The Top Five Wii Rail-Shooters

The rail-shooter was a very niche genre back in the day. It still is, really. They were mostly relegated to arcades and the occasional home console. With the Wii, you have a controller that emulates a light-gun without needing to buy a bunch of useless attachments-- which isn't to say people don't buy them. Now the rail-shooter is a popular game for third-parties to run to and make games based on the genre. Whether you're sick of them or not, it seems rail-shooters, light-gun shooters, guided first-person experiences or whatever you prefer to call them are here to stay at least on Wii. Here's my top five rail-shooters on the Nintendo Wii.

5) Dead Space: Extraction

A visceral game for sure, Dead Space: Extraction takes the action to a whole new level as a quote "guided first-person experience". Perhaps that's a good name for it as there's countless sections of the game where there's little to no shooting and a whole heck of a lot of waiting around for something to finally happen. Add in thirty minute missions with no chance to save your progress mid-mission, and you have a hard game to recommend. To be fair, there are some cool things like using the nunchuk on the Wii controller to hack enemy parts off, shooting off limbs, and the impressive if not bleak visuals.


4) Ghost Squad

Saddle up and get ready to ride with the Ghost Squad. If all else fails, they don't. Isn't that someone else? Anyway, Ghost Squad made be a very short game-- three missions long, but as you play through the missions you can choose from multiple paths greatly improving the replay value of this arcade shooter. Blast terrorists to Hell and back, rescue hostages, snipe enemies from afar while timed, and much more. As you earn experience from playing, you earn new costumes like a police officer or even a panda suit, and new helpful guns. Despite its dated visuals for today's standards, there's plenty to love with a budget price, online leaderboards, and co-op craziness.


3) Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles

Taking place during scenarios from the original Resident Evil, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is full of content to enjoy and zombies to blow away with a shotgun, rocket launcher, or magnum. The visuals are very impressive, there's a wide variety of enemies to tackle, learning their patterns and when to shoot at them, and plenty of unlockables to keep players coming back for more. The only real problem I have with them game is pulling off headshots. You don't blast at their heads, you actually shoot the edge of their skulls.


2) Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

While Umbrella Chronicles took care of the original RE, RE3, and RE0, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles takes place within the scenarios from Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and an all-new scenario in South America starring Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser. There's so much more to do in Darkside than Umbrella Chronicles, the game's paced much better, it's not as difficult-- though some parts are pretty tough, weapons can be upgraded, and the unlockables are greater including new costumes. The archives give you a much deeper history and understanding of Resident Evil monsters and characters.


1) The House of the Dead: Overkill

Are you ready for some bad mother-- you know the rest. Agent Washington and Agent G partner up to tackle a crazy nonsense story, a cavalcade of zombies, and a smoking hot tattooed vixen. While there's only six missions to play through, there's enough incentive to play through them multiple times, unlocking new guns to upgrade, money to earn, and character models to ogle. The soundtrack is crazy-good, the visuals are quite great, and the rail-shooting action is some of the best you will ever find on Wii. The House of the Dead: Overkill is the Wii's best rail-shooter.

There you are with my top five Wii rail-shooters. Did I leave out a game you're partial to? Let me know in our comments section.