Call of Duty Ghosts Review

There are those who wear masks...

Well after placing fourth in a Black Ops II tournament and waiting in line for a midnight release, I finally bagged my copy of the latest Call of Duty game. The excitement leading up to it was great but is it really the game we were expecting?

I'm going to start saying this, Ghosts is not my favorite CoD game. I don't hate it but I don't think it's that great either. After playing Black Ops II for the past year and now with the sudden transition to Ghosts, just left a void in part of me, like something was left out. Just to put it this way, Ghosts felt more like a step backwards than going above and beyond Black Ops II, it's like Modern Warfare 3 with a fresh coat of paint over it and it just does not feel right.

The setting for Ghosts is a first in Call of Duty history, being post apocalyptic. The year is 2023(Just 2 years before the events of Black Ops II but with no relation)and 10 years ago, a new superpower, the South American Federation hacked into the U.S. ODIN Space Station, a kinetic strike weapon that drops rods of Tungsten which become superheated in the atmosphere causing devastating damage to ground targets. The station is fired on the U.S. practically destroying the entire country.

Ok so the setting is new and fresh just like in Black Ops II and it still has the CoD mentality of just total chaos at every highest degree like space warfare, fending off sharks underwater, and controlling your K9 companion in slaughtering guards by the dozen but the Campaign system lacks greatly compared to Black Ops II, lacking custom loadouts and challenges that were present in that storyline.

Multiplayer is where I feel Ghosts has it most ups and downs at, once again falling backwards from Black Ops II. The Unlock Point system returns and you can basically unlock all the best weapons before you hit level 20 which basically defeats the whole purpose of levels and prestiges. Weapon customization has also taken a step back and you are only limited to a camo on your primary again. Perks are revamped and each takes up a certain amount of space out of your eight slots(So you can potentially have eight perks. Wow.) Character customization is Ghosts strong point and you can edit your soldier in a variety of ways no other CoD has looked into yet.

Map design is also dynamic like in Black Ops but with less user interactivity. Most of the maps are pretty large and there really isn't any "Nuketowns" so the close quarter combat is pretty limited.

One of the most interesting additions is Extinction, a horde like mode where you fight off a bunch of Zerg like aliens and it gets progressively harder. Extinction is fun but I feel like it has more potential to become better than Zombies if Infinity Ward put more time into it like Treyarch did. I still love this concept though.

Probably the most notable difference is the graphics. On 360 the graphics are pretty crisp and with no doubt, Ghosts is a good looking game and it probably looks better on next gen systems. But I find this slightly annoying since the sound effects feel like they are straight out of CoD 4 and it sounds pretty rough around the edges compared to Black Ops II with Dolby Digital.

So on a final note, Ghosts would have been an outstanding game if it was released as is before Black Ops II or more time was put into it. It's still a fun game and it's either a love or hate experience but like I said before it just left a void in me, like it wants to be something but is restrained by how rushed out CoD games are. If there was more time put into Ghosts, it has definite potential to be far better than Black Ops II but right now it just feels like Modern Warfare 3 all over again. I hope this game ages like wine.

You'll Love

• Typical CoD mentality.
• The major graphics revamp.
• Riley

You'll Hate

• Feels like a step backwards from Black Ops II.
• Squads feels like a tutorial mission as opposed to a successor to Spec Ops.
• Extinction has much wasted potential.

Is it better than?

Black Ops II- No, I don't know how much I can stress this but Ghosts feels like it wants to be better than Black Ops II and it could have been too. Nearly every aspect that defined Black Ops II was either dumbed down or completely gotten rid of in Ghosts. Black Ops II is still hands down my personal favorite game in the franchise and Ghosts isn't far behind, it's just stuck there.

Battlefield 4- Depends, I don't even want to start this fight off on the wrong direction. Battlefield and CoD are both very different shooters. I always seem to hear that Battlefield is the most realistic shooter around and CoD is the latter but I think CoD is hardly about realism, I mean come on? Space warfare with TAR-21s? Battlefield can only dream of that, but both are very fun games and it's really up to you.

Call of Duty 4- Yes, color me surprised but I don't think CoD 4 is even close to being the best of franchise. CoD 4 is a great game no doubt, but just because it's the precursor of every CoD game that followed it hardly makes it the best. I would have to say Ghosts builds on every aspect of CoD 4 greatly and doe's it better, both graphically and gameplaywise. Still, you have to give the old dog credit for redefining shooters forever.