Ghost Squad heading to Wii

SEGA has revealed that its AM2 division is hard at work porting 2004 arcade lightgun title Ghost Squad to Wii. It's due for release around here in early 2008, the publisher said overnight.

Using the Wiimote as a lightgun, players get to join up with the four-man Ghost Squad (it stands for Global Humanitarian-Operation and Special Tactics Squad, believe it or not), but if you're conjuring images of blasting Casper then save them for another time, because the Ghost Squad's business is tackling international terrorism.

This they do across three mission locations, each comprising multiple levels with branching paths, making use of up to 25 unlockable weapons including machineguns, SMGs, sniper rifles, shotguns and crossbows. The original arcade machine had an SMG-style lightgun; using the Wiimote in lieu of that you'll also be able to defuse bombs and rescue hostages, with stealth apparently encouraged.

Naturally there will be multiplayer (for up to four people) in addition to Training, Arcade and Special modes, and while online play seems to be absent, players can expect online leaderboards for keeping up with their ghostly competition. SEGA's Gary Knight reckons that the Wii port does a good job of mirroring the arcade game's "instantly exciting gameplay" and "well thought out pace", and adds that the Wiimote works "perfectly as a lightgun", so let's hope he's right.