Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013)

Insanely underrated and overhated by people that didn't even try to get deeper into the story or give it a second chance. A good game.

Call of Duty: Ghosts was such a average and mediocre experience, that I quit the series afterwards. Looking back at that decision now, I missed nothing.

Nowadays, it is the same game every year, with new subscription plans, season passes and other corporate crap.

But back to “Ghosts”. What can I say? Rushed story (so the focus can be placed back to multiplayer), unchanged graphics, sound, features, gameplay mechanics. It is just the same game as Modern Warfare 2 or 3, with some little tweaks here and there.

In Call of Duty: Ghosts, you play as the special “Ghosts” squad and take on the role of Logan Walker, the son of the squad leader Captain Elias Walker. You start in 2014, in a flashback in which “The Federation”, a group of multiple countries in South America, hijacks a space station of the United States. This space station has a orbital super weapon (of course it does) and the Federation uses this gun to destroy several American cities. Captain Walker and his kids nearly escape the destruction of San Diego.

Ten Years after this, the Federation is expanded even more and is now attacking U.S. soil. The Walker brothers fight in this war to defend the border, accompanied by their loyal trained war dog Riley. They attempt to rescue a fellow “Ghost squad” member called Ajax, but fail miserably and he is killed. They meet up with their papa, who is the leader of the Ghosts and together they go on a mission to kill Captain Rorke, an old buddy of Elias Walker who has been brainwashed to become a Federal commander.

They infiltrate multiple bases, ships and factories and discover that their own ODIN defense systems are reverse engineered to a bombarding system called LOKI. They blow up the factory Rambo style and regroup in a safe house in Las Vegas. However, they are captured by Rorke and poor papa is killed by him. Filled with vengeance, the Walker brothers pursue Rorke but this ends badly. Logan is captured and, in the final scene, showed in a cage in the jungle in the middle of nowhere, ready to undergo the same torture that Rorke himself endured at the time.

A sad ending, for a somewhat sad game. The few parts in which you play as Riley the war dog where cool, but they were short and far between. Overall, the campaign was very short and I finished it in one play setting.

Like I mentioned, nothing changed in term of visuals, it is exactly the same engine as the previous games. It looks fine enough, but it has nothing special to comment about.

Audio wise, idem. Same sound, generic music this time, and nothing worth of note.

There is a new Extinction 4-player co-op mode in Call of Duty: Ghosts, which I did not like. It was just Space Shooter: COD edition. Maybe this could be the redeeming factor for some, but sadly, not for me.

When I finished Call of Duty: Ghosts, I felt hollow. Every feeling of accomplishment was lacking and after I shut down the game, and uninstalled it, I was done with the series.

Maybe I am just too old for this stuff, but the charm that the series once had, is overshadowed now by corporate greed. It is this series, along with FIFA, Rainbow Six, and Madden that all give me the exact same feeling.

From my own personal experience, I would not recommend this game.

Very very short game from COD series but good.