CALL OF DUTY : GHOSTS (Review)

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward, with assistance from Raven Software and Neversoft, and published by Activision. It is the tenth, primary installment in the Call of Duty series, and the sixth developed by Infinity Ward. The video game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U on November 5, 2013, with Treyarch handling the port for the Wii U. The game's release date on next-generation consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is officially November 15, 2013, and November 22, 2013, respectively, to coincide with the console release dates. However, the game was released earlier for the PlayStation 4 from some retailers.

In Call of Duty: Ghosts, the story is mostly told through the eyes of one single character, Logan Walker. Players assume the role of Logan for most of the game, with several other playable characters, including an astronaut specialist named Baker, and Logan's father, Elias Walker.

The multiplayer in Call of Duty: Ghosts is not like the previous Call of Duty games as some new mechanics have been added to it. Maps now have areas that can be altered or destroyed. On certain maps there is a nuke-like kill streak reward, the ODIN Strike, that can be gained by killing the top player on the other team and then completing various challenges after picking up a briefcase that is dropped. The sniper rifle scopes also have new "dual render technology" allowing the player to see around the outside of the scope (although blurred) when zoomed in. On October 3, a new multiplayer type was revealed, called Squads. This features a squad that you build and you can face other squads around the world. Your squad can be leveled up and will act like a true individual. "Strikezone", "Octane", "Prison Break", "Tremor", "Freight", "Stormfront", "Siege", "Warhawk", "Sovereign", "Overlord", "Flooded", "Strikezone", "Whiteout", "Stonehaven" and "Chasm" are the maps that are in Call of Duty: Ghosts so far. The dynamic map, "Free Fall", was a pre-order bonus. The game now features playable female soldiers.

Call of Duty: Ghosts features several staple multiplayer game modes, while introducing seven new game types, including:

• Search and Rescue: A take on Search & Destroy, but rather than having a single life per round, in Search & Rescue a player's team can revive them. It combines that teamwork and communication from Kill Confirmed with the objective-based cooperation of Search & Destroy.
• Cranked: In this team-based game mode, the first team to earn 100 kills wins. Once a player kills an enemy, becoming "Cranked," the player who earned the kill has 30 seconds to earn a subsequent kill. If they do not earn a subsequent kill within 30 seconds they blow up. It does not appear that the detonation harms nearby teammates or enemies. If a player earns a subsequent kill within 30 seconds the timer resets to 30 seconds. Once a player is "Cranked" their movement speed is increased, they throw grenades more rapidly, and they aim down sight more quickly, among other effects.
• Free For All: The classic gamemode from previous installments in the franchise returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts, in which players must rack up a total of 30 kills to win the game against seven other opponents or rack up to most kills in a 10 minute time limit.
• Team Deathmatch: Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts: two teams, 10 minutes, 75 kill limit.
• Search and Destroy: A gamemode in which one side has five minutes to plant a bomb at a choice of two sites and the other team is tasked with defending the sites, the catch of this mode is there are no respawns and the game ends once one team wins four rounds.
• Domination: A gamemode where three flags are scattered throughout the map for players to take and control. Every two seconds a flag in controlled will gain a player's team a point, if a player's team controls two or three flags they gain two or three points. The first team to 200 points or the team with the highest amount of points after 10 minutes wins.
• Kill Confirmed: A gamemode in which two teams battle, similar to TDM, with the catch being that when a player kills an enemy they drop a dog tag, which is worth points when collected. If a player collects a fallen teammate's dog tag, no points are award to the enemy team; first team to 100 points wins the game.
• Infected: Same as Modern Warfare 3 infected.
• Blitz: This team-based game mode is similar to Capture the Flag in that the player needs to go to a portal located at the enemy's spawn point while preventing players from the enemy team from reaching theirs. These portals are temporarily closed when they are captured to prevent players from rushing.

Extinction is a new 4-player co-op mode, which pits the player(s) against various types of aliens in a base-defending survival style map. Players choose from four different class types, with unique traits and customizable loadouts. The player(s) can level up their classes, unlocking more weapons and equipment for their loadouts. This mode is unlocked by finishing the Campaign.

The game's main protagonists are the Ghosts, a force of U.S. Special Operations personnel trained to conduct clandestine missions behind enemy lines. The unit is led by retired U.S. Army Captain Elias Walker (Stephen Lang). He is joined by his sons Logan and David "Hesh" Walker, along with Booth and Neptune, a trained German Shepherd named Riley, and Cdr. Thomas A. Merrick of the Navy SEALs.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is set in an alternate timeline that follows the nuclear destruction of the Middle East. The oil-producing nations of South America form the Federation in response to the ensuing global economic crisis and quickly grow into a global superpower, swiftly invading and conquering Central America and the Caribbean. The game's main antagonist is Gabriel Rorke, a former Ghost who turned traitor after being captured and brainwashed using torture and hallucinogens who now works for the Federation.

The game begins with Elias telling his sons about the legend of how the Ghosts first appeared. Meanwhile in space, the Federation hijack the controlling space station of the Orbital Defense Initiative (ODIN),an orbital superweapon that utilizes kinetic bombardment, and use it to destroy several cities in the southwestern United States. The surviving American astronauts sacrifice themselves to self-destruct the space station and prevent the other ODIN satellites from launching their payloads further inland. Elias and the young Logan and David narrowly escape the destruction of San Diego.

Ten years later, the United States has fought the Federation to a stalemate along a front that comprises the destroyed cities, also known as "No Man's Land". Logan and Hesh are part of a US unit commanded by Elias and during a patrol, they spot an American working with the Federation who is called "Rorke". Soon after, the brothers are ambushed and rescued by members of the Ghosts who are seeking their companion Ajax, who was captured by Rorke. Logan and Hesh join the mission to rescue Ajax but arrive too late to rescue him and after he is killed by Rorke, they reunite with their father who reveals himself as the leader of Ghosts. Believing his sons are ready to join his unit, Elias welcomes them into the Ghosts and they learn from him that Rorke once were their leader. However, during a successful mission to assassinate General Almagro, then president of the Federation in the capital Caracas, Elias is forced to abandon Rorke, who was presumed dead, but instead turned traitor and is now hunting down his former companions.

The Ghosts manage to locate and capture Rorke, but while flying back home, Rorke's men attack their plane and rescue him. The team then is forced to land deep into the Amazon Jungle where they witness a rocket being launched with an unknown purpose. Once reunited and rescued, the Ghosts storm a Federation laboratory in the Andes and obtain data regarding a classified operation in a factory at Rio De Janeiro. To secure a path to the factory, the Ghosts destroy the Federation's Atlas oil platform located in Antartica to lure the enemy fleet away from their objective and sink their remaining destroyer guarding the Brazilian coast. Once inside the factory, the team discovers that the Federation had reverse engineered the ODIN's technology and developed their own orbital bombardment system. After destroying the factory, Elias and his sons regroup in Las Vegas but are captured by Rorke who kills Elias in front of Hesh and Logan who later find an opportunity to escape.

Realizing that once the Federation's ODIN become operational they will be defeated for good, the United States pool all their remaining forces in a synchronized attack to take down an enemy space center in Chile while a small team of soldiers boards a shuttle to take over the Federation satellites in space. Once both objectives are completed, Hesh and Logan pursue Rorke to avenge their father and are seemingly successful, only to find out during the aftermath that Rorke survived their battle. Logan attempts to defend his wounded brother, but has his arm broken and is kidnapped by Rorke, with the former Ghost announcing his plans to brainwash Logan into killing the rest of the team.