Every year we have had a Call of Duty game and every year a vast majority of us go out and buy this game. This year, Infinity Ward with the help of Raven and Neversoft, have created the next entry in the Call of Duty franchise. With this in mind, are we done with Call of Duty after this or has Infinity Ward hit the jackpot again? Before you read any further, spoilers may be present in this review…if you don’t want to be spoiled…don’t continue!
In this era of video gaming where multiplayer dominates the landscape, no one seems to care about the Single Player story enough to play through that first. I on the other hand still care enough to see if the story of a shooter is still pretty good. Call of Duty: Ghosts actually does a pretty decent job with storytelling in this game. From the action sequences down to controlling a dog to attack your enemies. My only gripes with this story is that there are some lines during it that sound a bit…I don’t know…cliched. Like when your father finally accepts you and your brother into the Ghosts. Your A.I. teammates can also be a pain in the rear at times during the campaign, sometimes not doing anything to help you progress through a level. I usually like a good callback as well to other games in the franchise, but this has a few blatant copy and paste moments. Of course the widely publicized one being the animation from the end of the Modern Warfare 2 story being used at the beginning of the story for Ghosts. Lastly, the story is kinda short. I don’t know how much story you can tell in a shooter, but I would like to see someone try to extend the story more than 6-10 hours of play just for me or someone to go online and get blasted, but overall the story is pretty decent.
Speaking of multiplayer, this has always been a staple in the Call of Duty franchise and along with the Halo games it has revolutionized the online gaming scene. I am proud to say that multiplayer in this game will not disappoint you. From what I have played so far, it has a great balance of large and small maps and tons of game modes for you to try out. For instance, a new mode called Squads where you and your friends or A.I. teammates take on another squad of players or player with A.I. teammates. You will play different modes against these guys and even your squad can be challenged while your offline. This mode is great for those who don’t want to get too competitive and want a mode where you can still rank up without having to face too many higher level opponents. Also, your A.I. teammates will play like the actual players that play Call of Duty, so be prepared to get jump shotted and everything else. Outside of that mode, there is an option to create a solider. In multiplayer modes of past, you have been given the option to create a class but never customize your own solider(s) and this is a welcomed addition to the franchise. It’s a great option that allows you to customize almost everything on your solider. You can even make Female soldiers now! My only gripe with the multiplayer is how close you spawn to the enemy in some game modes. For instance in Free For All, I have ended up a few clicks away from the last person that killed me or the next person that kills me.
The last mention I have to give is to Extinction Mode. I think we all have had the pleasure of fighting aliens in other games, but who would have thought it would be a great idea to use on a Call of Duty game! This mode is really fun and it supports 4 player co-op online as well as 2 player co-op locally.
While I have been one of the harshest critics in my circle when it has come to the last few Call of Duty games, this is the first Call Of Duty game since Call of Duty 4 that I have enjoyed playing. It features pretty good multiplayer that gives you control over your soldiers looks and arsenal. A decent single player story and you get to fight aliens. What more could you ask for, oh yeah, to fix things in the game mentioned above. If you love Call of Duty and aren’t burnt out on it yet, pick this game up. If you want to wait, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting the next-gen version which comes out November 15th for you PlayStation 4 guys and girls and November 22nd for you Xbox One guys and girls, as the current gen graphics only look okay at best compared to the next-gen version of this game.
*Call of Duty: Ghosts was sent to us by Activision to try on XBOX 360*
