Since we are currently in that time of year where the gaming industry slows things down for releases I thought it was time to play some of the titles that didn’t receive GOTY nominations. Seeing as how my son has been dominating the Wii since he got Super Mario Galaxy for the holidays I decided it was high time I assert my parental law and lay claim for a weekend free from chubby plumbers and stardust.

Now you may be wondering what I could possibly play on the Wii that doesn’t involve minigames, or the latest rising star on the Disney channel. Well my friends, inspired by the recent Rambo movie that hit the theaters last week, I felt the urge to shoot, stab and otherwise cause harm to some bad guys that were just asking for it. First up was Samurai Warriors Katana by Koei. Don’t let the sword slashing title fool you, this is basically an on rails shooter without guns… Let me explain. You perform your basic slash attack by pointing the reticle at your target and squeezing the trigger, additional attacks can be added by swinging up, down, left and right but these are not real time actions and only used as a boost to your combo. Add in some archery missions, and this is basically Nobunaga’s Time Crises in feudal Japan. Now I know this might not be selling you on the idea of even giving this game a second thought, but it actually is pretty fun, as far as rail shooters go. S’matter of fact, I would have never played any game in the Samurai Warriors series had Falthorn not clued me in to the addictive combo of mindless hack and slashing with ancient Japanese history. But fret not, the historical aspects are hardly concerned with accuracy and take many liberties to make it more fun than educational. Easy to play, decent graphics and a VS mode make this a decent rental. If you’re a fan of the franchise then this would be an worthy addition as a budget title with an entertaining twist on the standard run and slash action the series usually recycles.

Next up I time traveled to more modern day settings with Ghost Squad by Sega. You may recognize this from your local arcades sans the giant green cabinet and realistic looking sub machine gun controls. Although the game takes place in modern times the action, story and dialogue are straight out of a 1980’s action flick. Unlike Katana, this game uses guns as guns. The caveat is that this game is short, like it’s arcade big bro’ this game has three levels (although there are branching paths) and can be run through in about an hour. But unlike the arcade original this game features a leveling system for level paths, rank increases, new costumes, and alternate weapon choices. Oddly the leveling system can only be played in Arcade Mode which only allows up to two players. There is a four player option, but this is only available in Party Mode and does not allow for using your leveled up characters. It does however allow you play special variants of the game such as Paradise Mode where all the normal military terrorist are replaced by bikini clad babes and you use a water gun to rain justice upon them (get it). This game was really a lot of fun to play two player, and the incentive to unlock extras and level up is great to encourage replay. The multiple paths help mask the overall short length and still make you feel like a hero without getting frustrated. Graphics are spot on to the arcade original, which is pretty dated but still gets the job done and the controls are accurate with or without the help reticle. One other note for this game is that you basically need some sort of gun holder for your Wiimote to avoid serious wrist cramping, which sort of negates the whole budget price. Although the the WiiZapper or whatever off brand accessory you choose can be used for the rest of the shooting lineup available now or coming out soon (Resident Evil UC, House of the Dead Collection, etc).

As a fan of rail shooters these games were no brainers for me, Ghost Squad is definitely more palatable for general gamers and easy enough to be enjoyed by anyone that just wants to shoot something. So if you find yourself hankerin’ to scratch that itchy trigger finger, pass up that latest shovelware version of Big (Insert some animal here) Hunter and grab one of these action packed titles. Who knows, if we ever get one of those Red Dawn situations this sort of training might pay off.