By Nick Stern, Senior Reporter
If it is not broken, then do not fix it! The same old formula that has defined and carried the Call of Duty series to its worldwide success is still present in the new Call of Duty: Ghosts, which is not entirely a bad thing.
The Chronicle decided to review this much anticipated new installment of the Call of Duty series to find just how it holds up to the rest of the series. Our review resulted in a three out of five for storyline, four out of five for gameplay, and three out of five for graphics, and we will be breaking down exactly why this game has managed to surpass previous chapters of this series.
Though much of the game does feel like the same old COD, the game has tweaks in all the right places that make it even more of a blast than before.
The universe in this game is different from the Modern Warfare series — allowing for an entirely new storyline — while the extremely popular multiplayer has changes that now give each and every player the chance to have their own personalized soldier and experience.
The single-player campaign is still packed to the brim with the explosions, firefights and narrow escapes that players have come to expect in a Call of Duty story, while there is a new co-op mode that gives players something new to scrutinize.
Infinity Ward, the games maker, places players in incredible environments that are stunning to look at and fun to navigate through while trying to stay alive during all the action-packed chaos.
Sometimes the environments are so marvelous, one finds it hard to continue playing rather than simply watch the world burn around them.
For example, while trying to narrowly escape a factory that was in the middle of getting blown to bits of fiery rubble, I found it hard not to stop running in favor of turning around and getting a better look at the impending doom that would have ended the game.
Each mission has its own unique approach and turn-of-events and this allows for an experience that is interesting to play and is not overly monotonous.
The only cut scenes exist during the loading screen between missions and all of the real plot development happens during actual gameplay, which could be missed by players that are too focused on stuff getting blown up.
With that being said, the storyline is still a lot of fun to spend hours beating and blowing stuff up, and it is definitely longer than previous stories in the franchise, which is a big plus when it comes to the amount of playable content.
Of course it is a well known fact that many people across the globe buy Call of Duty not for its single player campaign, but for its multiplayer mode which is the backbone of the series, and Ghosts is no exception.
The controls are just as tight and easy to control as ever and many of the same game modes have returned and are still as fun or in some cases as dull as previous games in the series.
There are minor changes however, and they make the player-versus-player experience even better than ever, with the biggest addition to multiplayer being the “Create a Soldier” system, which lets players customize 10 of their soldier’s features, such as gender, physical features, clothing, and of course guns, perks and kill streaks.
Ghosts boasts of having over 20,000 variations available for these soldier modifications, and now players can actually feel like they are bringing their own soldiers to the battlefield, which is a fantastic new addition to the series.
But as fun as it is, it can definitely be overwhelming, which can be good or bad depending on the player’s preference.
Squads mode, a new single-player version of multiplayer, in which the player takes on the computer with a squad of his or her own bots, is a good way to test out the many different variations of soldiers, but is honestly not as fun as playing against a bunch of real people.
Overall the multiplayer experience is phenomenal, espec i a l ly with its new d y n a m i c maps system, which causes terrain to change during matches and makes for a much more authentic feeling of being immersed.
For example, when getting an enemy in the crosshair, a tremor might cause the whole map to shake and crumble during the battle, letting the target get away.
One of the coolest new features and game modes to be added to Ghosts is the new, alien-fighting, survival mode now known as Extinction, which is a mode in the tradition of Black Op’s “Nazi Zombies” mode.
It allows up to four players to join forces and fight through ferociously agile monsters while leveling up and earning money towards equipment that will save the team’s life throughout the game.
The mode is intense and fun to play and is a very welcome new addition to the series.
Overall, Call of Duty: Ghosts is not an example of d e v e l opers taking much of a risk to change the game up and possibly draw in an even bigger crowd.
At the same time the series already has a huge following, so why risk losing the fans who love the series as it is?
There is definitely room for improvement and innovation, but Ghosts is very entertaining with its new and lengthier campaign, improved multiplayer, and thrilling Extinction mode.
This might very well be the best Call of Duty since the original Modern Warfare.
