Like it's name suggests, it's as transparent as a Ghost.

User Rating: 5 | Call of Duty: Ghosts WIIU

Call of Duty is run into the ground. This is a truth that Black Ops II has tried to prove wrong but it seems Infinity Ward didn't get the memo when developing Ghosts. Call of Duty: Ghosts is the tenth game in the series and it's put Infinity Ward back in the director's seat. Does Ghosts live up to Infinity Ward's promises of something different? Or does it just scare the player-base away like the ghost it claims to be?

Look at that dog. Hope you don't get attached.
Look at that dog. Hope you don't get attached.

You play as Logan Walker, a soldier fighting to protect his home from the invading Federation along with his brother, Hesh Walker, and his father, Elias Walker. The Federation is pushing the resistance back further and further and Elias asigns Logan and his brother with finding the Ghosts; a very skilled group of soldiers also fighting the Federation. They succeed in finding the Ghosts only to find out that one of the higher ups in the Federation turns out to be a former Ghost and is openly hunting them down.

The rest of the game is just Logan and the Ghosts attacking different Federation bases. The story is simple enough, but it's far beneath the story told to us in Black Ops II. While Black Ops II was also about the safety of an entire country, it was a personal hate that was driving this world to madness. Here, it's just a series of poorly written events driving you forward. The ending is also incredibly similar to a previous Call of Duty game as well. Nothing about Ghosts is original or interesting aside from the cutscene after the ending which was unexpected.

Another thing to mention is the dog, Riley. This was a neat concept and when you are with Riley things are pretty fun, but Riley is thrown away far to quickly. Way to hype up a brief part of the game. Overall, the story is poorly written, predictable, uninteresting and, the nail in the coffin personally, you are back to being a floating, silent gun. How progressive.

On the gameplay side of things the game is still functional but, again, not very progressive. As mention before, the sections with Riley are fun but with him being thrown away you are left with the same gunplay from the previous games. Nothing has changed here. You progress down hallways and through linear battlefields to the next setpiece, just like usual. Nothing new here, so much is NOT new that I have little to praise about the game aside from the solid gunplay. There are some 3D areas, meaning you can asend and desend, but they are few and far between. Multiplayer is back as well and it still works.

Multiplayer is as chaotic as ever.
Multiplayer is as chaotic as ever.

Aside from the multiplayer working, everything else about the mode is a letdown. A lot of features are removed from Black Ops II, such as weapon leveling. Making their appearance are Field Orders. Field Orders give you side challenges you can complete to earn some bonus XP. Other than that, there are some "dynamic" elements to some maps but they are nothing more than small changes to some of the maps. The Pick 10 is gone and replaced with the traditional class system with some hints from Pick 10. You are free to unlock what you prefer whenever you have the Squad Points earned from leveling up and completing challenges. Some may like this, but I feel it takes away from the progression. Why should I spend so many hours on a game with no real progression?

The last mode to mention is the Extinction Mode. It's a take on Treyarch's Zombie Mode and it's a nice effort. It's clearly the best part of the game as it takes Treyarch's Zombies and throws Aliens in over them. You earn money to spend on weapons, just like in zombies, but you can also upgrade skills you can use, such as throwing out ammo crates. The biggest change to this mode is that you are the attackers rather than the defenders. You are tasked with carrying a drill to alien nests and you are then tasked with murdering the aliens and defending the drill from their attacks. It's a fun mode and it's a nice standout from the dull campaign and lacking multiplayer.

The music is what you'd expect by now and the theme song is by Eminem. If you like that kind of thing then great. The voice work is good, but nothing really stands out. No piece of music stands out among the rest and the characters are so underdeveloped they might as well not have a voice. We should start expecting more from this franchise.

Some of the maps are far too large, such as the one pictured here.
Some of the maps are far too large, such as the one pictured here.

The visuals are the strongest part of Ghosts and they aren't that great to begin with. The models are fine, but all of them look so similar it's hard to tell them apart, friend and foe. This is a problem I've had with this franchise for the longest time, but Black Ops II fixed that by making their main characters distinct. Here, I found myself shooting Hesh more often then was necessary. The alien designs are pretty decent and interesting to watch and fight, but there isn't much variety in their looks either. The framerate is still rock-solid and, as mentioned, the visuals are decent enough considering the high framerate, but in 2013 standards couldn't be higher in this regard and Ghosts really lets you down in this regard as well.

PROs

- Solid framerate

- Gunplay is still well done

- Ghosts had potential as an interesting group

- Riley sections were fun

- Extinction is a fun mode

CONs

- Poorly written plot

- The Facepalms are strong with this one

- Characters are underdeveloped

- Riley is dropped far earlier than he deserved

- Gameplay has improved so little that it has taken a step back

- Removed features from multiplayer

- Extinction is just a zombie clone

- Multiplayer maps are way too large

- Campaign is still shorter than games should be

- Visuals are only slightly better than Black Ops II

- Player character is no longer an actual character

Overall, Call of Duty: Ghosts lives up to it's name alright, it should just hurry up and disappear. It's a total letdown coming off Black Ops II and it's a shame. There are some glimmers of brilliance throughout the campaign but instead of following up with something interesting, it throws something at you that is so stupid it can't be believed. It falls into every single trope possible for this kind of game and it even takes features from the previous game away. Bottom line, I'd stick with Black Ops II. If you bought a brand new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, you might as well buy it so you'll have a multplayer game to play, but be warned that it's one of the most mediocre, big-name shooters I have played in a while. While it isn't bad, it's dumb and unoriginal.

Story: 4.0/10

Gameplay: 5.5/10

Audio: 5.0/10

Presentation: 5.0/10

TOTAL = 5.0/10