Reviews// Call of Duty: Ghosts

Ghosts follows a similar method, and we’ll talk perks first. As standard, you have eight perk points. Perks each have a point rating from one-five, and you’re free to distribute your perk points as you wish. Essentially what this means, is that you could have eight one-point perks, one five-point perk and a three-point perk or any other combination you choose.

Interestingly though, you can choose to throw out your secondary weapon and equipment if you feel like 8 perk points isn’t enough. Doing this will reward you with 11 perk points, which again you’re free to distribute as you please.

As for weapons, attachments, equipment and kill streaks, you unlock squad points as you level up and complete challenges. New weapons/attachments/equipment/kill streaks cost squad points, so rather than unlocking them as you level up, you can choose what you want and purchase it when you’ve earned the correct amount of points.

It’s a very interesting system, although a little confusing when you first start to use it. I personally think it’s much better than the old way, and gives you plenty of control over how you play.

In Ghosts multiplayer, we have all the old favourites such as Team Deathmatch and Domination, but on top of that, we also have a couple of new entries; Extinction and Squads mode.

Now, I’m going to go ahead and assume you’ve all played some form of Nazi zombies on one of the Treyarch entries to the series. Am I right? Of course I am. Well, Extinction follows a similar path. Alien… things… are attacking, and you (and up to 3 other players) have to make your way around a map destroying their hives.

It’s not quite that simple though. See, these aliens get thicker and stronger the further you progress. Lucky for you though, you earn points from kills which can then be spent on supplies, new weapons and other power-ups.

Around the map, you’ll find little piles of rubble or lockboxes that you’re able to search. Doing so will often reward you with an extra $200, some ammo, or even a weapon attachment to help you repel the alien hordes.

At the minute, I haven’t had very much time with Extinction, but from what I have played, it’s rapidly-paced fun and I’m definitely looking forward to putting some real time into it.

As for Squads mode, it’s your job to build a team of 10 soldiers, and outfit them in the same way as the competitive multiplayer mode (perks, equipment, weapons etc).

You’ll take control of one member of the squad, and the AI will control the rest. Once you’re happy with your team, it’s time to jump into one of the game modes, whether that be a one-on-one against another player and his squad, or a Survival game in which you have to control points on the map as you’re bombarded by wave after wave of infected AI enemies.

Squads has a nice variation in its game modes and offers a less stressful alternative to the competitive online multiplayer. Players that are new to the series will definitely benefit from putting a few hours into squad games before heading online. As for CoD veterans, they’ll either love the mode as a casual alternative to online multiplayer, or they’ll think it’s a complete waste of time.

Overall, I think that Ghosts has one of the strongest CoD campaigns to date, the customisation for the competitive multiplayer is great, although fairly confusing to start with, and squads mode offers new players a nice alternative to the stressful competitive multiplayer. As for extinction, I’m really looking forward to rounding up three mates and spending a night (or several) destroying alien hives.

Pros:
+ Empathetic feel to campaign with a much better storyline
+ Customisation is much more immersive
+ Extinction mode has potential to be great fun

Cons:
- Class customisation can be very confusing to start with
- Still no customisation on campaign
- Campaign isn’t massively different from previous entries

SPOnG Score: 4/5