It would seem the more things change, the more they stay the same with the CoD franchise. Since 2007, we've been fragging in modern and not too distant future settings, with the quality of the annualized franchise eroding away with each new rushed title.
6 years ago, I was blown away by how fresh, balanced and beautiful Call of Duty 4 was. Even to this day, I believe CoD 4 is one of the greatest FPS' of all time because in an age of WWII shooters and Halo, Call of Duty dared to be different and did a damn good job at it. Since then, the only title I really rate as being a worthy successor to CoD 4 is Modern Warfare 2, it may have had its problems on the PC side of things and an imbalanced multiplayer, but once again Infinity Ward wanted to make CoD a step above any other shooter on the market. Unfortunately for Activision and the CoD franchise, the tide of fandom is now moving against them.
With the releases of Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 2, we were excited to see new settings and a "new" system, but to this day, the only major changes to Call of Duty has been the multiplayer maps, basic system and the story in each new US$60 (AU$90-110 RRP) edition. With Ghosts, the remnants of the once great studio Infinity Ward "acknowledged" the fanbases demands for updated visuals and a truly different multiplayer experience, but Activision being the great money spinner they are, press releases and media events gave a taste of something new and fresh, but really, Ghosts suffers from being what is the worst CoD ever REMADE.
First off, the campaign. Call of Duty games in the past have always provided a half decent story, even if they were America-centric. The nuke from Call of Duty 4, waking up in the fountain in Call of Duty World at War, the emotionally heavy battle for the White House in Modern Warfare 2 with Hans Zimmers excellent score in the background, getting revenge against Dragovich in Black Ops, the heart wrenching death of Soap in Modern Warfare 3 and even the scenes between Menendez and his sister Josefina in Black Ops 2, all defined their games and connected us to what were sloppy stories. Unfortunately, Ghosts doesn't have any of this. The cliched and massively predictable storyline has short missions and the most terrible AI of any Call of Duty I have ever seen. Seriously, the Germans that would just jump one foot to the side when you aimed at them in Call of Duty 1 were better than these idiots that run into your bullets and can only shoot at you apparently. It is a story that makes you ask; "Wait. Is he really the main villain? You're kidding right?". A short, restrictive and mechanically outdated campaign weighs down the game, but it is the multiplayer that truly sinks this title.
As someone who has played every CoD multiplayer and enjoyed them, this was a true nightmare. Lowered health, a terrible UI, a frustrating and hugely time consuming system of Squad Points and overpowered weaponry is just a slice of how truly terrible the multiplayer experience is. Let's start with the multiplayer maps, some are way way way too big when the emphasis in multiplayer is the use of Assault Rifle weaponry, other maps are so small it is impossible for you not to be shot in the back at least 5 times. The narrowness of some maps and the wide open sniper fest of others, in conjunction with only starting with two custom class slots instead of the standard 5 in previous titles, expensive weaponry and slow ranking up eat away at what should be an enjoyable experience. Instead the spawn systems negates any kind of skilled player excelling in the game.
Other game modes like Squads and Extinction mode are unfortunately copy-and-pastes of Zombies from previous titles and even just playing with bots in Black Ops 1 and 2. The very mention of Squads should make all developers who worked on this game bow the heads in shame. Never before have I seen such a waste of development time with what is essentially an easy humans vs bots or bots vs bots mode. Extinction may have a few distinguishing features from its Zombies counterpart, but like survival mode in Modern Warfare 3, I am left feeling bored and with an odd sense of déja vu.
In the end, Call of Duty: Ghosts is a culmination of all of the titles before it, that strips away any distinctiveness, anything that made the previous titles great and shamelessly copies most of the weapon models while doing it. A terrible, poorly written campaign, a frustrating, poorly designed multiplayer and the other copy-paste game modes and "new engine" make Call of Duty: Ghosts, hopefully, a franchise killer. It is not worth your time, money or even thought, avoid at all costs or it will cost you time and a good mood.