Call of Duty: Ghosts - I've earned my mask

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the first title from Activision's multi-billion dollar franchise that I have played. I'd read a few reviews saying that the single player campaign would take approximately six hours to complete on the regular difficulty setting. A little sceptical that the campaign would be that short, I started playing Ghosts late Friday evening. Most of Saturday was spent out of the house, but I managed to progress about two-thirds of the way through the storyline by Saturday night. On Sunday morning I managed to 'earn my mask.' 

I didn't take note of how many actual hours I'd spent playing Ghosts, but I managed to complete the campaign during three relatively short sessions, which also had a few rounds of Extinction thrown in for some variety. So the single player campaign really is quite short.

Regardless, I still enjoyed playing the game, which is the whole point of playing the game isn't it? Yes, the graphics aren't quite as good as all those screen shots being thrown around of the game being played on next-generation consoles, but at least I got to play it at 1080p. All that 'resolutiongate' stuff doesn't really matter though, because the action is so fast-paced there will be very little time to stop and clip the foliage.

The constant on going action was actually an aspect that I didn't particularly like about the game. I found it difficult to follow the dialogues, and concentrate on where enemy gunfire was coming from simultaneously. I guess this is since Ghosts is based around missions which make up standalone levels, as opposed to the free-roam type of shooter (e.g. Tomb Raider and Borderlands) that I am used to. This non-stop action definitely adds to the intensity of the game experience.

I now need to sit down and organise a proper internet connection for my console. Then I'll be able to get stuck into playing some online multiplayer, and experience the real reason the Call of Duty franchise is so popular first-hand. That said, my inability to follow dialogue, and enemies at the same time may mean that I wont make a particularly successful online soldier, but I wont know until I've given it a go. This might be a good excuse to get that head set I've been eyeing out for the past few weeks though. Either way, I'm especially looking forward to playing Extinction with someone else to help me take out all those damn zerglings, as well as seeing my customised soldier in action.

Overall, Call of Duty: Ghosts hasn't been my favourite first person shooter title (that would be Borderlands), but I did enjoy playing through the single player campaign. I thought that the games ending was absolutely brilliant. I had just breathed a sigh of relief, as the credits rolled, and then back to another cut scene. I was left thinking, 'did that just happen?' Without spoiling the ending too much, this was an obvious way to leave the door open for the development of a sequel.

Given the shortness of the campaign, I will likely play through Ghosts at least once more on a higher difficulty setting in order to try find the remaining Rorke Files, and unlock a few more trophies. But before I do so, I want to spend some more time exploring the intricate worlds of Sanctuary and Pandora.