This review of COD: Ghosts is by Rando Evans of gamedynamo.com ...
Author: Rando Evans
The Call of Duty series is sort of like one of those marriages where you start out happy, stay somewhat content throughout the years, but finally grow tired of one another. Call of Duty: Ghosts feels like those twilight years of said mediocre marriage -- you haven't really done much to keep the relationship interesting or relevant, but you've been together too long to break up. Wow, that was depressing… well, I swear CoD: Ghosts isn't that bad.
Without criticizing the series too much for being one of those yearly releases akin to (insert your favorite sport franchise here), Ghosts is actually one hell of an FPS. The gameplay is as good as it's always been, with everything a bit more balanced and refined.
However, that doesn't make it something grand, and if you compare Ghosts to Black Ops II, it actually feels inferior. Adding to that, Ghosts really just throws in enough content and changes to barely even constitute itself as a new installment.
Where Black Ops II felt a bit fresher with its futuristic setting and equipment, Ghosts puts us back into a less refined, blander world. Given a weaker story and a meandering single-player campaign, Ghosts also goes through the same motions as every CoD game before it. Unfortunately, it also does it all with less flare or care than ever. Ghosts does just what it needs to do to please the average gamer during the single-player campaign, rather than attempting to be passionate or original. Even the addition of a dog can't save the story from being ho-hum (besides, the pooch is only minimally used throughout). Still, a few tweaks for long time CoD players are immediately noticed. For example, balancing out air power to ground attacks is much more refined. Still, newcomers and casual players will brush over details like this without noticing.
Of course, CoD is really about multiplayer, and this is where Ghosts is the strongest. Despite being generally the same as ever, the multiplayer is still strong. I tend to say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but I tend to reserve that comment for more niche games that have a specific audience and probably don't rake in the kind of cash the CoD franchise does. Call of Duty is a huge series, so updating and changing it after all these years might be beneficial, not only for bringing in new players, but to keep old ones. The developers were too afraid to try to innovate. Even if they tried, the devs seemed to be stepping on eggshells. For example, the Perk Points system is far more complicated than the Pick 10 system from Black Ops II, and while it's not altogether bad, at the end of the day, the Pick 10 system was easier to manage.
There is plenty good in this game though. The character creation offers you a ton of ways to change your character's look, with the addition of female soldiers. There are also a handful of new modes, from the "infected" mode, which is essentially a Halo rip-off where players are slowly turned to zombies, to a few other quirky, less notable modes (don't worry, the classic domination and kill confirmed modes are back too).
My favorite is the extinction mode, where 4-players take on swarms of aliens and their hives. Maybe I just enjoyed it so much because it was so different from any other part of the game (or the CoD series, for that matter). Of course, I am a huge Left 4 Dead fan, and this reminded me heavily of that.
As we move towards the new generation of consoles, some gamers feel like we are in another dry-spell of new and fresh games (indie games aside), so it's a bit of a shame that Ghosts didn't try something new. You could say the series is so big, Activision feels innovation is a risk not worth taking. Of course, I've heard plenty of gamers swearing they won't buy another CoD game, only to buy the next one, so that must be why.
Bottom line: Ghosts is another great CoD game, not better thanBlack Ops II, but not really too far of a step back either. Regardless, if you're a CoD player, you're going to get it. Newcomers may want to give Black Ops II a shot while some buddies drop their cash on Call of Duty: Ghosts.
GameDynamo's Score for Call of Duty: Ghosts (X360)
Graphics
The world doesn't feel as rich as Black Ops II in design, but everything looks good.
Sound
Uninspired voice work and scoring, but typical at this point for the series.
Gameplay
Slight refinement from Black Ops II, with very little change, for better or for worse.
Play Value
If you've already hit your limit on Black Ops II, you'll prestige pretty quickly on Ghosts, but at least it's a change in maps and whatnot.
Final Score 79 Still a solid experience, although unchanged and retreading the same ground once again.
Source: http://www.gamedynamo.com/
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