By Michael Yeatts
Intro
Grossing one billion dollars on its first day of release, Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts hit shelves with a mushroom cloud. As even the most ignorant of gamers knows, Call of Duty is a video gaming giant. This extremely successful franchise has not grown to such massive size for no reason. Gamers truly love C.O.D. Does Ghosts serve as a worthy successor to the many other C.O.D. games that preceded it, or does it fall short of the entertainment provided in games past?
Campaign
In the world of Call of Duty: Ghosts, a U.S. satellite weapons system with the capabilities to drop geographically-devastating munitions is hijacked and turned against the country that once wielded its awesome power. This event lays waste to much of the continental United States and sends the powerful nation into a state of turmoil. In this moment of weakness, a unified and hostile South American coalition known as “the Federation” begins a martial campaign against the States. The overwhelming might of the Federation casts the U.S. into a war of attrition. The U.S. needs something to turn the violent tides; this is when the Ghosts come in. The Ghosts are an ultra-elite group of special operations soldiers commissioned to go on high-risk missions that require the best of the best. In spite of their ability, the Ghosts are being systematically eradicated by a vengeful ex-Ghost.
In true Call of Duty fashion, the story is not heavily emphasized in Ghosts. The gamer plays as a newly initiated Ghost who fights alongside his brother, father and attack dog. The character development is incomplete and one truly does not connect with any of the characters. The campaign moves with dreadful monotony as nearly every mission involves going someplace, shooting a ridiculous amount of people and leaving said place.
The graphics and map designs are very good. This installment of the franchise implants the player in some pretty appropriate and atmospheric environments. In many levels, the gamer traverses through the ruins of the United States where nature has retaken a war-torn civilization. This gives the gamer a slight feel of ruggedness where Activision would make the gamer feel completely clinical in games past.
Call of Duty: Ghost’s campaign suffers from a mediocre story and redundant gameplay. Though the environments were at times immersive, there was nothing exceedingly special about any aspect of the story mode.
Multiplayer
But, who plays Call of Duty for the story anyway? The multiplayer in Ghosts is what any seasoned C.O.D. player has come to know and love, but there are a few notable additions that Activision has made to the multiplayer, such as different special abilities, more kill streaks, a few new game modes, etc. Essentially, the multiplayer is the same as it has always been in Call of Duty: create a solider load out, shoot things, stab thing and blow things up.
Is there something wrong with this? No. This gameplay is successful, tried and true. Though it isn’t innovative, it is popular and entertaining. If the player is a C.O.D. type of gamer, the multiplayer will be a perfect.
Extinction
Regarded as “Activision’s Zombies mode,” Call of Duty: Ghosts gets out of this world with Extinction mode. A malevolent alien scourge has invaded Earth. These celestial creatures propagate in large, organic lumps that are referred to as “hives.” The gamer is sent out with a task force to destroy the hives in a rural area. The challenge the gamer faces in destroying the pulsating and writhing hives is the instinct of the aliens to fight to the death in order to protect their birthing points.
The gameplay consists of the gamer moving with a squad of up to four other players to destroy hives while fending off the belligerent waves of aliens. Beyond guns, the gamer has a few other tools at his/her disposal that can benefit sustained survival. A few examples of these are turrets, drone missile strikes, incendiary ammunition, body armor and personal upgrades. Along with this, gamers can also find a ton of other valuable attachments and weapons as they plow through the alien masses. This mode also has a level system like that of the multiplayer. As the player ascends levels he/she unlocks different abilities to help crush the alien horde.
This mode is a breath of fresh air on the Activision side of Call of Duty. It’s fun and addicting to play because the gamer will find him/herself in some pretty intense situations when destroying hives while fending off reptilian, otherworldly beings.
Squads and Soldier Customization
A new and very interesting feature added to Ghosts is Squads mode. Squads allows the gamer to earn experience points by outfitting a team with an arsenal of skills and weapons to combat either A.I.’s or other player’s squads. The major benefit to this is to earn online experience in a team based game mode while making a powerful squad.
As opposed to C.O.D. games past that gave the player a soldier template, ten fully customizable avatars are given to the player. Both in the multiplayer and in Squads, the fully customizable avatars allow the gamer to breathe some personality into their soldiers. This soldier customization plays into the Squads mode because the gamer compiles a squad out of the heavily-armed avatars he/she has created.
The new A.I. mechanics that have been added to the mix are made to fight and act like enemies a gamer might encounter online. This adds challenge to the Squads game mode and gives the player the feel of playing human opponents. Squads and thorough soldier customization comes as valuable new additions because they add something a bit more personal and tactical to the C.O.D. gaming experience.
Conclusion
All in all, Call of Duty: Ghosts is a success. The game is not innovative, profound or ground breaking, but it is good Call of Duty gameplay. It’s nothing new in the scope of gaming, and, as far as gameplay goes, that’s alright because it’s fun. I give Ghosts four dark-clad apparitions out of five.
