Call Of Duty : Ghost

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a 2013 first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward, with assistance from Raven Software, Neversoft and Certain Affinity. Published by Activision, it is the tenth primary installment in the Call of Duty series and the sixth developed by Infinity Ward. The video game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U on November 5, 2013, with Treyarch handling the port for the Wii U. The game was released with the launch of next-generation consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

According to review score aggregator Metacritic, Ghosts received mixed reviews from critics, with most praising its multiplayer gameplay and introduction of the new game mode Extinction, but criticizing it for its single-player campaign, rehashing of familiar concepts, general lack of innovation, and storyline ending.

Gameplay[edit]

Campaign[edit]

In Call of Duty: Ghosts, the story is mostly told through the eyes of one single character, Logan Walker. Players assume the role of Logan for most of the game, with several other playable characters, including an astronaut specialist named Baker, and Logan's father, Elias Walker, with an all new option to play as Riley, the first non-machine and non-human character in the series.

Multiplayer[edit]

The multiplayer in Call of Duty: Ghosts features changes from that of previous Call of Duty games as some new mechanics have been added to it. Maps now have areas that can be altered or destroyed. There is a nuke-like kill streak reward, the KEM Strike. You can get the ODIN kill streak by either getting a certain amount of kills or you can get it by killing the top player on the other team and then completing various challenges after picking up a blue briefcase that is dropped. The sniper rifle scopes also have new "dual render technology" allowing the player to see around the outside of the scope (although blurred) when zoomed in. On October 3, a new multiplayer type was revealed, called Squads. This features a squad that you build and you can face other squads around the world. Your squad can be leveled up and will act like a true individual. "Octane", "Prison Break", "Tremor", "Freight", "Stormfront", "Siege", "Warhawk", "Sovereign", "Overlord", "Flooded", "Strikezone", "Whiteout", "Stonehaven" and "Chasm" are the maps that are in Call of Duty: Ghosts so far. The dynamic map, "Free Fall", was a pre-order bonus. The game now features playable female soldiers.^[10]

Competitive[edit]

The Call of Duty franchise began branching out competitively in 2006, alongside the game released at the time, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.^[11] Over the years, the series has extended with releases such as: Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and finally with the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts. With the release of each of these games, the competitive platform has become extremely popular and hosted on websites such as Gamebattles.com, Gamrs.net, and Majorleaguegaming.com.

These websites offer ladders or tournaments for the players to compete in. The ladders are divided into several sub ladders such as: the singles ladder, doubles ladder, team ladder (3v3 – 6v6) and hardcore team ladder (3v3 – 6v6). The difference between the regular team ladder and the hardcore team ladder is the in game settings and thus a rule differentiation. Winning ladder matches on a competitive website such asGamebattles.com rewards the user with experience points which add up to give them an overall rank.^[12]

The tournaments offered on these websites, provide players with the opportunity to win cash prizes and trophies if successful winning their given match. The trophies are registered and saved on the players profile if/when they win a tournament and the prize money is delivered to the bank account number listed on the account. Call of Duty Ghosts is the most active game being played competitively in 2014, with an average of 15,000 teams participating every season.^[13]

For the past 6 seasons in competitive Call of Duty, Full Sail University has hosted a prize giveaway to the top team, $2,500 in prize per season to the team in first place.^[14] The other ladders give out credits and medals registered on their profiles. Tournaments hosted on the Call of Duty Ghost’s Arena give cost from 15 to 30 credits, thusly averaging at a cost of about $18.75 per tournament. If the player competes with a team, the prize money is divided and an equal cut is given to each player. Other tournaments are hosted in specific cities and countries for LAN teams to compete in, with substantial prizes. Two other major tournaments that host competitions are MLG: Anaheim and MLG: Dallas

The biggest Call of Duty tournament hosted is Call of Duty Experience (XP) and it is hosted each year for the released Call of Duty. It began when Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 released and was hosted in 2011.^[15]The spectator passes cost $140 and the V.I.P passes cost $270 in the Ghosts store on Gamebattles, furthermore allowing spectators to meet the professional players and have access to certain gaming equipment set up for their own entertainment. The pass can either be sold on the Call of Duty: Experience website or in the Major League Gaming Store

The competitive Call of Duty series is most popular in Europe and North America, with users who participate in tournaments and ladder matches daily. While other games such as the StarCraft (series) and League of Legends (series) are more popular in both Asia and North America.^[16] With such a diverse group of users the competitive series is promoted on social media sites from all over the world, such as: YouTube,Twitch.tv, and Twitter with over an average of 500,000 followers or subscribers per competitive player.^[17]

Squads[edit]

Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces a new game type called Squads. This mode can be played either solo or with other players including friends. A squad consists of ten different customizable characters. Squads can be utilized in unique gamemodes involving AI controlled enemies and AI controlled squad mates. The gamemodes include Squad Assault, Safeguard, Safeguard Infinite, Squad vs Squad, and Wargame. All of these modes can be played while online or offline.

• Squad vs Squad: Two opposing players play team deathmatch using their Squads.
• Wargame: The player and five squad mates against a team of enemy bots in a mode.
• Safeguard: The player and up to three other friends in a wave-based survival match similar to Survival Mode from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but with the addition of perks and scorestreaks.

Multiplayer game modes[edit]

Call of Duty: Ghosts features several staple multiplayer game modes, while introducing several new game types, including:

• Search and Rescue: A take on Search & Destroy, but rather than having a single life per round, in Search & Rescue a player's team can revive them. It combines that teamwork and communication from Kill Confirmed with the objective-based cooperation of Search & Destroy.
• Gun Game: Similar to versions in previous games, the player starts with a pistol and continues to gain a new weapon for each player they kill. The match ends when a player cycles through all of the available weapons.^[18]
• Cranked: In this team-based game mode, the first team to earn 100 kills wins. Once a player kills an enemy, becoming "Cranked," the player who earned the kill has 30 seconds to earn a subsequent kill. If they do not earn a subsequent kill within 30 seconds they blow up. It does not appear that the detonation harms nearby teammates or enemies. If a player earns a subsequent kill within 30 seconds the timer resets to 30 seconds and the kill counts for two points instead of one. Once a player is "Cranked" their movement speed is increased, they throw grenades more rapidly, and they aim down sight more quickly, among other effects.^[9]
• Free For All: The classic gamemode from previous installments in the franchise returns, in which players must rack up a total of 30 kills to win the game against seven other opponents or rack up to most kills in a 10-minute time limit.
• Team Deathmatch: Team Deathmatch returns in Call of Duty: Ghosts: two teams, 10 minutes, 75 kill limit.
• Search and Destroy: A gamemode in which one side has five minutes to plant a bomb at a choice of two sites and the other team is tasked with defending the sites, the catch of this mode is there are no respawns and the game ends once one team wins four rounds.
• Domination: A gamemode where three flags are scattered throughout the map for players to take and control. Every five seconds a flag in controlled will gain a player's team a point, if a player's team controls two or three flags they gain two or three points. The first team to 200 points wins.
• Team Tactical: A mixture of objective games involving four on four matches.
• Kill Confirmed: A gamemode in which two teams battle, similar to TDM, with the catch being that when a player kills an enemy they drop a dog tag, which is worth points when collected. If a player collects a fallen teammate's dog tag, no points are award to the enemy team; first team to 100 points wins the game.
• Infected: Similar to the Modern Warfare 3 infected, one player is randomly infected at the beginning and can infect other players until either all survivors are infected or time runs out. Playlists will rotate between several different scenarios involving various loadouts. This mode allows up to 18 players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions and up to 12 players on the other platforms.^[19]
• Blitz: This team-based game mode is similar to Capture the Flag in that the player needs to go to a portal located at the enemy's spawn point while preventing players from the enemy team from reaching theirs. These portals are temporarily closed for 10 seconds when they are captured to prevent players from rushing.^[9]
• Hunted Free For All: Players start with a pistol, two throwing knives, and a flashbang. Crates are dropped in random locations throughout the match that contains more weapons and ammo for the players to compete for. The game mode has a 25 kill limit.
• Ground War: Containing a rotating playlist with Domination and Team Deathmatch, but with 12-18 players and a 100 kill limit for TDM. This mode is only available for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions of the game.
• Drop Zone: Teams take turns capturing drop zones for points.

Extinction[edit]

Extinction is a new 4-player co-op mode, which pits the player(s) against various types of aliens (known altogether as Cryptids) in a base-defending survival style map. The main goal is usually to destroy all of the Cryptid hives scattered across the map (with the exception of Awakening and Exodus; the former requires players scanning for obelisks in an area which need to be destroyed, while Exodus features generators which the players have to activate). Players choose from four different class types, with unique traits and customizable loadouts. The player(s) can level up their classes, unlocking more weapons and equipment for their loadouts. This mode is unlocked by finishing the first level of the Campaign.

The first map, "Point of Contact", is included within the base game, and serves as an introduction to the game mode. The map takes place in an abandoned city in Colorado, two weeks after the events of the campaign mission "Ghost Stories".

The second map, "Nightfall", is released as part of the Onslaught DLC pack, and is advertised as the first of the four episodic contents for Extinction. The map takes place in an Alaskan research facility, 14 weeks after "Point of Contact", and introduces two characters central to the story: Dr. Samantha Cross and Cpt. David Archer. The map also introduces two new types of Cryptid aliens, one of which (the Breeder) serves as a boss-type enemy. Players are also given access to a mysterious and powerful weapon: The Venom X. Players can unlock several pieces of intel, revealing details about the story revolving around Cross and Archer.

The third map, "Mayday", is released as part of the Devastation DLC pack, and is the second of four episodes of Extinction. The map takes place on board a Naval ship, 26 days after the events in "Nightfall", and introduces two more new types of Cryptids: The Seeder (Which looks like the red seekers) but is bright orange and spawns plantlike turrets that shoot projectiles at the players, and the Kraken, the large, multi-tentacled boss at the end of the chapter. In addition to weapons scattered throughout the ship, players can access schematics to build powerful offensive and defensive weapons, including 4 variations of the Venom X from the previous chapter. Players can also find intel as well to learn more about the story of Extinction.

The fourth map, "Awakening", which is released as part of the Invasion DLC pack, is advertised as the third episode. The map takes place in an underground Cryptid hive, 36 hours after "Mayday", and introduces three new types of Cryptids: the flying Gargoyle, the explosive Bomber, and the powerful Mammoth. The Cryptids' masters, the Ancestors, are also seen in the map. The players have access to ARK attachments, which turn weapons into laser weapons, greatly increasing their power. As with the previous two maps, intels can be found to discover more information regarding the story.

The final map, "Exodus", which also acts as the final episode of Extinction, is released as part of the Nemesis DLC pack. The map takes place in a launch facility, 3 months after "Awakening", where the players are pit in a final battle against the forces of the Cryptids. Nearly every Cryptid type is encountered in the map, including the Ancestors. Players can choose their own paths in progressing throughout the map. The map also introduces two brand new weapons, the NX-1 Disruptor and the NX-1 Grenades, which are required in taking out the Ancestors.