Call of Duty: Ghosts- Review
Like a good sequel should,
Call of Duty: Ghosts
doesn’t ignore the formula of fast, fluid gameplay that has made the
series famous, but introduces a unique new premise, unprecedented player
personalization, and sweeping changes that breathe new life into the
multiplayer experience. It’s over-the-top and at times unnecessarily
complex, but serves both current and next-generation consoles with
ambitious new ideas and tremendous replay value.
Despite sharing a name with one of Modern Warfare’s
best-known characters, Ghosts takes place in an entirely new Call of
Duty universe set in the not-too-distant future. In a genre overwrought
with antiquated Russian conflicts and ambiguous Middle Eastern terrorist
threats, Ghosts takes on a refreshingly unique premise in which the
threat comes not from the east, but the south: a federation of oil-rich
South American nations rises to take over the hemisphere, pushing north
and coming to blows with the U.S.
The prelude establishes a harrowing vision of a United States homeland that's broken but not beaten – not quite Red Dawn, but not Fallout 3, either. It’s a space not often explored by modern shooters, and
its mood is heightened by missions set in a besieged Santa Monica and
the wasted remains of San Diego, to the tune of an excellent, somber
score from David Buckley (The Town, Metal Gear Solid 4). But ultimately,
time on the poignant homefront is short lived as the story goes behind
enemy lines in Caracas, the Andes mountains, and other exotic locales.
Those might lack to familiarity, but the variety of
environments keeps the campaign fresh, not only in terms of visuals, but
in gameplay as well. Instead of just fighting waves of enemies through a
linear stage at ground level, you’ll find yourself rappelling down
skyscrapers, flying helicopters, having firefights in space, commanding
tanks, scuba diving through shipwrecks, playing as a dog, and evading
shark attacks. Each requires new strategy, acute situational awareness,
and – in the case of the space and water missions – special
consideration for verticality and physics.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Call of Duty game without elaborate
setpieces, fierce shootouts, and tense stealth missions, and Ghosts
delivers some of the most memorable experiences in the series. I felt
genuine dread as the ground and buildings collapsed around me during
orbital weapons strikes, the zero-gravity spectacle of the Federation’s
space station ambush is awe-inspiring, and bursting through a highrise
window as the entire building crumbles during the Federation Day mission
is exhilarating.
But like previous CoDs, the story of Ghosts struggles to
remain in focus amidst the fray of explosive cinematic moments and
relentless firefights. Narrated loading sequences with stylized story
animations push the campaign forward, but only last for one or two
minutes before launching back into the action. It’s there, on the front
lines, that much of the plot progression is presented and oftentimes
lost.
It's by no means an achievement in dramatic storytelling —
it's more about dumb fun — and it lacks the player-choice element
introduced with Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but when given time to
breathe Ghosts actually offers some interesting human drama. The story
centers around two brothers, Logan and Hesh, their father Elias, and
yes, their dog Reilly as they fight the Federation as part of the
battered remnants of the U.S. military, and later as the elite Ghosts
squad. The family ties, specifically the relationship between Logan and
Hesh, made me care about the protagonists in a series that's habitually
made its characters a dispensable commodity. The voice acting is decent
overall, though there are periodic moments of cringe-worthy dialog, like
one superfluous moment when Elias reveals he’s a member of the Ghosts.
And then there’s Riley. Though the subject of many a meme at this point,
Riley not only acts as a useful tool for recon and silently dispatching
enemies, but is integral to several dramatic sequences, saving your
character on more than one occasion.
The story stumbles in the second act when it strays away
from the more evocative character focus in favor of a long stretch of
back-to-back missions driven almost exclusively by guns-blazing combat.
While not poorly done, this visually arresting, action-packed, but
ultimately hollow middle stands in stark contrast to the effective first
and final acts. On the bright side, that padded out my play time to
roughly 10 hours, making this campaign one of the longest CoD
single-player experiences.
Or, in the case of those for whom multiplayer is the
primary focus, it handily gets out of the way other than to serve as the
inspiration for map environments, equipment, and weapon design.
Ghosts preserves much of the look and feel of the
traditional Call of Duty multiplayer experience, but introduces sweeping
changes that make it more personalized, more diverse, and better
balanced. At its core lies the expansive new Create a Soldier system,
which affords us the ability to create and customize 10 unique
characters, each with up to six loadouts, for a total of 60 available
classes and 20,000 possible configurations. Create a Soldier also riffs
on Black Ops II’s Pick 10 system, allowing you to forego certain
equipment in order to outfit a primary weapon with extra attachments or
enable extra perks. In all, there are an impressive 39 weapons, 12
pieces of equipment, 35 new perks, 36 scorestreaks spanning three
categories, and various weapons attachments to choose from.
Create a Solider is ambitious in its scope, and the sheer
breadth of options caters to and empowers every style of play. Whether
you want to run around like a high-powered knife-wielding mutant or move
stealthily through a map by using heightened senses, you can. But for
all of its versatility, Create a Soldier is dauntingly complex next to
previous Call of Duty games. Even after hours of matches and
experimentation, I felt as though I had only begun to understand the
nuances of each of the 35 unique perks and how to optimize my classes
for a specific style of play. On the one hand, Create a Soldier’s depth
will have enthusiast players honing their perfect loadouts for months,
but on the other, it makes for a more challenging entry-level
experience.
Or, in the case of those for whom multiplayer is the
primary focus, it handily gets out of the way other than to serve as the
inspiration for map environments, equipment, and weapon design.
Ghosts preserves much of the look and feel of the
traditional Call of Duty multiplayer experience, but introduces sweeping
changes that make it more personalized, more diverse, and better
balanced. At its core lies the expansive new Create a Soldier system,
which affords us the ability to create and customize 10 unique
characters, each with up to six loadouts, for a total of 60 available
classes and 20,000 possible configurations. Create a Soldier also riffs
on Black Ops II’s Pick 10 system, allowing you to forego certain
equipment in order to outfit a primary weapon with extra attachments or
enable extra perks. In all, there are an impressive 39 weapons, 12
pieces of equipment, 35 new perks, 36 scorestreaks spanning three
categories, and various weapons attachments to choose from.
Create a Solider is ambitious in its scope, and the sheer
breadth of options caters to and empowers every style of play. Whether
you want to run around like a high-powered knife-wielding mutant or move
stealthily through a map by using heightened senses, you can. But for
all of its versatility, Create a Soldier is dauntingly complex next to
previous Call of Duty games. Even after hours of matches and
experimentation, I felt as though I had only begun to understand the
nuances of each of the 35 unique perks and how to optimize my classes
for a specific style of play. On the one hand, Create a Soldier’s depth
will have enthusiast players honing their perfect loadouts for months,
but on the other, it makes for a more challenging entry-level
experience.
When
comparing the PS4 and Xbox One versions side-by-side, there’s little to
no variation in textures and effects, but there is a discernible
difference in resolution. While both are displayed at 1080p, the Xbox
One version upscales the game from 720p resolution. In contrast, the PS4
version runs natively at 1080p, which makes character models, weapons,
and environments look noticeably sharper and more detailed. The
difference is especially apparent on larger-sized TVs, where pixel
density weighs more heavily in picture quality.
It’s certainly going to be a sticking point for those who
demand the highest fidelity experience, but the difference is harder to
identify in absence of a side-by-side comparison.
Oddly, the Xbox One version makes no use of the haptic
feedback motors built into the controller’s triggers, and the DualShock
4’s trackpad is used solely as a button to toggle the in-game scoreboard
during multiplayer.
There is, however, one notable exclusion from current-gen.
Historically, Call of Duty has limited a majority of its modes to 12
players, but offered an additional playlist that supports 18-player
matches known as Ground War. While the larger-scale matches live on with
the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, owners of the Xbox 360, Wii U, and PS3
versions are capped at 12 players. It’s a surprising step back for the
series, and the larger maps could have benefited from the higher player
count.
It should also be noted that my smooth multiplayer
experience was hosted on a dedicated server hosted by Activision – and
most of yours will be, too. Activision says that all platforms will use a
hybrid of dedicated servers and peer-to-peer matchmaking, which should
eliminate many of the lag issues we've seen in the past. If all goes
well, the days of being tossed into a game hosted by someone 2,000 miles
away on a dial-up connection will be behind us.
Call of Duty: Ghosts isn't a reinvention of the
franchise, but proves there's still room for innovation within its
existing formula. Though at the risk of overcomplicating things at
times, its robust multiplayer gameplay, surprisingly fun co-op modes,
and lengthy, challenging, and varied campaign makes Ghosts one of the
best Call of Duty games to date.
