Got my copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts yesterday for the Xbox 360. It seems as if there are a lot of disappointed people around the net in reviews and forums hammering the multiplayer part of the game and I prepared myself for the worst. I was disappointed to read all of it, and I must admit, it scared me a bit. How could the game ‘regress’ as people were putting it? How could Infinity Ward have put out utter trash? After reading a bunch of reviews and impressions of the game I’m left with one question, what game were they playing?
After playing it for nearly six hours yesterday, I must say, I enjoyed the crap out of Call of Duty: Ghosts. It’s like a merging of some of the best parts of Call of Duty and Battlefield. Immediately upon playing one thing became readily apparent, the motion of the game was the smoothest I’ve ever seen in a Call of Duty. It’s only 60fps but it felt like it was far faster. There were no FPS drops to be had except for some very rare occurrences of lag. It was rock solid. Black Ops II never felt smooth like Ghosts does. I mean never. It’s like night and day. The graphics were also something I was surprised by. The past few iterations of the CoD series haven’t been know as games that were pushing graphical boundaries. While Ghosts isn’t the cream of the crop it’s no slouch when it comes to the graphics department and I feel easily surpasses the graphics in Black Ops II. In the past I could see some grunts about the game not looking up to snuff. I don’t think that’s the case with Ghosts. I’m very curious to see how the single player looks as well as how it will look on next-gen consoles.
The gameplay in Ghosts is a departure from past CoD games in the sense that you die faster now, much faster. Standard mode is close to hardcore mode. There’s almost no need to play hardcore now. Well, almost. This is a good thing though. There’s far less of unloading an entire clip towards someone only to have him or her survive and kill you. I’m thankful for that. It was one of the main reasons why I would only play hardcore and couldn’t stand the standard mode. With these minor changes playing each game is faster and not as drawn out. The pace seems to be upped to the 10th degree. All of this was a bonus for me. And a biggie, the gameplay makes it feel like snipers are no longer a concern. They’re still a threat but they don’t seem to pose as much of a thread as Black Ops II.
The weapons and perks system is a massive departure from the past. It’s a bit overwhelming when you look at it. Everything is basically based on a coin system. The more you do in the game the more coins you receive. It’s a simple process but what do you spend the coins on? That’s where it becomes tricky. I find myself stockpiling coins because I’m afraid to spend it on items that don’t suit me. One cool thing I wish was employed through out the whole game is that the coin system was adopted for weapons as it is for perks. You can buy or level up to gain access to perks. That is a really good idea. If you want a perk so bad it’s affecting your strategy and just can’t play without it, you can buy it with your coins. If you can wait, you can level up to it. You can’t do that with weapons but I wish you were able to.
With the perk and weapon system changes you must now oput some thought into how you construct your character and his or her load out. Gone are the days of picking the “holy trinity” and going with that. While there may still be the choice weapons many will use, how you accessorize them, and which ones you choose to ultimately unlock, are no longer cookie cutter. There’s some thought that needs to go into your choices. This adds a level of dimension to the game that makes it much more enjoyable for me. You’re held accountable for your choices because you’re spending the coins on weapons.
Maps are always a big part of a CoD game. This time around, Ghosts seems to be a merger of prior CoD games and the openness of Battlefield maps. The maps in Ghosts are mostly more open than they have been in past CoD games. The scale of Battlefield maps isn’t there, which is a good thing for this game. They’re also not as claustrophobic as many of the maps in past Call of Duty games. There’s a nice balance that I’m very happy with. What the maps suffer from are there are no signature maps. There really aren’t any that I see stand out as great maps. Every CoD game always seems to have a few must play maps. In Ghosts, there’s none that I can see. There’s none that define the game.
There’s on big gripe I have with the game and it’s something I experienced in Black Ops II and that’s party lag comp. I don’t know if it’s actually been proven but whenever I was in a party in Black Ops II my games would suffer and it would be as if I was a ubernoob. The drop in stats was exponential. I’m not someone who has a high K/D. I hover around 1/1. Whoever I was in a party I was always a step late and I would drop to fractions. I had games where I could do nothing and ended up with like five kils and 20 deaths. It was frustrating and would make playing in a party unenjoyable. Unfortunately this appears to be carried over to Ghosts. All members of my party’s stats suffered. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s been proven, but, first hand experience makes this seem as if it’s the case.
On that note, playing solo I encountered absolutely zero lag comp issues. There really wasn’t a point where I felt the other team, or a single player, had an advantage based on hosting or some other variable. I was pleasantly surprised. There were no screams of “I know I shot him first. WTF!!!!?!?!?!?!?!” There was none of the ‘killed by someone coming around a corner that wasn’t there on my screen’ moments. However, both of those did happen when I was in a party. For the most part, playing solo didn’t highlight any of that. It may be there slightly but I didn’t come across it, or it wasn’t as prevalent as it has been in the past for me to even notice it.
Another gripe I have are the spawns. I can understand why it’s being done in a seemingly random nature. I believe it’s to stop people from spawn camping. I think this is one area that Black Ops II excelled in over Call of Duty: Ghosts. In BOII, if your spawn area were overpowered, you would switch to the other side of the map’s spawn site. If neither were safe you would spawn in a neutral area. In Ghosts it seems as if it’s completely random and it takes a few moments to get your bearings to get a feel for where you are in a map. Hopefully that will be patched.
The multiplayer in Call of Duty: Ghosts is a very enjoyable. Almost everything that was changed was changed for the better. It’s a very well done evolution of the series and a nice way to transition to the start of the next-generation. Call of Duty: Ghosts is the best evolution of the series in a few years. Infinity Ward did a good job with it and fans should really enjoy it. I’m not sure why there’s so much dislike for it coming from reviewers. I guess it’s now the cool thing to hate on the game. That’s fine but I’m not one of those people. I enjoy Ghosts this far and it’s added a much needed level of thought to how you approach the game. Good job Infinity Ward!
More of the same, I beg to differ!
*Screens are for narrative purposes only and are not to be used as a gauge of the Xbox 360's graphics.
After playing it for nearly six hours yesterday, I must say, I enjoyed the crap out of Call of Duty: Ghosts. It’s like a merging of some of the best parts of Call of Duty and Battlefield. Immediately upon playing one thing became readily apparent, the motion of the game was the smoothest I’ve ever seen in a Call of Duty. It’s only 60fps but it felt like it was far faster. There were no FPS drops to be had except for some very rare occurrences of lag. It was rock solid. Black Ops II never felt smooth like Ghosts does. I mean never. It’s like night and day. The graphics were also something I was surprised by. The past few iterations of the CoD series haven’t been know as games that were pushing graphical boundaries. While Ghosts isn’t the cream of the crop it’s no slouch when it comes to the graphics department and I feel easily surpasses the graphics in Black Ops II. In the past I could see some grunts about the game not looking up to snuff. I don’t think that’s the case with Ghosts. I’m very curious to see how the single player looks as well as how it will look on next-gen consoles.
The gameplay in Ghosts is a departure from past CoD games in the sense that you die faster now, much faster. Standard mode is close to hardcore mode. There’s almost no need to play hardcore now. Well, almost. This is a good thing though. There’s far less of unloading an entire clip towards someone only to have him or her survive and kill you. I’m thankful for that. It was one of the main reasons why I would only play hardcore and couldn’t stand the standard mode. With these minor changes playing each game is faster and not as drawn out. The pace seems to be upped to the 10th degree. All of this was a bonus for me. And a biggie, the gameplay makes it feel like snipers are no longer a concern. They’re still a threat but they don’t seem to pose as much of a thread as Black Ops II.
The weapons and perks system is a massive departure from the past. It’s a bit overwhelming when you look at it. Everything is basically based on a coin system. The more you do in the game the more coins you receive. It’s a simple process but what do you spend the coins on? That’s where it becomes tricky. I find myself stockpiling coins because I’m afraid to spend it on items that don’t suit me. One cool thing I wish was employed through out the whole game is that the coin system was adopted for weapons as it is for perks. You can buy or level up to gain access to perks. That is a really good idea. If you want a perk so bad it’s affecting your strategy and just can’t play without it, you can buy it with your coins. If you can wait, you can level up to it. You can’t do that with weapons but I wish you were able to.
With the perk and weapon system changes you must now oput some thought into how you construct your character and his or her load out. Gone are the days of picking the “holy trinity” and going with that. While there may still be the choice weapons many will use, how you accessorize them, and which ones you choose to ultimately unlock, are no longer cookie cutter. There’s some thought that needs to go into your choices. This adds a level of dimension to the game that makes it much more enjoyable for me. You’re held accountable for your choices because you’re spending the coins on weapons.
Maps are always a big part of a CoD game. This time around, Ghosts seems to be a merger of prior CoD games and the openness of Battlefield maps. The maps in Ghosts are mostly more open than they have been in past CoD games. The scale of Battlefield maps isn’t there, which is a good thing for this game. They’re also not as claustrophobic as many of the maps in past Call of Duty games. There’s a nice balance that I’m very happy with. What the maps suffer from are there are no signature maps. There really aren’t any that I see stand out as great maps. Every CoD game always seems to have a few must play maps. In Ghosts, there’s none that I can see. There’s none that define the game.
There’s on big gripe I have with the game and it’s something I experienced in Black Ops II and that’s party lag comp. I don’t know if it’s actually been proven but whenever I was in a party in Black Ops II my games would suffer and it would be as if I was a ubernoob. The drop in stats was exponential. I’m not someone who has a high K/D. I hover around 1/1. Whoever I was in a party I was always a step late and I would drop to fractions. I had games where I could do nothing and ended up with like five kils and 20 deaths. It was frustrating and would make playing in a party unenjoyable. Unfortunately this appears to be carried over to Ghosts. All members of my party’s stats suffered. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s been proven, but, first hand experience makes this seem as if it’s the case.
On that note, playing solo I encountered absolutely zero lag comp issues. There really wasn’t a point where I felt the other team, or a single player, had an advantage based on hosting or some other variable. I was pleasantly surprised. There were no screams of “I know I shot him first. WTF!!!!?!?!?!?!?!” There was none of the ‘killed by someone coming around a corner that wasn’t there on my screen’ moments. However, both of those did happen when I was in a party. For the most part, playing solo didn’t highlight any of that. It may be there slightly but I didn’t come across it, or it wasn’t as prevalent as it has been in the past for me to even notice it.
Another gripe I have are the spawns. I can understand why it’s being done in a seemingly random nature. I believe it’s to stop people from spawn camping. I think this is one area that Black Ops II excelled in over Call of Duty: Ghosts. In BOII, if your spawn area were overpowered, you would switch to the other side of the map’s spawn site. If neither were safe you would spawn in a neutral area. In Ghosts it seems as if it’s completely random and it takes a few moments to get your bearings to get a feel for where you are in a map. Hopefully that will be patched.
The multiplayer in Call of Duty: Ghosts is a very enjoyable. Almost everything that was changed was changed for the better. It’s a very well done evolution of the series and a nice way to transition to the start of the next-generation. Call of Duty: Ghosts is the best evolution of the series in a few years. Infinity Ward did a good job with it and fans should really enjoy it. I’m not sure why there’s so much dislike for it coming from reviewers. I guess it’s now the cool thing to hate on the game. That’s fine but I’m not one of those people. I enjoy Ghosts this far and it’s added a much needed level of thought to how you approach the game. Good job Infinity Ward!
More of the same, I beg to differ!
*Screens are for narrative purposes only and are not to be used as a gauge of the Xbox 360's graphics.
