Call Of Duty Ghosts review

 

Call Of Duty Ghosts is a quieter, more flexible beast than its predecessor, which takes more risks with the franchise’s world-conquering template

By now, Call Of Duty isn’t just a gaming franchise, it’s an event. Every successive entry in this series lands with the impact of a blockbuster film or a shiny new device from Apple. Fans line up around blocks, millions of units are shifted and loads of people call in sick to work the day after the latest Call Of Duty comes out. Call Of Duty: Ghosts is the sixth game released since Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare transformed COD into a record-breaking and world-shaking gaming franchise. Infinity Ward has to be feeling the pressure. Call Of Duty Ghosts: Plot It’s to the developer’s credit then, that it takes some necessary risks with Activision’s flagship shooter IP. Apparently the plot for Call of Duty Ghosts began as Modern Warfare 4, but flowered into what exists now. The modern weapons, equipment and military tech are still present and correct, but the world of Ghosts is one where the status of United States as a superpower has been obliterated by an attack from a unified South American Federation. The US, far from being a military hegemony, is now on the back foot with invaders pouring through its southern and coastal borders. The player takes on the role of a soldier named Logan who patrols what’s left of the California border after San Diego was reduced to a mass of craters. After he and his brother Hesh pick their way through the rubble of south California for a bit, they stumble across an elite cadre of soldiers known as the Ghosts and it’s not long before both Hesh and Logan join their ranks. Call Of Duty Ghosts: Characters The fact that the player (Logan) is accompanied on a multitude of mission by his brother Hesh – as well as the pair’s dog, Riley – is presumably meant to make them connect to the character on familial level. One of the themes of Ghosts, we’ve been told, is the importance of family, but frankly, this is territory COD should never be aiming for. This is a series that banked its reputation on the twin punch of a deep multiplayer and a campaign where shock and awe is the order of the day. While emotional connection has its place it’s hard here as the characters are slightly unbelievable – being as they are presented as unique, elite soldiers, capable of blowing massive holes in the enemies resources and supply lines while numbering just a handful. The dialogue that spills from their mouths is also so clangingly bad at times, that one surmises the work of Stephen Gaghan – nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay for the film Traffic and credited as writer here – probably contributed, at most, a plot outline.