me or post up a comment, because I’d really like to know myself!

Apologies for the shortness and crap quality- my poor camera skills are living up to their reputation.

Summary:

Though I could not see anything knew about this version of the game, I still enjoy it. The franchise is easily one of the arcade worlds better lightgun games, perhaps even up there with House of the Dead, Virtua Cop and Time Crisis. Though it doesn’t have the originality of Virtua Cop, the cover/ reload system of Time Crisis or the sheer joy of blowing off zombie limbs and heads that you find with House of the Dead, the game game still can hold up on its own with the great gameplay, graphics and the great feel of a tactical squad game.

Display Impression: 5. Game Originality: 6. Graphics: 8. Sounds: 8. Playability: 9. Funfactor: 8. Overall Experience: 7 (let down due to not knowing what has ‘evolved’ exactly).

End note: Some of the photos taken were actually from another site- my photos were just so bad, I can’t show them.

~G~