

It all adds up to a campaign that follows the familiar rhythms of the series, but in a more varied and generous way. Moments like these further the game's excellent pacing, serving as welcome palette cleansers after some of the more spacious and chaotic battles. Then there are the more tightly scripted scenes, like prowling through a dense jungle while using a motion tracker to spot enemies, or rappelling down the side of a Caracas skyscraper as you quietly snipe soldiers patrolling its interior. These bombastic set pieces are complemented by more subdued moments, like a deep-sea scuba mission that has you swimming through gorgeous reef formations while avoiding enemies both shark and human.

Tank controls are unapologetically agile in Ghosts. It's also a game with a knack for crafting tense shootouts in unexpected locales, highlighted by a brief jaunt into outer space that has you floating from one piece of debris to the next, aiming the shots that will make a Federation soldier's helmet decompress in a gruesome hiss. At various points you go after a missile launch center by tank and an offshore industrial facility by helicopter, each serving as excellent examples of how well Call of Duty's zippy and responsive controls can be applied toward massive, fully navigable battlefields. The approach pays off: Ghosts features a terrific collection of shootouts and set pieces, largely unburdened by the sensation that you're merely an extra in someone else's adventure. In many ways, Infinity Ward has crafted a story that reflects the stoic nature of the Ghosts themselves: focused, efficient, and committed to the task at hand. Ghosts delivers just enough narrative to serve as a catalyst for its whirlwind tour through global warzones, while resisting the urge to club you over the head with plot twists and gratuitous shock-and-awe moments. The whole thing feels like a geopolitical Mad Lib, but a functional and rather harmless one. The conflict that follows is one centered on the Ghosts, an enigmatic tier one task force with a penchant for lethal efficiency and sweet skeleton masks.

Naturally, the Federation decides to hijack a satellite weapon system and turn it against the United States. After the collapse of the Middle Eastern oil economy, South America's oil-producing states join together to form an economic and military superpower known as the Federation. It's a good thing, too, because the story is every bit a predictable tribute to American military might.
CALL OF DUTY WAW PC WITH A PS4 CONTROLLER FULL
Now Playing: Call of Duty: Ghosts Video Review Ghosts is full of atmospheric touches, like bubbles discharging from your gun when fired underwater. It's a game that avoids falling in love with its own cinematic ambitions, allowing the ruthless combat and well-paced encounters to take center stage over the plot.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Infinity Ward has done a great job reining in the excesses of previous Call of Duty campaigns, replacing the crumbling Eiffel Tower and runaway Tube trains of Modern Warfare 3 with a less heavy-handed approach that employs spectacle-and there's no shortage of that here-as more of a complement to its core combat. Much of Ghosts' success stems from its own sense of humility. Along with the outstanding new Extinction co-op mode and an abundance of clever refinements to competitive multiplayer, Call of Duty: Ghosts is a refreshing and thoroughly satisfying entry in the blockbuster shooter franchise.
CALL OF DUTY WAW PC WITH A PS4 CONTROLLER SERIES
But whereas Infinity Ward's recent work on the Modern Warfare series was weighed down by bewildering plot twists and an affinity for restricting its most exciting moments to noninteractive set dressing, Ghosts tells a lean, straightforward story that throws you into plenty of spectacular situations, but with more breathing room to appreciate the action. You barely have time to take stock of the idyllic Southern California setting before fire begins raining down from the heavens, destroying every car and home in sight as a shouty man commands you to follow him to safety. The first few minutes of Call of Duty: Ghosts don't paint a terribly accurate portrait of what lies ahead. Ghosts remains an enjoyable shooter no matter which new console you choose. But the next-gen lighting effects found in the PS4 version are very much present, as is the series' trademark 60 frames-per-second action. This is due primarily to a difference of resolution: Ghosts on Xbox One tops out at 720p, while the PS4 version looks sharper and clearer at 1080p. Like many recent multiplatform titles, the Xbox One version of Call of Duty: Ghosts looks slightly inferior on Microsoft's new console when compared to the PlayStation 4 version.
