In its original arcade version, Target Terror: Gold is a fairly decent light gun shooting game. It's not very original by any means - in fact it could easily be considered another Maximum Force, yet the digitized graphics here are even better. It's a little bit old school with its lack of a duck pedal and reloading done by shooting offscreen. Developer Raw Thrills upped the gore to ridiculous amounts while throwing in a lot of secrets. Repeated hits on terrorists leave a lot of blood on the walls and floors, and several headshots can decapitate them. Enemies can also be gibbed. Damaging windows, drums, and other objects can give you special weapons and unlock the occasional bonus minigame. TTG's standout feature is Justice mode, where you're using both guns as one player- saving you from burning up the credits at twice the usual rate.
How does the Wii version stand up against the arcade one? At first glance, it does a fair job visually- with maybe a slight loss in sharpness. The arcade version does run on PC hardware with maybe 256MB or more RAM, so I guess something had to give. The gore from the arcade game is in, but can be turned down or off if you don't like it. The stage layouts are identical right down to the way you find secret minigames (many of which parody certain retro games), enemy placement, and hidden item locations. Audio is a mixed bag with OK BGM, good gunfire sounds, and a few screams (if you mistakenly cap an innocent bystander or set some enemies ablaze with an RPG or exploding drum, these can sound truly painful). Sound good? Well, the Wii Target Terror does come up lacking in the most important area: play control.
If you expect line-of-sight aiming ala Ghost Squad, you're in for a terrible disappointment. Aiming is done by a reticle on the screen, and this cannot be turned off. You can't calibrate from the options menu or even ingame. The reticle just can't keep up with your aim. Frame drops and stuttering are a bitch. Flicking the Wiimote upwards actually works better than shooting offscreen here.
I actually managed to get a "Whipping Boy" medal at the end of a stage thanks to the handicap of horrid control. I never saw this one on the arcade version. In fact, I burned up the whole 30 credit limit easily on the first time around - pretty bad, considering I use no more than about 12 credits to get to the last stage on the arcade one.
The aiming problems make for a total miss. You're better off sticking to dropping quarters into the arcade version. Leviathan Games is at fault here for crippling Raw Thrills' original design. While it's not quite Ghost Squad or Time Crisis, the arcade game is fun. The Wii TT is a prime example of how butchering the control can kill a good game. Delaying the release by maybe a month or two could've been helpful here.
