Game Review--Call Of Duty: Ghosts (Xbox One)

"I'm not a Ghost.  I'm the man that hunts them."
--Rorke, Call of Duty: Ghosts


The strengths and weaknesses of Call of Duty: Ghosts are both pronounced and apparent.  I do not mean to call it a bad game, as it certainly has its successful qualities.  It's just that there were many missed opportunities here--including the absence of character development, the simplicity of the plot, and the generic nature of the graphics.  Some aspects are creative, and some are lacking, yet the majority of them fall somewhere in the region of mediocrity.

Production Values

Ghosts has rather bland graphics--they are not terrible, but not amazing.  They are effective enough to accentuate the gameplay without providing deep visual immersion.  The facial models on some particular characters highlight the inattention to detail.  Nothing in the game looks horrendously disfigured by the visuals, but don't expect incredible graphics.  In contrast, the audio is of a much higher quality, the voice acting being carried out splendidly.


Gameplay

--Campaign

Ghosts' campaign is a very enjoyable, if brief, experience that provides the opportunity to play in many different vehicles and visit diverse environments.  Playing as a combat dog, scuba diving, rappelling down a skyscraper, manning a helicopter turret, controlling a tank, fighting outside of a space station--the variety can help pull players into an otherwise simple plot.  The primary POV (point of view) character receives practically no character development, but the campaign's many environments pull the narrative along.  This is a campaign that will be maximally enjoyed by those who like fast-paced, varied set pieces.  The diversity of the settings is the campaign's greatest strength, as the characters themselves are flat.

--Squads/Multiplayer

A new mode called Squads allows one to play with bots or other humans in a handful of modes, such as Safeguard, where 1-4 players attempt to survive either 20 or an infinite number of waves of enemy combatants.  In Squads you can form and improve a core group of players and compete against other squads (or AI opponents) online.  As you play Squads, you can unlock points for weapon and character customization, all of which deepen the experience, and can make it easier to succeed against enemies.  Of course, the staple multiplayer returns, and ranks achieved in Squads carry over to the classic multiplayer.

--Extinction

Extinction is both similar to and quite distinct from zombie mode.  And I found it to be so damn fun!  On one hand, both involve earning spendable currency by fighting off exotic creatures, but, on the other hand, extinction's Point of Contact mode can be won; there is a finite end to it.  Alone or with three human allies, you carry around and activate a drill at alien hives, protecting it as aliens attack.  You cannot pause the game, even in solo mode, so, like with The Last of Us, there is the omnipresent possibility of danger.  A set of skill points reset each time you play Point of Contact, but completing challenges while defending the drill grants bonus points that can upgrade abilities for that session.  You can purchase permanent upgrades by spending teeth obtained from making kills or completing Point of Contact, with teeth allowing you to buy things like quicker health regeneration, an electrified knife attack, or faster revives from last stand.  As with zombie mode in Black Ops III, the leveling progression systems are separate for extinction, the campaign, and Squads/multiplayer (the traditional kind).

Story

Some spoilers are below.

The campaign focuses on a team of expert warriors called Ghosts, assigned that name due to their ferocity, which has led a surviving enemy to view the Ghosts as a supernatural force.  The story opens with a Ghost named Elias Walker speaking with his two sons Logan and Hesh, a conversation quickly interrupted by a missile strike from an orbital missile system called the ODIN.  An American space station was hijacked by a South American super-nation called the Federation (think a South American version of the European Union), and an invasion follows.

A decade later, Logan and Hesh join the Ghosts, and they find themselves becoming entangled in a plot by a former Ghost named Rorke to exterminate all members of the group.  Once someone who fought alongside Elias, Rorke was abandoned in a mission, captured by the Federation, and manipulated by the Federation into fighting on its behalf.  The remainder of the story shows how the Ghosts aid an American overthrow of the Federation invaders and seek to kill Rorke.

Intellectual Content

There is practically nothing in this game that is explicitly intellectual in nature, whereas Black Ops III's campaign at least explored a variety of significant issues.  It's still a fun game.


Conclusion

Ghosts certainly could have offered a deeper single player experience in terms of emotional connection to the characters, but it does succeed in providing a campaign that holds great variety.  Squads and extinction are great additions, but none of them had numerous hours invested into them in the way that Black Ops III did with its zombie mode and more complex campaign story.  Is it the best Call of Duty?  Far from it, but there is still uniqueness and fun to be found in Ghosts.


Content:
1. Violence: Gunshots produce mild blood effects.  Killing is an integral part of the gameplay, but gore is absent.
2. Profanity: Various soldiers use expletives throughout the campaign.