Call of Duty: Ghosts

Official Xbox Magazine UK labelled Call of Duty “the fast food of gaming” in their review of Ghosts, and I think that’s a pretty accurate depiction of the series’ winning formula. There isn’t time to stop and enjoy the flavour of the game; it simply pushes you along to get to the next customer. Ghosts brings very little new to the table: Infinity Ward’s reskin of zombies as aliens, a bit of interactivity on multiplayer maps, new guns and killstreaks, a confusing Squads mode and a slightly enhanced graphics engine. Beyond that, there’s nothing especially stark about it. Except, maybe, Riley.

The single-player is usually the least important part of a Call of Duty, but it still deserves some justice. Here the narrative is messy, poorly constructed and, honestly, a surprisingly easy experience, I’m the kind of lunatic who plays on the hardest difficulties, and I found Ghosts arguably the easiest in the franchise. That said, the environments can be lush and riveting, rappelling down a skyscraper, gunfights in space, the usual ridiculous Call of Duty spectacle. Unfortunately, stopping to admire the scenery isn’t really part of the experience, and closer inspection often reveals faults and shortcuts you simply won’t be able to un-see.

As ever, Call of Duty is defined by one aspect and one aspect only: multiplayer. Character customization has been completely reworked to integrate an unprecedented amount of versatility compared with previous installments, and level limits on unlocks have been removed. None of this is revolutionary, but it gives enough freedom for players to pick, customize and choose their playstyles, which is exactly the sort of incremental tweak that keeps the core multiplayer humming for the people who live in it.

Squads is a fickle, strange integration. You customize the loadouts of ten AI bots and pit them against another player’s customized AI bots, but once a match begins you have no control over your bots, you merely play alongside them. In essence, Squads acts as a variation of advanced combat training that lets experience carry into the multiplayer level progression. It’s a curiosity more than a headline feature, and it never quite justifies the confusion it introduces.

In the end, there really isn’t much to say about this game. It’s another carbon-copy of the Call of Duty formula. It works well enough to hold your interest and it certainly isn’t a poorly constructed game, the shooting is as slick as ever and multiplayer remains the reason to show up, but it certainly isn’t Call of Duty’s finest hour. If you’re here for the annual multiplayer fix you’ll get it; if you’re hoping for reinvention, this isn’t it. All in all, a 7 out of 10.