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The release of Call of Duty 4 really got things going for the franchise. For a while there, it was just one hit after another. And I don’t just mean in terms of financial success. I legitimately think each game is fun. They may not all be innovative but they deliver the goods. I think Treyarch has developed the more interesting campaigns in the series and Infinity Ward has developed the most exciting. They’re responsible for the Modern Warfare saga which I think are the some of the best games in the series so I was curious how they would follow that up. They’re next game would be Call of Duty: Ghosts. Developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision, Call of Duty: Ghosts was released for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One in November, 2013. For this review, I played the PC version. I’ve been very curious about Ghosts because it didn’t receive the same praise as Infinity Ward’s previous titles.
Set in the future after a global economic crisis, the nations of South America formed the Federation of Americas and grew into a superpower. After the Federation hijack an orbital superweapon and use it to destroy several cities in the southwestern United States, a war ensues and the player is put in the shoes of Logan Walker who, along with his brother, is recruited into an elite unit called the Ghosts which conduct operations behind enemy lines.
As the Ghosts complete missions around the world in an effort to help win the war, they also have to contend with a former Ghost who now works for the Federation and is hunting them down. This plot element is supposed to be the more dramatic and emotional side of the story but I found it to be very predictable. I think most of the characters are uninteresting and the main antagonist is boring.
When it comes to the gameplay, it’s the same shit with a new coat of paint but, unfortunately, I was underwhelmed during much of the campaign which surprised me because in my opinion, Infinity Ward has created some of the most enjoyable campaigns in the series so far. I’m a big fan of the Modern Warfare 2 and 3 campaigns because of their consistent intensity and excitement. The action in Ghosts isn’t as consistent and there’s a little too much downtime as far as I’m concerned. But there are some pretty cool set pieces.
I understand the Ghosts are supposed to be an elite unit that specialize in clandestine operations but that doesn’t mean it translates to an exciting Call of Duty experience. At least not the way stealth is typically presented in this series. Much like the previous games, Ghosts is a linear experience and keeps you contained and most of the stealth is scripted. Follow the NPC and do as you’re told. This is how most of the stealth sequences are presented in Ghosts, too, minus one mission which breaks this tradition. You get to sneak around a jungle on your own or you can be loud about it. The only reason this sequence stands out is because you don’t have an NPC leading you in typical Call of Duty fashion.
I didn’t mind the scripted stealth in the previous games because they usually didn’t last long and they made for short breathers from the typical fast-paced action. But let’s face it, the real heart of the Call of Duty campaigns is the fun and exciting run and gun action. Running around battlefields, moving from cover to cover and picking off baddies is fun and being surrounded by gunfire, explosions, shouting, and general chaos along with the cool set pieces is what makes it all exciting.
The campaign will take you to a good variety of environments and there are some cool firefights peppered throughout like when you have to defend a beach and shoot your way around a stadium and the Federation Capital. The gameplay really shines when you’re free to run around the more open-ended areas trying different positions and looking for ways to flank enemies. However, I do think some of the cooler firefights come to an end way too quickly. In my opinion, the pacing really starts to pick up towards the end of the campaign like when you have to shoot your way through a destroyed Vegas, defend the U.S.S. Liberator, and engage enemies on a moving train. It’s just one action-packed sequence after another.
Ghosts retains the series tradition of cool set pieces. Some of the more interesting ones include the missions where you get to float around in space and one that puts you in the Atlantic Ocean where you follow an NPC around and engage enemies underwater. Another mission has the Ghosts rappelling down the side of a building and eliminating enemies from windows before infiltrating to complete their objective. At one point, you’ll ride in a vehicle moving on ice and use its turret to fend off attackers and one of the best missions in the game lets you fly an Apache helicopter and destroy enemy defenses and aircraft around an industrial complex in the Gulf of Mexico before engaging foes on-foot. There’s also some cool sequences in the beginning of the game that have you syncing up with your guard dog, letting you control it.
It’s no secret that many Call of Duty games are not innovative especially when it comes to the campaigns and Ghosts is no exception. Treyarch likes to experiment more with their titles and Ghosts comes directly after Black Ops II, a game that really deviates from the established formula. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why Ghosts feels like it falls short. Most of the time it just feels familiar. Infinity Ward likes to play it safe and that’s exactly what they did with Ghosts but the difference between this and their previous campaigns is that this is more forgettable. Most of the set pieces are cool but the pacing isn’t as consistent as their previous efforts and almost everything here has been done before and lot of it has been done better in my opinion. The franchise has told better stories, presented better firefights, and put the player in more exciting situations.
When it comes to the multiplayer component, I actually haven’t heard many good things. However, Ghosts contains quite a bit of new stuff but I can’t really dig too deep into it because I couldn’t find any matches with other players. Ghosts does introduce a new cooperative mode called Extinction which pits players against aliens. It can be played solo but much like the Zombies mode in previous games, I have a feeling it’s a lot more enjoyable with others so I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t find anybody to play with.
Extinction comes with two game modes, the standard mode and Chaos. In the standard mode, you must complete objectives and fend off waves of increasingly difficult aliens known as Cryptids. You earn points for kills which equate to currency that can be spent on things like weapons and abilities. You can also earn Skill Points to spend on upgrades during a match. If you own the DLC, there are a decent amount of maps to choose from. You can activate traps and find resources and the Cryptids come in different types and sizes. A lot of them are quick, they run and jump around, and some utilized ranged attacks. There are different classes to unlock and choose from and the player can earn experience, level up and earn Teeth which can be spent to purchase upgrades in the Loadout menu. In the Chaos mode, the objective is to kill as many enemies as possible and keep your combo going for the best possible score.
Now I’ll talk about the new Squads mode. You can create up to ten soldiers and customize their appearance and loadouts. You can play as any of the soldiers in your squad, level them up, and spend Points to unlock new squad members and customization options including new weapons, attachments, perks, and cosmetics. Squads also comes with it’s own unique game modes like Squad vs Squad and the cooperative Squad Assault mode. The only modes I was able to try was Wargame and Safeguard. Wargame pits your squad against bots and Safeguard is similar to the Survival Mode from Modern Warfare 3. I actually like the Squads concept quite a bit. The amount of customization on offer is great and it’s nice to be able to play against bots.
The presentation is one of Ghosts’ more positive aspects. It’s easily the best looking Call of Duty game up to this point. Everything from the visual effects to the backdrops looks great. From the destroyed Los Angeles landscape to the gorgeous detailed underwater environment, overall, the visual presentation is diverse and looks amazing. The soundtrack features a lot of orchestral-sounding tunes but I can’t say one song really sticks out. On the technical side, the frame rate was smooth and the only issue I encountered was audio frequently dropping out during cut scenes. I resolved this by setting the game to run in a borderless window instead of fullscreen.
I knew Ghosts received mixed reception before I started playing but I went into it optimistically. Ultimately, it’s lacking the same kind of intensity and excitement that the previous Infinity Ward campaigns are known for. That’s my biggest problem with it. It’s more of the same but toned down. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some cool stuff here but a lot of it is underwhelming. Ghosts is not the first game in the series to feel familiar but in my opinion, it doesn’t do enough to distract you from that fact. It’s a very been there and done that kind of experience. As for the multiplayer, I think the new Squads mode is cool and the new Extinction mode is fun. I’m all for aliens and actually wouldn’t mind the franchise moving more towards science fiction.
I would only recommend Call of Duty: Ghosts if you can get it on sale. As far as the single player experience goes, there’s nothing really wrong with it. There is some cool stuff but I think it lacks some of the elements that made the previous games so much fun. It’s a solid action title but a lackluster Call of Duty game.