CALL OF DUTY GHOSTS [2013] STEAM PC REVIEW

🏆  MASTERPIECE  🏆

The positive:

💗 The emotional storyline & new characters are great!

💗 Super epic set-pieces deliver a memorable, action-packed experience

💗 In those moments of pure spectacle, Infinity Ward truly shines

💗 Amazing gunplay & great vibration implementation

💗 Good enough variety & original level design

💗 Pure perfection in the shooting mechanics & overall high-quality fun

The negative:

👎 The story is good enough but nowhere near what they set out to accomplish

👎 The one-dimensional villain Rorke has a good start but becomes dull

👎 Console versions run the game at 60FPS! but still way inferior to PC

👎 The PC version looks amazing! but very hardware-demanding back at launch

👎 Infinity Ward dropped the acclaimed pre-mission briefing videos/load screens 

Call of Duty: Ghosts was released in 2013 after the acclaimed Modern Warfare Trilogy ended in 2011, leaving many fans of the formula asking for more. Just six years before Ghosts, Modern Warfare conquered the world and turned Activision's flagship shooter into an institution. Since then, the CoD series has been in the crosshairs of every FPS gamer who knows what to expect. As promised, Infinity Ward and Activision have invested in engine tech development to deliver the new world with stunning graphics and architectural destruction features that were unprecedented in COD games.

REVIEW SCOPE & PLATFORM

I'm the kind of Call of Duty single-player fan that loves the formula, gets hyped with all the story trailers, and jumps right into the fantastic, addictive short action-packed campaign with less than a glance at the multiplayer and co-op modes. Activision acknowledges that only a small audience experiences the whole package, zombies, extinction, co-op, etc. Most of the players buy the product just for either the single-player or mostly the multiplayer experience. So when looking down at reviews, we have to take into account that the reception these complex package games get, is subjective to the scope of the experience. 

Despite some launch date problems and setbacks, the PC version turned out to be the ultimate way to experience Ghosts. It really looks like a different game from its console counterparts. Even with both of them running the game at 60FPS, the Xbox could only deliver 720p while the Ps4 won the race with 1080p. Still, the difference with PC was brutal. Back in 2013, I didn't had a powerful rig, Ghosts was the new Crysis in terms of melting down your hardware. So I had to experience the campaign on consoles. Now in 2022, My PC is powerful enough to run the game at 4K/60FPS all settings ULTRA and it looks amazing, it really sets the bar for visual quality in comparison with the Modern Warfare trilogy. It also makes the game look similar to modern COD releases. 

A BRAVE NEW WORLD

Call of Duty: Ghosts' story centers around two Jarhead brothers, Logan and Hesh, who are facing a fictional superpower called The South American Federation. After the energy-producing deserts were wiped out by the wars, the US economy started to crumble. In that wake, the Federation united all of south America under one banner and started their build-up of military and economic power. 

The game starts when Federation special forces take control of a secret Orbital Kinetic weapon called Odin and use it against the US, destroying most of the country and population. This setting is refreshing, considering the overexploited Russian and middle eastern terrorists as the bad guys. But for people like me who live in Argentina, this setting is too sci-fi, It would be more believable if the aliens were coming to invade us, rather than the corrupt and decrepit Latino states could build up military and economic might. 

After 10 years of fighting and being on the defensive, Logan and Hesh are recruited into the Ghosts, an elite squad of soldiers who may be the USA's best weapon against the Federation. Infinity Ward failed to deliver the emotional storyline and compelling new characters they set out to create, as was shown in the trailers and when they talked about the game, they clearly were after doing something meaningful. Many critics said Ghosts is more of the same and that the story is dull and boring. Despite that, I love the Story and the characters. It's dumb, might be cheesy, yes. But I've come to love this campaign even more that the MW trilogy. And let's face it, every COD campaign is about as fun as they are dumb.

ENHANCED COD

Call of Duty has always relied on its super epic set-piece moments to create a memorable, action-packed experience. The frequency of these intense scenes has been upped a notch in Ghosts. It's those moments of pure spectacle, which Infinity Ward does so well, that sell the campaign and see the player right through the endless shooting. 

There's a certain sense of familiarity to it all, with new features every now and then to keep it fresh. The weapons feel amazing, the vibration implementation is great, and the shooting feels tight. At the end of the day, Activision is always trying to give players what they want, even knowing that is an uneven constantly changing landscape. I think it all boils down to keeping the same formula, doing small changes and twists, but keeping it COD. Endure the critics for the lack of innovation, but get those sales by giving people what they want. 

That said, the campaign does have its strong moments. As always, COD keeps the gunplay fresh mixing the encounters with the occasional combat hardware. In ghosts, you get to pilot a chopper and even commandeer a tank. There is a lot of variety in the level design. You'll shoot your way through new and interesting environments. From an orbiting space station in zero gravity, defending the beaches of California, a Night skyscraper infiltration during new years eve, and even swimming with the sharks in the ocean. It makes for a visually intriguing contrast to the been-there-done-that feeling of rolling down choppers and shooting middle eastern terrorists carrying AKs. Infinity Ward dropped the pre-mission briefing videos/load screens from previous games and replaced them with stylish cutscenes that further serve this new plot and character focus. But since many gamers experienced them to be less than memorable, it ended up being a shame, those military situational awareness videos built tension and got gamers invested in the mission. 

CONCLUSION

Despite its flaws, COD Ghosts delivers exactly what fans of the franchise have grown to expect. A short Single-player Campaign, filled with frantic gunplay, absolutely stunning moments, pure perfection in the shooting mechanics, and overall high-quality fun. The emotional storyline and new characters failed to impress the public, but still got praised by a small minority of gamers like me who actually loved the game.