Micro Review: Call of Duty: Ghosts Campaign

 

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Call of duty Ghosts was the series first game to come out on the at the time new console of PS4 and Xbox One. The game is a divisive entry in the series to say the least as it really depends on who you ask about the game. Personally the game to me is a 2.5/5 as it really feels more like infinity wards previous titles of CoD 4 to MW3.

The IW engine was definitely showing its age as it had been upgraded and pushed to its limits it is very evident in the graphics looking similar to the past few games and AI having the same animations for crawling away and lying on their back in last stand. There are some minor tweaks over the MW series a rudimentary lean feature was added when you get to the edge of cover on either side aiming would cause you to peak out and that is about all I can tell is different from the previous titles. The game feels more like a injured runner crossing the finish line of a generation instead of triumphant entrance into the next generation.

Enough negativity though I enjoyed a lot of the campaign while the pacing felt wonky at times it truly was a good quick action movie which is exactly what I want from Call of Duty campaigns. The amount of set pieces was much higher from what I could tell it felt like they saw people wanting more variety in the experience and gave us a playable dog, a whole tank section, and a helicopter section that felt like payback from Black Ops but longer. Overall there are some memorable moments in the story but from time to time I had no clue if I was Logan or just a random unnamed soldier and worse sometimes it made no sense how we got from one location to another. Overall though if you want a quick action game and see this on sale it is worth it. The overall bombast of the games missions are fun to play through be it destroying a space station to rappelling down a sidescraper while fireworks go off all around the game goes from set piece to set piece and rarely has a dull moment. Aside from the bombast there is some enjoyable stealth and stripped back sequences like when your plane goes down over a jungle and you have to stalk your way through with a pistol and heartbeat sensor or after a city is flooded you sneak around underwater taking out small enemy patrols.

Overall the characters felt like the typical types you get in Call of Duty. The whole mythology of the titular ghosts was awesome but we never truly see them do anything besides be the typical spec ops type. Hesh truly seems like the only character as the player character Logan never speaks and doesn't have a personality at all. It was very confusing when going through the Rorke files and one specified that he wanted to keep Logan alive for some reason as Logan never shows any special attributes aside from being the player character. Rorke is a very simple villain as he only wants to "Send the ghosts back to the other side" because he got stuck in a weird position and was left behind by his team in Venezuela. The characters do not change over the course of the game at all and truly are static.

Overall if you can overlook the dated visuals and see this game for a decent sale it is enjoyable as a quick action packed campaign. Have a Happy Easter to those who celebrate it thank you for reading!