On August 14, 2013, Activision held a press event in Los Angeles to unveil Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer to the world. Activision flew me out to LA along with dozens of other journalists to see the reveal in person and get some hands on time with the Xbox One version of the game.We were able to play a couple of the game's new multiplayer modes including Cranked and Search and Rescue.
Cranked is loosely based on the Jason Statham movie of the same name. Cranked is a new take on team deathmatch whereby your players movement and reloading speed increase as you build up a kill streak. The only catch is that once you start a streak, you have thirty seconds to kill your next opponent otherwise you explode. Cranked is very fast-paced fun and as the timer ticks down the last few seconds it successfully pumps up the adrenaline.
Search and Rescue was easily my favorite of the two. This mode is a combination of two classic modes: Kill Confirmed and Search and Destroy. The twist to the classic Search and Destroy mode allows you to be revived during a round if your teammates pick-up your dog tags in the event you are killed.
A new addition to this year's game are Field Orders. Field Orders are mid-match challenges that reward you with XP, ammo and care packages. The first player to die in a match drops a blue briefcase, which contains different challenges (for example kill a player from behind). If you pick-up the briefcase and complete the challenges you are rewarded.
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| There's always a lighthouse... |
Octane showed off one of the game's newest features: dynamic events. Dynamic events offer an evolving battlefield by allowing you to destroy certain structures on the map. Suitably enough, Octane features a gas station that can be destroyed, which opens sight lines and new vantage points. There is a large open area in the middle of the map with destroyed cars surrounded by plenty of rooftops and reminded me a little of the movie Black Hawk Down. The fire fights were extremely intense and I found myself holding my breath running out in the open, hoping not to attract attention.
Another map we played was a dark snow covered town called Whiteout. We played Search and Rescue and Domination on this map. Whiteout was probably the biggest of the three maps and it offered a good mix between close quarters and long range combat.
The third map we played was Strike Zone, which was the smallest of the three maps. Strike Zone is a close quarters industrial map with plenty narrow walkways and few open areas. This map served as a great site to try the game's new Cranked mode.The kill streak system returns with some notable changes.
My biggest gripe with past games in the series is that players who unlock the AC130 or the helicopter gunship could destroy the other team and only specialized weapons would take these vehicles down. Ghosts addresses this problem by scaling back the aerial vehicle rewards and focusing more on ground weapons and assets; the newest being a satcom and a companion dog. Satcom basically replaces the UAV, while the companion dog helps attack enemies and call out their positions.
The dogs are a great addition to the game. They do take a fair bit of ammo to kill since they wear body armor and can lunge at you from a several meters away. Even if you die, the dog will still attack enemies and find its way back to you after you respawn.
There are a couple of new aerial kill streak rewards including the night owl and aerial sniper. The night owl assists you by spotting bombs and mines on the map, while the aerial sniper will hover over the battlefield and pick off enemies. During my hands on time, I wasn't able to experience these rewards on either the giving or receiving end, as most action was concentrated on ground attacks. That being said it was nice to run out into the open and not get mowed down by an aerial vehicle.
Ghosts' audio has been vastly improved and sounds amazing. The crackle of gunfire sounds eerily reminiscent of what you hear on the news when Journalists are reporting from war zones. Gunfire sounds different depending on what type of setting you are shooting in. Gunfire in a metal garage will sound different than a wide open area or a carpeted building. The realistic audio modelling also helps you identify where gunfire is coming from
The build we played looked much more polished than Black Ops 2 with improved textures and lighting (and obviously, some extra horsepower with a next gen console didn't hurt). Like past Call of Duty game's, the frame rate seemed stable at sixty frames per second. There was one feature that was sorely missing, which was wholly destructible environments. With Battlefield 4 and the next generation of consoles coming out this fall, it would seem fitting that fully destructible environments make a debut in Ghosts. That being said, the dynamic map events (Octane in particular) are a step in the right direction.
The core gameplay for the most part feels like classic Call of Duty.
In addition to what I previously mentioned, there were some other subtle new gameplay additions like the ability to knee slide, peek around corners and vault over objects without losing momentum. .While there are a lot of little changes here and there, they all come together to improve the balance of the game and make this look like the best Call of Duty to date. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we'll have more hands on impressions of Call of Duty Ghosts.
- Sidd Masand
Additional: The event not only offered us a chance to play Ghosts, but get some hands on time with Microsoft's new console. The One controller feels amazing and very natural when playing a first person shooter. The most notable difference between the 360 and One controller is the location of the d-pad and left joystick. My only real complaint is that the bumper buttons aren't loose enough for my liking.
