I have always loved light gun games. All the way back to playing Duck Hunt on the NES as a child, I have always felt that light gun games were special. Though these games can sometimes be lacking in creative gameplay ideas because of the nature of the a gun peripheral, I love the pick up and play aspect of a light gun game, as well as the direct physical correlation between aiming the actual gun and the actions on the screen.

I remember finding out way back when that light guns do not work on high definition televisions. I was disappointed that I would no longer be able to use the light guns I owned at the time for the NES, Xbox, and Dreamcast. Luckily, the Nintendo Wii eventually came along to rekindle my love for the light gun genre. Let's take a look at a few of my favorites.




House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return and House of the Dead: Overkill - HOTD2&3 was one of the first games I picked up after I bought my Wii. I had owned both of these games in their original home releases on the Dreamcast and Xbox. I really, really wish the original House of the Dead was included on this compilation, as I never owned the Saturn version or even the light gun for that console, but I love playing it in arcades. Although HOTD3 is the better game here, my nostalgia for HOTD2 is way stronger. The game's legendarily bad voice acting is intact on this version and must be heard to be believed. Overkill is almost an entirely different beast. Originally released as a Wii exclusive, Overkill throws out the so-bad-it's-good drama of the previous games for a more comedic approach. Overkill lives up to its name with way over the top gore, filthy language, and even filthier creatures (you're not going to believe the final boss in this one). My only complaint about Overkill is that there is a tiny frame rate stutter that happens a lot of the time while shooting. It's hard to explain, and it seems a lot of players don't even notice it, but I find it to be annoying at times.


Ghost Squad - When you get tired of gunning down zombies, why not try some terrorists? To me, Ghost Squad is basically a cheesed up version of Rainbow Six reimagined as a light gun game. Ghost Squad features some depth to the gameplay with sniper sections, quick time events, and branching paths. The voice acting and overall presentation are great, and the branching paths and level-specific difficulty levels add a ton of replay value to this game.


Gunblade NY & LA Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack - This compilation came highly recommended to me by my friend singlebanana after I told him on the Playcast about my love for unlimited ammo turret sequences in games. In these two games, the player can permanently hold the trigger down and waggle all the bad guys away. This style of game is very different from that of House of the Dead in that you won't be reloading and more importantly, hearing a disembodied voice yelling "Reload! Reload!" at you the entire game.


Dead Space: Extraction - I cannot think of a spin-off game in a different genre from the original titles that makes more sense or works as well as Dead Space: Extraction. The game is a prequel to the original Dead Space game, and like any great prequel, it lets you step into the shoes of characters you only heard about, but were very interested in, from the first game. The franchise lore is perfectly represented here, and the original game's mechanics are tailored to light gun shooting amazingly well. As with the original game, going for headshots will do you no good. Foes must be dispatched through dismemberment, and doing so with the light gun is extremely satisfying. The only minor gripe I have with the game is the flamethrower weapon you get later in the game is totally overpowered and makes the difficulty take a nosedive. This is simply corrected by using a different weapon, but the flamethrower itself is very satisfying. Without a doubt, Dead Space: Extraction is the best game overall on this list.


So what are your favorite light gun games on the Wii? I didn't discuss the Resident Evil light gun games here because quite frankly, I don't like them! A few of these games were ported to the PS3 for use with the Move controllers. Have you tried them?

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