In Konami's Target: Terror for Wii, you're given the task of shooting poorly dressed "terrorists" who have taken siege of numerous locations, such as an airport with an alarming amount of explosive barrels and the Golden Gate Bridge, littered with traffic and, what do you know, more explosive barrels. Just from that description alone, you can probably tell how truly awful it is. However, it's so terrible that it's worth a rent, just to experience all the intentional (and unintentional) chuckles it provides.

Terrorists! And not actors trying to look like terrorists!

First off, there are the choppy stage introductions. A surprisingly calm news reporter takes you "to the scene" of a terrorist attack, ending each introduction with "right now". Then the stage loads and here come the terrorists, waving their guns about and failing to look menacing. The video compression for the game is simply dreadful, resulting in constant slowdown and frame skips. The backdrops don't look that bad, but Leviathan Games failed to do anything to spruce them up. Perhaps that was the studio's idea – it knew how bad a game this was and didn't want to do any injustice to it with added effort.

The music's just as terrible. All the way throughout the game's ten levels, you're treated to average sound effects and a repetitive, blaring rock soundtrack that sounds like it was taken from a bad B-level action flick.

Worst of all is the controls. The on-screen cursor moves just fine, and you're given the ability to adjust the sensitivity in case you need to move things along a little faster. However, the reaction time of your shots is somewhat off by a second or two, resulting in you hitting bad guys later than intended. As a result, they get off a lot of "lucky shots", chipping away at your energy. You have forty credits to play through the game with, but still, it gets atrocious on higher difficulty levels.

Has anyone ever considered that these guys are just trying to get tee times?

Despite the game having a conversion on the same level as a first-generation PlayStation effort, Target: Terror is still surprisingly fun. There's something joyous about playing through the game and shooting these horribly dressed actors in the face, only to watch their brief reactions. It's especially great when a guy tries to cut into you with a chainsaw, only to be stopped dead in his tracks by your shotgun or freeze ray. Yes, you're given a freeze ray during points of the game. That's just one of the levels of incomprehensible awesomeness that the game achieves. Do yourself a favor and turn the gore all the way up. Watching this fake blood spurt around is a guilty pleasure you shouldn't deny yourself.

You'll find an odd assortment of games available here, with twelve in all. Our personal favorites involve the Duck Hunt clone with the exploding turkeys, the "save the innocent" stage where you have to shoot at the same badly-rendered snake every time he gets up, and the driving range stage, where you plow golf balls into terrorists as they tool around on golf carts. It's ridiculous, but in a "who the hell cares" sort of way.

Still, Konami missed a great opportunity here. It overpriced Target: Terror by a long shot, pricing it at $40 instead of the $10-$20 range that would've made it a hit. With that said, the game will eventually hit that price.

Target Terror deserves a rental. It's a game that shouldn't be taken seriously in any way shape or form. It's poorly made but wildly fun, on the same level as a B-movie that you'd take guilty pleasure in. It's just a shame that Konami didn't get the joke and priced it accordingly.

Related Links

Target: Terror Game Guide

Konami

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