Call of Duty: Ghosts has been one of
the most anticipated titles of the franchise, and is predictably one of
the most pre-ordered titles of 2013. It didn't start off so positive,
though. A poor response from the gaming community at large due to a fear
of more stagnation from Call of Duty placed Ghosts in
the hot seat. However, after the worldwide multiplayer reveal, people
began to gain much more excitement for the upcoming title in hopes that
it would revamp the series in preparation of a new generation of gaming.
We've played the game on Xbox 360 and PS3, but does its next-gen
variant place it in the premier seat of the Xbox One and PS4 shooter
lineup?
For most of you who have experience with Call of Duty's past,
you may be pleasantly surprised with the various game modes available at
the main menu. You get to choose from Campaign, Multiplayer, Squads,
and Extinction. The first two modes are more traditional. With squads,
you can either play alone or with up to five friends where you can build
your own squad which will then compete against another, which can even
be composed of A.I. at a difficulty of your choosing. It's an elementary
step toward giving Call of Duty a proper competitive mode, but it needs some refinement before it really commands the attention of competitive gamers.
In regards to Extinction, it is very similar to the Zombie mode that
Treyarch is known for. It does differentiate itself through a perks
system that is instantly usable via the D-pad (supposing you can afford
them), and various defense mechanisms that are more significant than
similar systems in Zombies. It also has a different game flow since
there are no waves of enemies to account for; you're always on your
toes. This is a nice touch by Infinity Ward, and it does provide a great
challenge for you and your friends.
The campaign starts off as exciting as ever with a small
space firefight that's quickly followed with trying to stay alive as the
city of San Diego is demolished by the ODIN system, alongside countless
other major cities. From there the game cuts into a storyline and
background on the history of the world powers and what leads to the
extermination of millions of people. Sound familiar?
Quickly after you learn that you get to control your beloved dog
companion, Riley, as he sneaks around tearing into people’s
throats. However, just as quickly as the game escalated in the first few
missions, everything following becomes uninteresting. Characters are
underdeveloped, and the game is fewer than five hours in length, so
personal attachment is near impossible. It really lacks the emotion
needed to feel like a memorable experience. It is also short on key
moments, such as those in Modern Warfare, that became etched in
our minds. Made worse, if you are one of those people that loves
stealth missions, you'll be sorely disappointed by their low quantity.
If you were looking for a strong campaign that makes you go back for
more just to figure out what happened, then this may not be a great
choice, but if you just want to run and gun with minimal story
interference, then this game is a blast with all the weaponry and
ordinance you will get to play around with. The amount of toys at your
disposal is undeniably impressive.
Aside from the various game modes, and the letdown of an intrinsically
enticing campaign, there is the multiplayer, which tends to be the
biggest reason for you to purchase this game. It's very familiar, but
does weave in some nice touches. Create-a-soldier is what it was hyped
up to be and allows you to personalize how other players see you, giving
it an edge against its FPS competition. Also, the maps are now dynamic
making one match feel like two unique experiences that are part of a
greater battle. Both of these key additions are sure to become a
standard for Call of Duty going forward, and will certainly be expanded upon.
Out of several new game mode additions, Infection is the one that will
hopefully stick around for future iterations. In Infection you get
thrown on a map, and at random one person becomes the infected and
is forced to fight against a legion of shotgun and I.E.D. equipped
fighters. But once one person goes down, just like a set of dominoes,
the rest will follow. It's one of the more enjoyable "fun modes" that Call of Duty has seen during its tenure.
Cranked is also an entertaining mode, but is too chaotic for regular
play. In it, two teams compete, and when a player earns a kill they are
granted heightened stats, including movement speed. It's fun for a few
matches but you're likely to spend most of your time in the common game
modes that are timeless.
As usual, there are tons of unlocks to earn, and prestige levels to grind. If you love playing Call of Duty with your friends, your stay in Ghosts could be a while, especially with an affordable upgrade to the next-gen versions.
Xbox One and PS4
The next-gen versions of Call of Duty: Ghosts take advantage
of their newfound hardware with improved visuals. Textures and character
models are more sharp. You can really tell the difference on the
first-person gun models where fidelity has taken a very noticeable jump
over last generation's offerings. That said, Call of Duty: Ghosts
has still let us down in terms of presentation. The UI and animations
are good, but the game environments look dated. This is not the game to
buy to benchmark the Xbox One or PS4.
Between the two, you'll be hard pressed to find a difference. The Xbox
One version runs at 720p upscaled to 1080p, while the PS4 version runs
at 1080p. The pixel rendering difference is astronomical on paper, but
in practice only means a crisper image free of the fuzziness around
object edges. This difference presents itself more on larger displays or
if you sit close to your television. On the flip side, we noticed fewer
framerate dips on the Xbox One version which may hint at the PS4 being
stressed by the game's code at 1080p.
Additionally, the next-gen versions have a Ground War mode that offer
9v9 battles. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions didn't have this as they were
limited to a 12 player capacity. If you want to combat with a larger
mass of players, the jump to next-gen will definitely be worth the
game's asking price for you.
Final Verdict
Taking everything into consideration, Call of Duty: Ghosts is
the first in the series to fall short of its potential. Even though
Infinity Ward is working with an entirely new group of people after
its collapse and resulting drama in 2010, this game doesn't feel like it
was produced with a new vision. Its campaign isn't particularly
memorable, and side-by-side it's difficult to tell it apart from its
predecessors. However, the package is reinforced by a fun co-op mode and
a multiplayer component that can provide hours of entertainment with
endless unlocks and dynamic maps. As unimaginative as it is it's still
one of the most cohesive and feature-packed shooters out there; it's
just in serious need of renovation.
Xbox One and PS4 section written by Jonathan Leack, CraveOnline's
Gaming Editor. Original review written by Kyle Ames, a Contributor for
CraveOnline.
