The much anticipated Call of Duty: Ghosts is now available in stores nationwide, and the reviews are flying in with the general consensus that Ghosts fails to reinvent the wheel, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing.
As with Battlefield 4, our review will be a little late, as the final game code has only just been sent to us. We have a policy of requiring reviewers to play games on their own console set-ups at home, and where necessary we ask that they test online multiplayer modes on public servers rather than on pre-release developer networks. We think this leads to a more accurate review.
In the meantime, here’s what other critics have to say about the latest Call of Duty instalment.
There is an overwhelming sense of familiarity one gets from playing Call Of Duty: Ghosts and that's probably because an iteration of this series drops every year without truly reinventing the wheel. Its formula is a world-record-breaking recipe for success. It's fun, sure, but it's not ground-breaking. But then, for the purposes of its audience, does it need to be?
Score: 7/10
Russ Frushtick for Polygon said more of the same:
Call of Duty: Ghosts demonstrates an unwillingness to change much and presents a real shortage of new ideas. Ghosts is a step backwards from 2012's Black Ops 2 — and the weakest game in the series since 2009's Modern Warfare 2.
Score: 6.5/10
There are many things wrong with the scenario, not least of which is that it's yet another shooter that paints the US as a victimised underdog, caught unawares by evil Third World forces, rather than an 800lb gorilla with a nuclear payload. Unlike Black Ops 2, which at least used its drone warfare storyline to question the wisdom of such weaponry in its own comic-book fashion, Ghosts never once suggests that giant city-crushing space spears are a bad idea - at least until those dastardly Hispanic hordes get their hands on them.
Score: 7/10
Like previous CoDs, the story of Ghosts struggles to remain in focus amidst the fray of explosive cinematic moments and relentless firefights. Narrated loading sequences with stylized story animations push the campaign forward, but only last for one or two minutes before launching back into the action. It’s there, on the front lines, that much of the plot progression is presented and oftentimes lost.
Score: 8.8/10
Xav de Matos for Joystiq explained current generation versus next generation certainly isn’t plain sailing:
A key pillar of the Call of Duty experience has always been rock-solid 60 frames per seconds gameplay. On Xbox 360, Ghosts maintains this mandate. The PlayStation 4 version, however, has noticeable technical issues, sometimes slowing to a crawl, particularly during set-piece moments with multiple effects. One specific moment I was able to replicate multiple times on PS4 was a campaign scene that ran smoothly on Xbox 360 and PS3, while the game chugged On PlayStation 4. These frame rate hitches happen throughout the campaign on PS4 and, in a series known for its Hollywood-inspired bombast, it detracted from the experience.
Score: 3.5/5
Aoife Wilson for Official Xbox Magazine adds:
Prior to the game's launch, Infinity Ward made much of Ghosts' new dynamic maps, COD's answer to Battlefield 4's impressive "Levolution" features. Truthfully, the system here doesn't add much to the experience, except for in maps like Tremor when it becomes little more than an irritation as a poorly-timed quake causes you to miss that crucial shot. There's simply too much else going on, too many other things requiring your immediate attention to really spare a thought for what are essentially miniature scripted sequences, and there's not much glory to be gained from waiting around to trap an opponent, rather than just shooting him. This could change as experienced players learn location layouts and how to use them to their advantage, but at this stage it's hard to picture the dynamic elements catching on, particularly within the professional circuit.
Score: 8/10
The general feeling of all those who have spent time with the game so far seems to be that Call of Duty: Ghosts is for the most part competent, but that it is overly familiar and at some points rather formulaic. However, fans of the franchise will undoubtedly love shooting their way through hordes of opponents.
The question remains, where does the Call of Duty juggernaut go next if Infinity Ward, the studio behind the groundbreaking and wildly popular Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, struggles to push the franchise forward?
