Call of Duty: Ghosts

Two years after it came out, I decided to pick up Ghosts. Having played COD since Modern Warfare, I stopped around Black Ops – partly due to other demands on my time, but mostly because the games had moved so far from the sheer fun I had on COD4, that I really no longer enjoyed it. With MW3, I enjoyed the spectacle of the single player, and the fun of survival, but barely put 24 hours into the multiple player before getting bored – a big contrast compared to the days when COD4 was the only game I owned, and clocked a shameful 40+ days into it (over several years it must be said…but it is still shameful).

With Ghosts I was one of the rare breed buying it for the campaign. I was never one to jump into multiplayer on day one, I always enjoyed the Michael Bay style action and OTT spectacle of the campaigns. Ghosts tries to open on this, but just comes over silly and immediately making the player feel like they are on rails (which we are for the whole game – but the game doesn't need to always be reminding us of this). As a narrative the tight focus on a family in the midst of such a conflict might have worked, but really it doesn't. Instead we get a tired and surprisingly bored story rolled out over missions which rarely excite or thrill. With the other games there are several levels that I can always return to for how much fun they are to play, but with Ghosts I do not think there is one that I felt this way. Indeed at one point I Googled to see how many missions the game had, just so I knew if I could face pushing on through them – seeing I only had 2 left, I preserved.

This is not down to a fan-boy complaint (my days of buying this game on even year 1, far less day 1, are long gone) but just a simple observation: in terms of gameplay and narrative, it really feels nobody had the energy for this. Technically it looks good, but the music doesn't add as much, and the gameplay choices (and lack of choices) are poor – even for those who love the campaigns in the other games, this just comes over like going through the motions. On the other game modes, the aliens one didn't inspire me. More annoying though is survival; it was so great in MW3 but here I just couldn't get into it despite my efforts. Squads seems like a massive waste of time (if you want to play against 5 bots and a human, why not just play against 6 bots offline?).

Multiplayer I had limited exposure to, but I found it perfectly okay for a quick game here and there – but noticeably never felt the passion or addiction I once did. The maps are more and more complex and the vast majority are too big for the type of intense conflict I used to love in COD4. This in turn means that the fun and sheer sense of contest is very much gone from the game. In COD4 the killstreaks were simple and not such an obsession – okay we are far from the "nuke chasing" days of MW2, and I appreciate that the killstreaks and scoring methods is trying to force people to play the games, not play for personal kills – but it is too little too late, they shaped the community too well years before. I still pick it up occasionally because I liked the "offline" version of online with bots and the silliness of "levelling up" removed, but even still it is not really a game with heart.

When I bought this game, I did worry a little that maybe it would trigger COD addiction, and Xbox Gold, and days lost to prestiging again; no such risk with Ghost. It is a game that really lacks enthusiasm in itself, and therefore has none to share with the player. Characters are weak, narrative is hollow, and gameplay never gets the heart pumping. Multiplayer continues the overblown, kill- obsessed path, and, despite some chances to address this, ultimately it never feels like anyone is trying to win the game so much as just pad their k/d ratio, get their killstreaks, and not really care so much as grind – accordingly, the game does takes the same approach.

Here we go again with our Call of Duty makers revamping the single player, multiplayer, and our brand new mode Extinction! First all COD:Ghost should be priced as a $40 and not a full on $60 game. Ghosts isn't a game you should be getting now, wait until its price is lower.

The Multiplayer- Maps are huge barely finding anyone on the map, spawn- camping is way horrible in this COD, confusing customization, less weapons, useless character customization, new modes, and this happens to be the worst COD:MP I've ever played. Trust me you wanna blow your brains out.

The Singleplayer- A decent story that has some cool scenes but the ending left me with a bad taste.

Extinction- Now this mode is completely fun with challenges within a onslaught of aliens slashing out. What ruins it is that you only get one big map out of the whole game. Makes it a waste since you have you purchase another $50 on the season pass to get more maps.

They sure did screw up a lot things in COD:Ghost.

When it comes to the "Call of Duty" series, the first things that spring to mind are Russians with thick accents straight out of '80s action flicks, devious terrorists, and Germans who are always the bad guys. But the entry subtitled "Ghosts" took a different path. This time, the villains aren't Russians, Germans, or Middle Eastern fanatics - they're the "Federation", a coalition of South American nations that suddenly decides the U. S. is a great testing ground for military operations. The writers clearly tried to do something a bit different with this story, but as often happens with CoD, the result is grand, expensive-looking, but ultimately a bit predictable. Fans of clichés could even place bets on which character is doomed. That said, the story is easy to follow.

One thing that can't be denied - the game hits the ground running. Instead of the usual slow-burn intro missions, we're immediately dropped into high-stakes action. There are space sequences, exploding satellites, cities in ruins - all accompanied by punchy one-liners in the best action movie tradition. And that's just the prologue. Sure, the game leans hard on familiar tropes, but it hooks you fast.

At the center of the story are the Walker brothers and their father, a former member of the elite "Ghosts" unit. What follows is classic CoD storytelling: betrayals, supervillains, tough choices, and "unexpected" twists - though you'll likely see them coming if you've played any CoD before. The story revolves around the Ghosts, with the occasional attempt to confuse the player with intertwined fates. By the final missions, you may find yourself yelling sarcastically at the screen: "Oh come *on*, seriously?" - because the turns feel all too familiar.

Whatever issues the story may have, the visuals are undeniably impressive. Collapsing skyscrapers, burning cities, and space scenes - damn, it looks good. The space mission in particular stands out with its vivid presentation. Overall, the shooting effects, animations, and explosions are well done, helping you fully sink into the game's post-apocalyptic atmosphere.

One particularly interesting part is the mission involving a dog. Who would've thought a canine companion in a shooter could actually be useful? It was a bit strange at first, but okay - it's something new. And let's be honest, you end up caring way more about the dog than most of the humans.

"Call of Duty: Ghosts" is a solid game. Yes, it has its flaws: the story is predictable, the epic moments feel like they're being shoved in your face, and logic occasionally takes a backseat. But the game looks great, plays with energy, and delivers a ton of stylish action scenes - which is pretty much what CoD is all about. It's no masterpiece, but if you're in the mood to shoot some bad guys and experience a few badass moments, this one will do just fine.

7 out of 10.

Hi all its Ratcat here your nVision 3D reviewer. OK lets get started. On a high end PC with a late Video card (GTX780) with 3 GB VRAM and 6 GB system RAM this game performs quite poorly. Loading times are insufferable. The atmosphere they have produced is supposed to look real because as we all know many game developers go for overly (not entirely realistic) colourful environments but the devs in this case have done the reverse. The scenery is generally too bleak to be believable, although there is a feature under 'Advanced Graphics options' to turn off Colour-blind control which certainly gives a bit more colour to the environments. NVidia recommend that you do not play in 3D but I found it quite playable except the dog looked like an apparition with strange vertical lines and ghosting (no pun intended). Unfortunately every time you start a new game from where you left off you cannot play in 3D until you go into advanced graphics options make any change then reverse it and save, this causes the game to go through another load which as stated can take quite a while. There is a new feature where you are able to control an attack dog and actually see through his eyes (wow they must have thought for ages to cotton on to that one!) As I have stated in the past. My idea of a great game is one that you simply cannot put down, with C.O.D it is a struggle to keep playing without your mind drifting off to "Hmm did I buy enough bananas to last the week?" The biggest disappointment is the bland repetitive game-play. Find enemies shoot, kill and move on. There are moments through the game when you find yourself engrossed to a point but then you are spirited back to reality while you wait for the next map to load. Games have lost the sense of exploration and adventure these days. Thankfully I waited a long time before I went out and purchased this game at about 1/3rd the original price which I believe is all it is worth. Maybe play it once just for the halibut (see what I did there?) For such a hyped game it is really a disappointment. You wait for a map to load - play for five minutes then wait an eternity for the next map to load. I did not try the multi-player but if you do, go for standard 2D as 3D will slow your PC down too much therefore leaving you at a distinct disadvantage... IE: Lag will kill you in a frags notice. 7 out of 10 rubber chickens

(Talking about base game, no DLC's)

I see that this game is hated. But to me it is a pretty good game. I always found it fun. People complain about lag when to me I never experienced lag and I played on Xbox 360. The online was fun, obviously you will have the campers and what not but that's just the equation to make a COD game. The maps I see are complained about a lot and I get that. They are pretty big and you will go life after life without getting kills. But of course after a while of playing you can get used to the maps. Adding onto the multiplayer the lean feature. You haven't seen that in a COD game before. Or if it was in it, it was removed or just forgotten about in later games. Now onto the campaign. Honestly, it's just boring. It's your go to be patriotic campaign. Nothing special. The story was interesting but could've been handled better. Extinction... well it's is interesting. But like the campaign could've been handled better. It's cool you can have upgrades on your pistol and have different perks and all. But besides that it's your run of the mill "zombie" game. But everyone bought it for the multiplayer and that's mostly what the