"What don't you like about Call of Duty: Ghosts?" "Everything. That it's terrible." "The game's so slow-paced. *drops pepsi like an idiot* So slow-paced, it encourages bad players..." "Another year, another failure. Same shit, different disk. Call of Duty: Ghosts' multiplayer sucks. How surprising." "Why is Call of Duty, Ghosts at least, such a bad game?" "I think Ghosts is the worst Call of Duty, a lot of the maps on Ghosts are BAD. They're really big, bad, ugly..." "Fucking, look at that texture, man..." "This game has what are probably the highest system requirements on the market right now, and that is just ridiculous." "Ghosts just feels like a fuckup. A mistake." "I had to spend eight of my own dollars on this and I want that eight dollars back. It's that bad." *music starts* "Well, the single-player was pretty much a nosedive according to everyone in the community..." "The plot and the story is the DUMBEST I have ever heard..." "So however you might have expected a game called Ghosts to differ from the modern shooter routine of meaningless violence and empty spectacle, you were wrong, you idiot!" "Everything looks the same. Honestly, I swear to God if I just open this game accidentally I would think I was in BO2 "How can a series go on this long and always get WORSE? WORSE AND WORSE AND WORSE AND WORSE." "I mean most you guys think if I touch this game, it'll probably burst into flames." *touches it* *explosion, fire and devil laughter* *music intensifies* "I've come to avert that this game is the fucking garbage..." "I mean this game was so boring you had to put clothes pins on your nutsack just to stay awake playing this shit." "Look at that texture, you can't even read the label, I feel like I'm running around with like the worst vision ever..." "The maps. They all fucking suck." "Pull another sat com and (?) your FUCKING USELESS kill streak..." "You're supposed to care about it SOMEHOW. I set myself through this cuz I figured "you know what, it's worth a shot", but was it worth it? NO! IT WAS NOT WORTH IT AT ALL! NONE OF THIS WAS WORTH IT Well, well, well, or should I say wool, wool, wool...
*Minecraft sheep noises* if it isn't the undisputed black sheep of the Call of Duty franchise. Unlike a traditional ghost, this game stands out like 100% does on an opacity slider. There is no amount of stealth or white smoke that can cloak this game's reputation. Fans were still pretty mixed about Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 2 and none of us really knew how the next Call of Duty would turn out. It was a time of uncertainty. So, Treyarch passed the torch to Infinity Ward. It was their time to go down the slide, and when they came down, they held up their latest creation. Aaaaaaaaand people did not like the game. In fact, they hated it. They hated it some more, but not before hating it a little bit. And, uh, just to switch things up, they fucking HATED it.
(the hate is real Although none of this seemed to affect mainstream critics' view who live off in fucking La La Land, completely isolated from the opinions of the general populace, and they just slap a 7/10 or above on every Call of Duty game. Side rant over, if you do an Ask Jeeves search of the best/worst Call of Duty games in order, you would be hard-pressed to find one that doesn't have Ghosts at or near the top for worst and at the bottom of best. Ghosts would remain public enemy number one until Infinite Warfare, but even that manufactured garbage didn't change people's minds about Ghosts. Now, I'm going to do something a little different with this video. I'm gonna review Ghosts like normal with my own thoughts and opinions (that's what you're here for) (no durr) and using the power of hindsight will help us in reevaluating the game. However, I also want to put myself in the shoes of a Call of Duty fan back in 2013 and peer through that lens. By combining these two perspectives, perhaps we can discover some new intel on this game and find out why Call of Duty: Ghosts was so hated. So what the hell happened here? Why was Ghosts so divisive? Did a game change too much or not enough? Why don't many people talk about the campaign or story? Did Ghosts leave a permanent stain on this franchise's reputation? Did it excel in certain areas? And most importantly, where did the hate come from and was it justified? Well, let's walk our dog through a war zone, get lost on Stonehaven and ghost our way straight into this. "Call of Duty set the gold standard for first-person action in the current-gen, and make no mistake, We're gonna do it again with Call of Duty: Ghosts for the next-gen." "You're a liar! You're a LIAR!" It's not enough to just outline all the most common complaints people have with the game at the start of this video and call it a day. My job is not that easy. For most things we'll discuss them when we get to them, like the maps, campaign, customization etc. But what I can talk about right now is EXPECTATIONS, more specifically, Activision and Infinity Ward's complete failure to meet them. So I want to take you back and look at the 7th generation of consoles: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all doing pretty well in the sales department, each console had its own niche and crowd supporting it. A simple comparison at games between the two generations revealed an entirely new level of polish, pizzazz and technical capabilities that demonstrated a clear upgrade. But all three of these companies really sputtered in the 8th generation: the Wii U was a bomb that couldn't capitalize on its predecessor's success, Microsoft's revealed the Xbox One... BWOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA It turned them into a complete laughing stock! And while Sony had the upper hand this time, even the PlayStation 4 didn't make for a convincing buy at launch. So what we have is a bunch of hardware that most people aren't interested in. They don't believe it's worth buying and they don't see much of a difference. This was the boat that Call of Duty: ghosts set sail and sunk in. I mean you can really tell just how excited people were... "And as a side note, there are no more death streaks." *awkward laughter* *couple of people cheer and clap* Now I understand: it's tough creating a game for two different generations simultaneously. That probably put more of a stranglehold on what Infinity Ward could do with the game. But that's not gonna bail them out here: at the same time modern shooters were kind of dying out, gone the way of the rhythm games and the dodo. Ghosts just felt like yet another modern shooter. Not some top-of-the-line next-gen first-person shooter it was claimed to be. And new trends would appear with the unveiling of Titanfall at E3, which kind of made Call of Duty look obsolete for a little bit. "Our new dog model is taken from high-resolution scans of an actual SEAL team service dog..." "So we have fish move out of the way when you get close to them..." You know what? I take it all back, CoD: Ghosts was amazing, it pushed the boundaries on the most important part of game design: the graphical fidelity of DOGS. Never before had we seen a game where fish actually swam away from the player! Oh. We had a new generation of consoles and a new Call of Duty coming out, and both had failed in the eyes of the public to innovate in noticeable ways. We were not impressed. But outside factors were the least of Ghosts' problems. You know why they call it Ghosts? 'Cause it's a ghost of its former self. *crowd booing* "Hey, that really sucked!" I'm not sure which is more painful to endure: a story that tries to be deep but doesn't make any sense or a story that's just plain boring. Luckily, CoD: Ghosts gives us a taste of both. It looked fairly promising from the trailers. "Soldiers stand against their enemies, but ghosts... hunt 'em." "Surprise, motherfucker!" They even bragged about their Academy Award-winning writer who wrote the film Traffic. I mean, shit, a (game) focused on the ghosts? Running special ops missions based on stealth? Well look at how fucking cool they look! All the art is just like, mmm! I wanna be THAT guy! The campaign has a promising start: we're told The Legend of the Ghosts: how a group of sixty men stood down a force of five hundred, With the objective of defending a hospital. "Oh. Okay. Goodbye, guys." The visual presentation is what impresses me the most: the way those bullets streak through the bodies like passing through jello, how the bullets of black greatly outnumber those in white, illustrating their fight against the odds... Every shot has a unique composition that tells a tale of how a small group of soldiers transformed into an ethereal lethal force. This game has a unique style, and the artist did a kick-ass job with the overall aesthetic. Thing is, I love watching these cutscenes, but I don't like listening to them. The expository dialogue actually takes away from the impact of the story, although, I understand its necessity because then it cuts to a nice picnic area between a man and it's two sons. "He called them... Ghosts." Son: "And this really happened?"
Dad: "So the legend goes." Son: "Come on, Dad. You don't honestly believe that story's true. " *impersonating Dad* Bitch, where do you think the plot is headed? Yes, son, I brought it up for no reason at all. No fucking reason at all. Just- just to waste your time! You should be more like your brother and keep your mouth closed so you don't disappoint me with your moronic fucking questions! ALSO, you're adopted. *baby crying noises* Dad: "Come on, let's head back to the house." While we're walking home, let's take a second to introduce our characters. Elias Walker is the Dad, Hesh Walker is the brother, and you're Logan Walker, the other brother. Anyways, in the span of three minutes we go from a nice day in the park to the Apocalypse. That's pretty jarring... Elias: "ODIN! It's ODIN!" And right away it becomes apparent that the silent protagonist schtick is not gonna work out for this game, because it's essentially a story about brotherhood, two brothers in particular, but how can we experience the depth of this relationship, when one side of it is incapable of communication? "What they really wanted in this game, in Call of Duty: Ghosts, is they wanted... emotional reality, you know, they wanted these characters to feel real, to feel like real people." It creates a disconnect that lasts from beginning to end. Hesh: "What the hell was dad talking about?! What's ODIN?!" Hey, maybe it's one of those plot devices that never has a real explanation for its exis- I fucking knew it. So, the Walker brothers, No, not those guys. THESE guys push open a door and it cuts to 15 minutes earlier. We're in space now because that's the Call of Duty cycle. Kyra: I'm really looking forward to going home. What's it been? Three months? Oh yeah, bet today is your last day before retirement too, eh ? I'm sure you'll get home fine. *explosions, zombie screams and other chaotic sounds* Oh shit! The station's been compromised! Help! We need- Wait a minute. Who ARE these guys? I mean, it's a pretty cool set piece: a lot of fun moments as you fly around shooting bad guys. *headshot* Okay, so the ODIN station starts firing on the US and- hold on. Why does the United States have this massive super weapon chilling up in space? And how was security so bad that a group of thirty guys can sneak a bunch of firearms onto it with nobody noticing??? Alright, kids, take out your textbooks, turn to page 207, the word of today is contrived. So, what's the evil faction this time? Russians? Germans? Japanese? No, it's the... *chuckles* The Federation. Might as well just call them Team Evil. So the premise is that some disaster struck the great energy-producing deserts, which then made every country that depended on that energy obsolete, therefore giving the rest of the world a convenient reason to not intervene in this conflict whatsoever. "Emotional reality" Don't get me wrong, the setting of a war-torn America is fucking awesome, and the levels are BEAUTIFUL, the artists, again, do an incredible job on the landscapes and graphics. It really pulls you into the setting. But the logic is missing. In Black Ops 2, Menendez's rise to power is more convincing as its shown how he's able to manipulate the hearts and minds of people and how he used social media and viral marketing to promote his cause, tap into the revolutionaries and win them over. More importantly, his rise to power was actually covered in some capacity. In Ghosts, you'd think a massive space station being hijacked and firing on the United States killing millions would, like, get the other world nations involved, but nah, the rest of the world fucks off because they don't have the most valuable resource known to man: D E S E R T E N E R G Y. The Federation's rise to power is summarized in a fucking sentence! "The Federation united all of South America under one banner, and devoured everything in its path as it moved relentlessly to the north. We fought hard, and we fought well." *singing* Out on the plains / We can even pale And here's another problem: how does this invasion affect the government, the news media, the citizens? Well, who cares? You came to see the Ghosts, right? These important questions don't need to be answered because we're not supposed to relate to what's going on and the people affected by it. "E m o t i o n a l r e a l i t y" Anyways, we jump forward ten years and the United States is a wasteland. In this alternate reality Trump has already built the wall, but it hasn't kept illegal immigrants out and so is the new Border Patrol, Hesh and Logan, need to scout the area. Huh! Up'n'Down Burger. Now that's clever. *Danny Phantom main theme* And as you play through, you realize: these are more open Call of Duty levels?! "Now, ain't this a surprise." I'll talk more about the level design later because right now our dog is murdering people. "D O G M O D E L" Yep, this is Riley, that good ol' woofer that was showcased in the trailers and announcement videos. Now, some people might have hated Call of Duty: Ghosts because of this dog and how overly emphasized it was... "One of the fascinating new additions to your squad is a dog. This is someone you care about. this is a squad member." But to me, Riley is the most talented obedient dog in the world. Riley, go kill that man over there! Go sneak through the tall grass without being spotted or alerting those guys with guns! And Riley, make sure the camera's pointed towards this one guy! Riley, come ride in the tank with us and look adorable! Riley, come pilot this helicopter! Riley, cook my breakfast! Riley, do my taxes! Riley, go back in time and prevent the Holocaust! Anyways, we kill some guys, meet up with Elias and get set to head to no-man's land. And hot damn, I will say it again: this game is gorgeous. As we stealth our way through a dilapidated California, we come across a captive Ghost and a man named Rorke who is hunting the Ghosts. We sneak by, head into the forest and find a hungry pack of wolves. Gee, wonder what's gonna happen... Why, of course, a quick-time event! "Well who didn't see that coming?" Oh no, Riley's hurt! Oh, hey. Thanks for the save! What's up Casper? How you doing, Slimer? You guys just get back from Luigi's Mansion? American qicang are a couple ghosts who recruit us to help them save their buddy Ajax and this is where the plot kind of derails into irrelevance to summarize Rorke used to be a ghost but during a mission Elias and him get into some trouble and he had to drop Rorke to save his own life. Well what? "Oh no Rorke you're too heavy you should've lost weiiiiiiight" So after being publicly fat-shamed Rorke was kidnapped by the federation Brainwashed and now wants revenge on Elias, his sons, and the entire United States And a ghost won't stop until he completes his mission. So that's his motivation now. I want to ask all of you What's the one thing any and all stories need to be interesting? conflict the biggest flaw with ghosts Academy Award-winning writing is the way the conflict and the bad guy are written ghost doesn't just brush over the motivations of the Federation They don't even mention it. What is the Federation's ultimate goal? Why did they invade the United States? You must have no end of questions. Got it. You know why? Halo 2 had Tartarus as the leader of the Brutes because it's easier for the audience to understand what the Brutes are about by having a charismatic leader that Represents them, Shan Yu from mulan. Nice work gentlemen You found the Hun Army Ozai from Avatar The Last Airbender, Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean What are you looking at back to work These leaders have a lasting impact on their respective stories because of how they take charge of the factions they lead agreed Rorke doesn't do shit to represent the Federation. I don't even know what the connection is He's the worst villain in the franchise by far and this organization has given almost no screen time or development The soldiers are barely characterized at all. I mean we did interrogate one Federation soldier. Oh What's that you don't have a passport Who are the leaders, I mean you're talking about an entire? Continent rising up banding together and invading the nation above them. Obviously Someone has to be in charge of all that and an Inc this fucking guy who is just brainwashed If we don't care about the conflict Then we don't care about the characters overcoming it and if we don't care about the characters We don't give two shits about the story and if we don't give two shits about the story Then why am I talking about it? The rest of the game is inconsequential filler up until the last few missions where we settle the score with Rorke So he captures the gang tortures us and Elias and then let's see if I could change your mind. Oh no. Oh Oh Fuck I'm bleeding now, but that was literally just a plot device for drama because five minutes later he gets up like nothing is wrong EmOtIoNal ReALiTy characters shrug off bullets like they're nothing. It shatters the immersion so completely Ribs broken Shit you're bleeding looks worse than it is. You're gonna be okay And oh god, let's talk about the ending you're done Rorke Let's finish this As Logan assault Rorke train because he has a train and then we confront the man himself It's over. Oh shit. Never mind. Don't worry Hesh. It's just a gunshot wound. I'm sure you'll be fine after a struggle we gained the upper hand on Rorke and then You think he's dead yeah, he's probably dead we swim to safety and that's it a job well done The Federation is on the retreat. We won What a beautiful view I could die on this beach all day Wow, whoa whoa whoa how the my arm ah Nope And that's the real ending Rorke drags us away presumably to brainwash and torture us just like he was Find out in Call of Duty Ghosts 2 - so why do people hate the ghosts campaign? Well because it's awful It's the black sheep in terms of story - because it doesn't connect to any other games and it didn't even include ghosts from Modern Warfare - one of the biggest disappointments was how the marketing in the intro portrayed the campaign led us all to believe we'd be playing as a stealthy group of soldiers who used guerrilla tactics to win fights and while those sections Do exist and they're pretty awesome in their own right? They're overshadowed by the typical one-man-army gunned down everyone You see type of gameplay has got eighteen missions, which is a hell of a lot an Academy award-winning writer Next-gen technology. How did it turn out so bad It's decisively average with the gameplay - all the different scenarios and set pieces are well-constructed and entertaining It was fun flying around space and shooting guys and the actual pacing of the levels reminds me a lot of cod 4 Because ghosts puts a lot of emphasis on the build-up to the firefights, but there's a reason nobody talks about this campaign Heche Logan Elias Marek Roarke that other guy it's just not a compelling story And here's something I should have brought up a long time ago Not every game and story needs to have a huge amount of depth. NO. some stories can just be fun if it's got deep Storytelling or it's a blast to play through then I'm on board But ghost doesn't have either of that It's cartoony contrived and we could spend all day picking apart this disaster piece by piece That's why it was so forgettable. That's why the campaign was so hated Ghosts easily has the most bizarre take on the cod formula, but let's talk positives first Gunplay is instantly familiar and feels heavier in a good way. There's a huge variety of weapons. Sound effects are beefy a Prepubescent team could grow a full chest of hair overnight listening to these gunshots Animations are top-notch and that deserves some clout the leaning was an interesting idea at the time and when you scope in there's now a blur effect on the outside instead of just a pure black outline and you can even Slide into the action with call of duty ghosts' a neat mechanic that would return him basically every game after this There was a squad mode which allows you to create load outs for BOTS set them against each other That's weird who cares and ghosts also gave us some of the most pimped out DLC we've ever seen in gaming snoop d-o-double-g Announcer voice back you just lake embossed is damned, but there's another round now if that ain't the shiznit then I don't know. What is For your ego. They also got our Lee army as the drill instructor and for three papers. Hell, yeah, son That's a damn good deal Park System is fly, but not super fly. I can dig it Yo, and this system is entirely unique to ghosts perks cost a set number of points You could choose a few stronger ones or a bunch of weaker ones. You can sacrifice equipment and weapons for more perk slots There's a whole bunch of perks to play around with you can really carve out a unique play style There's lots of game modes even some new ones like grind which was basically headhunter from Halo Reach It's decent fun Then they had Search and Destroy the big boy, which is one of my personal favorite modes in the franchise its SMD But you can save your teammates and deny response to your enemies by collecting dog tags One thing you might not know is that Cod ghost advocates for hardcore drug abuse with its new mode cranked In TDM, you score it killing it and feels satisfying. Yeah, when you squirt killing this mode you get cranked Oh, yeah, that's to stop all I'm drinking now boys. Oh Do this some to drink ghosts was also the first to introduce soldier Customization changing outfits headgear and all sorts of accessories to choose from you can even pick one of the classic characters like Captain Price Makarov and soap MacTavish, of course if you pay a nominal fee Whoa. Whoa. Whoa, what is this? women in minorities in my Call of Duty games who decided to put so much Politics into this game on a more serious note. Let's talk negatives I eat the rest of the game fans were upset because CTF wasn't in here at launch and neither was search-and-destroy Unfortunately ghosts has the sorriest progression and leveling system I've seen squad points are cool in theory, but the problem is you unlock whatever you want No matter your level sounds nice But it makes ranking up feel incredibly unsatisfying weapon progression is lame as hell - dog whining attachment I'll just go ahead and buy it who cares no kills a time required. That's just straight wiggity wack, man Now I'm saying when a game gives you everything It doesn't feel like you're working towards something and with the prestige system having you start a new character instead of restarting entirely there's no longer a tough decision to make and if you want to Reenter to grind and they didn't get it additionally ghosts has some of the shortest killed times Yeah, people complained about short time to kill in a cod game, but it's a valid complaint The game is super twitchy It's like they were prototyping the hardcore modes and then just never turned it off Combined with how rare it is to see people there really is not much action to be found in the multiplayer balancing is alright But every cod game has a shitty Overpowered play style that damn near everyone uses and frustrates the hell out of everyone else and now it's camping with a thermal scope Why is this so common? I'll tell you later Pizza box and Camping with a dog you are truly not playing cod ghosts' you know What bugs me the way this shit is displayed having? 80% of the camos and reticles consist of paid content with that stupid green symbol is pretty fucking annoying to look at there's so much garbage in this game and It takes away the fun of working to one kammo's but shit, at least you can smoke up, homie Now let's talk streaks the same system returns from mw3. Most of the streaks are pretty average But what players really hated was the SATCOM? a strange twist on the UAV where you have to put it on the ground and even then you needed two of them to get the standard UAV effect Yeah, there's a reason they never implemented this in future games kill streaks are very underwhelming. Overall we went from - I guess there's an 8/10 strafe run or something Whatever field orders were also hated because they allowed dumbasses like me to do this. I Got a freaking temp strike for stabbing a guy. How is that fair? And in that show the multiplayer was divisive for the ways it altered progression Prestige killed times the disappointing score streaks and every other aspect People expected things like weapon parts theater mode to return and they didn't for whatever reason the multiplayer might have had some good changes But it lost a lot of parts of that Call of Duty identity. We all know and love which brings me to my next subject So what does sexy all Act man think about the map designing ghosts This is easily the most common and fiercely despised aspect of the multiplayer now the Question is why? you might expect that based on what I've said in the past that I'm going to instantly love the maps and ghosts because hardly any of them are three lanes, but you'd be However, their immense size doesn't compliment Call of Duty's fast paced gameplay. Let's face it You don't buy a cod game hop in a multiplayer match and then make long methodical decisions about how to approach the enemy's position Maybe in search-and-destroy and search and rescue to a greater extent but for the most part no This is not Rainbow six siege or even battlefield most cod fans want to jump into a match and just run around shooting people That's fine. But when your maps get in the way of that simplistic fun, that's when people get upset Stonehaven, for example probably the most hated map in franchise history its massive and because of the size and sight lines the game heavily encourages camping with sniper rifles There were Thermal scopes which makes it all the more aggravating if you don't favor that play style storm front and TDM is a chaotic Clusterfuck on some maps. It's nearly impossible to predict the spawns or get a general idea of the enemy's position So you end up running around flailing your crosshairs all over the place like a chicken with its head cut off? The flow is just awful. When you look at the overhead designs of maps and other games. You can see the logic behind it I might bitch and moan about the nature of three. Lane maps But they work for a reason it makes it simple to find other players, but when you look at the maps in ghosts It's like they just scribbled a bunch of lines all over the place. It's a fucking mess I mean, do you need all this extra space over here? Let me put this in bold text So it's absolutely clear. The maps aren't bad, but they're bad for Call of Duty You don't have access to ghosts full Potential unless you have 8 v 8 or 9 V 9 matches the maximum amount of players and nobody in matchmaking Had that you needed custom games. So naturally people are gonna hate the maps because they can't find anyone to shoot in short Yes, the larger maps are too big matches go on for too long and that fast-paced gameplay loses power We're ghosts constantly drops the ball and substance and gameplay It is always spot-on artistically Which is something I don't think this game got enough credit for a very underrated Aspect of map design is the story of the map itself This is left up to play our imagination and when you look at tremor You see all these missing posters writing and art on the giant wall similar to the Berlin wall It's a minor detail, but they even had handicap parking signs It's like all these details are really unnecessary and most people probably didn't notice or care to look at them But it's something I appreciate Whiteout is like a fishing dock, but these sick log cabins decked out with all sorts of pelts and paintings Some homies were even having a poker game. There's a helicopter with spinning blades. You can kill yourself on now. How cool is that? Sovereign might be a factory, but it's actually cool all Futuristic and shit. There's a conveyor belt building tanks as the match goes on Additionally, sometimes they got unique gimmicks. The maps are dynamic It's not always a plus though free fall is set in a collapsing building and periodically shakes camera around which really messes with your aim But in strike zone when a player gets the Kem strike, it changes the map entirely and aesthetically in Warhawk You can use a breach charge on a door to open a pathway and on freight you can open and close doors that reveal new areas So say what you will about how these maps play not one of them is lacking in style charm and detail It's the startling contrast. That makes ghost so unique It's a far cry from the blocks on a grid with three lanes and two story Heights Archetype that has become synonymous with the Call of Duty brand nowadays. The effort is here It's just misplaced in certain areas. Something must have gone horribly wrong in the testing process of these maps I have no idea what they were thinking which would have used over here Oh what the fuck there's an underwater No Is it worth going back to play the multiplayer all these years later? But if you got the capabilities to host some custom games, you might find some enjoyment you never did before For a long time Infinity Ward had been looking for an answer to Trey arks Nazi Zombies well, apparently SpecOps in survival from modern warfare 3 wasn't This wasn't good enough for some reason and so they made something completely new extinction Infinity Ward's third attempt to one-up Treyarch and what has been called ghosts best feature Nowadays whether or not that says much is up to you But it doesn't now I went into this mode totally blind had no idea what to expect my first match so much fun I explored the map with childlike exuberance What's this? What's that weapon upgrades special? Ammo gimme? Gimme gimme a shot at aliens and frantically ran around them for 30 minutes before my organs were finally harvested without my consent I immediately wanted to play again But then it hit me what extinction play out the same way Every time if it did the mode would get older faster than Benjamin Button. So how does it hold up after 6 years? well You're thrown to the wolves or should I say cryptids? Almost immediately and in points of contact the first mission, there isn't much story to go off of ain't seen anything like this before It takes place in an alternate timeline because every Call of Duty game needs alternate timelines where the Odin strikes Accidentally unleashed an ancient breed of aliens upon the world So what's a nameless character supposed to do you need to use the drill to take out the hives on your way to the Creator? Arm then move and haul ass back here. There's apparently a story here, but it's in the DLC. So fuck that Character and dialogue is an unfortunate reminder of cog world war 2 zombies Extinction is more or less zombies and survival mashed together in a lot of ways It's one of the most unique side modes We've seen in the series instead of surviving for as many rounds as possible like a plebian The map is linear progressive It can take time to explore and the cryptids periodically spawn while you do to keep things interesting And you activate the drill. It also starts a holdout style of gameplay and you have to protect the drill from the cryptids As you advance through the different areas new enemies appear sometimes a helicopter flies above to help you into the next area and each area Is dynamic and different from the last? Customization is there but not as fleshed out as I'd like you level up and unlock new skills like different types of ammo crates turrets Weapons etc. There are four classes to choose from each with a unique set of skills and play styles I do like the strategic aspect of talking with your team and planning what class you're all gonna play It adds some depth and teamwork you weren't scrilla just like in survival, but there's not as much to do with it You're able to buy weapons activate traps call in helicopters and use special abilities though light what I really enjoy about Extinction is the emphasis on surviving you can scavenge supplies and caches around the map that could contain cache Special ordnance attachments it makes it fun and rewarding to explore Zombies and SpecOps and even the campaigns are more traditionally geared towards grounded combat So it messes with your sensibilities a bit in a good way to see these cryptids hopping all over the place they jump on street signs gallop over buildings charged towards you it gives a newfound level of verticality and openness to the map the Cryptids have all sorts of diverse roles Some are strong and armoured others weak and nimble I just about pooped my pants the first time I saw rhino Holy tits that was an experience Problems arise the moment you realize the layout is the exact same shiznit for each playthrough Go down the path kill the aliens had the developers may be made more Maps The mode wouldn't have bored me after the fifth playthrough There is no excuse for three Studios with massive funding and on a brand new generation of consoles to only give you Map and then sell you for additional ones for 15 bucks. I always think back to black ops 1 which had kino der toten classified and dead ops arcade perfect amount of content more than I Expected because if you don't like one map at least you have another as a solo experience extinction starts out fun and quickly transitions into Aggravating when you're on your own you never have enough time to reload to outrun the zombie aliens to repair the drill it becomes tedious At a certain point the game doesn't stop throwing cryptids at you and you can't shoot your way through when you're holding the drill So what I'm trying to say is you get to a certain point in solo play where you just get fucked The finale is pretty epic though your arm, then you can have a limited amount of time to run back to the start it's intense, but When you beat the level, it's like what's next play it on a harder difficulty Chaos mode that might satisfy for a bit, but it doesn't for long at the end of it Some fans might have enjoyed extinction more so than the multiplayer in campaign and it has its role as a unique side mode that combines survival and zombies But I feel like Neversoft and missed out on so much potential if they made it more replayable given us more maps It probably wouldn't have gotten much hate at all. Who knows? Maybe it was just too bizarre and off the beaten path for most fans to synch much time into it I spent way more time in spec ops on the other zombies modes than I did here But I see its appeal and I understand why people want to see Infinity Ward or even another team take another swing at extinction Call of Duty ghosts still sits at the loser table during lunch and it probably won't ever sit with the cool kids When viewed through the lens of hindsight, it seems like people are starting to warm up to this game a little bit Maybe that's just because the last few releases have been so awful Black ops 2 a modern warfare 3 had their fair share of criticism at release but have since been reappraised On the other hand ghosts is still very much hated to me it lacks a lot of depth that made games like black ops 1 black ops 2 world at war modern warfare 1 2 & 3 Replayable to this day. You probably won't find matches beyond TDM So it's unlikely the game has any steam or life left, but did ghosts deserve all the hate in some ways Yes, but people have a tendency to overreact with these things How much of that hate was toxic frustration and how much of it was genuine criticism? It's hard to tell Ghosts is caught in this awkward in-between where nobody really has a desire to go back and reappear Ian Stagg aim I only did it because people asked me to and there's no nostalgia factor here Nobody is wishing they could return to the glory days of Call of Duty Ghosts at the time of its release up until the present day Everything ghosts did or has done was better implemented elsewhere in the franchise The single-player is average and the storytelling even worse Roark and the Federation fall flat as villains and I never felt like I was rooting for the main characters to succeed The game was still a financial success But you can clearly tell that Infinity Ward and the other dev teams took notice of all the hate this game god I think that's why we started to see this downward spiral and creativity after ghosts for what it's worth ghosts tried a lot of new things Some of which would be adopter in later games and others that thank God never made a return Most of the changes weren't accepted by the fan base and that's why it has the reputation It does multiplayer has some interesting ideas and the guns feel awesome yet There's so much weirdness within the progression and map design that it takes away from that addicting Call of Duty feel Once you take out the grind you lose people and while extinction has its moments There isn't enough content that justify replaying the same map so many times With a series like this. It's hard to tell how fans are going to react How do you judge good change from bad? Ghosts is a testament to how fickle the balances between pleasing your fan base and incurring their wrath The game didn't leave much of a lasting impact on the franchise aside from oh dear God remember when they tried that? Wasn't that just awful? And that is why Call of Duty ghosts was so HATED! And..BAD! Enjoy the caption by lowe noob
