Review: Call of Duty: Ghosts (PS4)

When the Xbox 360 and PlayStation released back in 2005 and 2006 there was one series that was present at both launches. That series was Call of Duty: Call of Duty 2 for 360 and Call of Duty 3 for PlayStation 3.

With this generation of consoles launching seven or eight years later, the situation is no different. Call of Duty: Ghosts is available as a launch title for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It's become an industry norm that launch titles available to a respective platform are usually mediocre at best. Ghosts is one of the better games available at launch, but at the same time, the series is starting to feel a bit stale.

Review: Call of Duty - Ghosts (PS3)

Since the series went yearly in 2005, the gaming community has come to expect a new iteration of Call of Duty each holiday season.

Each year it seems like the latest instalment in the series breaks the previous years sales records.  Regardless of sales figures, many gamers feel the series has grown tiresome and stale. In addition to that, Electronic Arts Battlefield series holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers. So, Call of Duty: Ghosts has it's work cut out for itself.

Preview: Call of Duty Ghosts Hands-On

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.