Call of Duty: Ghosts review

Call of Duty: Ghosts' story takes you to a new, near-future era. Modern Warfare’s Soap and Price are nowhere to be seen and have been replaced by the young brothers, Logan and Hesh, who are fighting against a fictional superpower called The Federation. Your faceless enemy remains faceless throughout the game, with the story's only antagonist being a uninspired Federation lackey. As a result of the enemy organization's ambiguity, you never really know the motivations behind it hijacking a weaponized space station and bombing the bejeezus out of the United States, so why care? The plot plays out so by-the-numbers that you know what to expect before it even happens, making every dramatic moment less impactful, every cliched plot twist fall flat, and every line of military jargon that much more cheesy.

But what about Riley? Fighting with a dog through war must be an emotional rollercoaster, right? Well, he has his moments of badassery and distress, but he is more Hesh's best friend than he is Logan's (you). So, all of the emotional attachment you experience is witnessed looking in on Hesh and Riley's relationship--you're just the third wheel. In the end, not having your own pet proved to be just another missed opportunity to suck me into Ghosts' story and world. But don't blame Riley, he's still a good boy.

The story's shortcomings could have been softened by memorable single-player missions, but these instead quickly become stale. Call of Duty has always relied on its super epic set-piece moments to create a memorable, action-packed experience. The frequency of these intense scenes has been upped a notch in Ghosts, but the action often fails to impress. Far too many of the levels break down like this: you play sneaky for the first third, go guns-blazing for the second third, and escape explosions, falling buildings, or overwhelming enemy forces in the last stretch. When used sparingly, these sequences build anticipation for the strenuous firefights of the coming battle, and give a satisfying "whew"-conclusion to the mission. But here, the formula is used so often that it becomes predictable, and thus leaves Ghosts without much dramatic impact.