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.

Quick Notes: Call of Duty Ghosts Multiplayer Details

On August 14, 2013 Activision unveiled Call of Duty Ghosts (CODM) multiplayer to the world. A summary of the press conference is below:

Call of Duty Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal Trailer
The multiplayer premiere trailer was shown with an unreleased Eminem song called "Survival" playing in the background. A short clip of Eminem came on afterwards where he talked about his new song and his collaboration with the Franchise.

Review: Call of Duty Black Ops II (PS3)

When I saw Call of Duty: Black Ops II at E3 in June of this year, I couldn't have been less impressed. The demo we saw was hands-off and consisted of a walk through of the game's campaign and tactical strike missions. For the most part the game appeared similar to past iterations of the series. It wasn't until I actually got my hands on Black Ops II that my attitude changed.

Black Ops II does a lot of new things, while still feeling familiar.

Preview: Call of Duty Black Ops II (Multiplatform)

It seems like every year we always get a new version of Call of Duty (COD). Okay, so it doesn't seem like it -- that's what actually happens!

For the last several years I've grown less and less interested every time Activision announces the latest game in the franchise.

My relationship with COD reminds of this one episode of the TV show New Girl (which by the way is a fantastic show!). One of the main characters named Schmidt cannot stand a woman named Gretchen with whom he always ends up going home with for the night whenever they run into each other. The whole experience satisfies his urge at the moment, but leaves him feeling empty inside and regretting his decision the next morning.