Game play: Taking a step back from Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Ghosts has you herded down one path. You enter shooting galleries, kill all the baddies and then control is taken away from you while some scripted event happens. This outlines every single mission. The scripted events are what ruin the experience the most. Simple things such as opening doors are restricted from the player; you have to wait for your A.I partners to open the doors.
How insulting is it when the player is not allowed to even open a door? Not surprisingly this is not a new development, as all modern shooters exhibit this bewildering behavior in an attempt to make the game feel more cinematic. Ghosts feels like a roller coaster ride. You're stuck on rails, forced to see the experience as the developer wants you too, for better or ill. Invisible walls and barriers ensure that you won't jump ahead or miss some spectacular set piece that you have no control over. Its maddening to think that developers are still shoveling out games like this. Ghosts was touted as the next generation Call of Duty, meant to complement the next generation of gaming consoles. Don't be fooled; this is the same Call of Duty as all the other Call of Duty's. Worse yet, its leagues below the Black Ops II, as if the primary goal was to de-evolve the franchise.
Graphics: Most disappointing. First of all, textures look just as poor and bland as is known for the Call of Duty franchise. Assets are re-used for many of the environments. Shadows are ugly blotches and terrain is massively low-rez. For all the talk of this title being next generation everything looks so ugly. In fact, Ghosts looks graphically worse than Black Ops II, which came out a few years ago. I'd imagine its due to Ghosts being developed for current-gen platforms as well as the next gen consoles, with the end result being ported to the PC. So what PC gamers get is a very ugly game that attempts to offer some dazzling fidelity. If you check the graphics settings it has quite a few features to toggle, but the end result is still a very low-rez experience. Worst of all, Ghosts is poorly optimized for PC, tanking frame rates and stuttering occurred for me during every mission. I'm running a GTX 660ti, which is not a new card by any means, but I'm able to run Battlefield 4 on High settings so you'd think that I could run Ghosts on full since the graphical difference between the two games is like comparing a wonderfully shot picture to a crayola-smeared child's drawing.
Audio: Oscar Mike this, Oscar Mike that, Ghosts is full of these wonderful cliche's and tiring military jargon that we've come to loathe. Character dialogue is shallow end at best and everything else is forgettable. Don't look for an epic soundtrack or anything memorable, because you won't find it.
Multiplayer: Perhaps the most disappointing feature of Call of Duty: Ghosts. Stuttering, frame rate drops, server lag, and an overall inferior experience to Black Ops II. The maps aren't great, the weapon selection feels smaller, and a lot of the game modes from previous Call of Duty games have been stripped down or removed entirely. Otherwise, if you've played any of the other Call of Duty multiplayers, you've played this one. The only 'new' feature introduced here is the ability to fully customize your avatar, even choosing gender (Welcome to the 21st century).
What I'm saying is buyer beware. If you're a Black Ops II player I'd say stick with that,as it is superior to Ghosts in every way possible. Call of Duty: Ghosts is a stark reminder that modern First Person shooters need to change, and fast.
Verdict: 40/100
System Requirements
Minimum
- OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit
CPU: Intel® Core 2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHZ / AMD Phenom X3 8750 2.4 GHZ or better
RAM: 6 GB RAM
HDD : 40 GB HD space
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 / ATI® Radeon HD 5870 or better
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
DirectX: DirectX 11
Internet: Broadband connection and service required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet connection required for activation.
Recommended
- OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit
CPU: Intel Core i5 – 680 @ 3.6GHz
RAM: 8 GB RAM
HDD : 40 GB HD space
Video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 @ 4GB
Sound: DirectX compatible sound card
DirectX: DirectX 11
Internet: Broadband connection and service required for Multiplayer Connectivity. Internet connection required for activation.
