Now this, I’ve been waiting for all year. The newest installment of the most generic gaming series known to man- Call Of Duty: Ghosts is out as of November 5th. A new game, ready and waiting to be torn apart by an avid hater of the series. I realized quite some time ago, however, that that’s not how this is going to go. This is in fact going to be an incredibly painful process for me, and after this review it shall never be spoken of again.
Now I only played the campaign because I’m not quite self-hating enough to subject myself to online multiplayer just yet, which starts off as a fairly normal scene of a family sitting around a fire. Things get messed up soon enough, though, as a satellite is destroyed and comes crashing down to earth for some reason.
Soon, the two brothers and the dad have all signed up to be members of an American military force, armed against the unspecified and vague threat of “The Federation” which seems to be made up of every other country in the world. Oh yes, and it also apparently takes place in the future. This, as plots go, is very thin, but at least seems more original than last games. I won’t talk about the story any more, because who cares really?
Now I tried playing Black Ops 2 a while back, and literally couldn’t bring myself past the first level or so. It was so generic and boring that it backed up my already solid opinion of the serious being absolute trash, and made me never want to touch it again. That’s why I went into Ghosts so pessimistic, but stay with me here, this is going somewhere. No longer is the scenery just gray, ugly fields and buildings, but the game is a lot more colorful, at times almost to a Halo game’s standard.
It’s not all just the generic running, shooting, and hiding behind cover either. Most vehicle sections are horrible, but there was one section in which you man a cannon on the back of a vehicle driving along ice, shooting off pursuing enemies on snowmobiles. Now, you could either shoot at them, or shoot at the ice in front of them causing them to go flying, and I could have done that for hours. It was right around then that I realized I was actually kind of having fun.
Of course, for someone who’s trying to find flaws in the game, there are many to be found. The generic atmosphere of the whole thing, from the calls of fellow soldiers to the feel of playing, just makes me laugh in smug satisfaction, and as I mentioned before, vehicle sections are mostly trash. Helicopter controls in particular are painful to sit through, and I’m thankful that they only appear in one level.
The game also provides you with this military dog (by far the most characterized and relatable character in the whole game) who appears for all of two levels and is then mysteriously gone for most of the game. The dog shows up at one level towards the end where you have to carry him to safety and then is never seen again. Well I suppose the developers didn’t want him getting in the way of all that innovative and original gameplay.
One other thing I cannot go without mentioning is the big issue with combat, and the reason I hate these games- you cannot, at first glance, distinguish between an allied soldier and one who is bad for some reason. Due to this, many buddies of mine ended up with a few dozen bullets in their leg before I finally got the message to stop shooting. And yes, I forcibly restarted a few times due to friendly fire rules. Which is fine. I totally wanted to have to play that section twice, Ghosts, it was so creative and different from literally every other level, after all.
Still, however, all that healthy ranting and smugness the point cannot be overlooked that Ghosts quite possibly isn’t all that terrible, sometimes, maybe. I had a decent amount of fun with it, and it was worth the week’s rental. An original storyline and some more colorful set pieces earn this a cautious recommendation, but don’t think this counts for acceptance of the series or even a nod of approval. It’s a grudging pass, nothing more, and remember that I’ll be the first one to say “I told you so” this time next year when they release Black Ops 3: The Mankind Hating Generic Sack Of Boring Continues.
nwvikingsaga 