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.

I ordered Call of Duty: Ghosts

I finally gave in and ordered the Call of Duty: Ghosts (Hardened Edition). I realised that I had a gift voucher from one of the retailers offering pre-orders, for a similar value as the difference in price between the regular edition, and the Hardened Edition. So I'm getting a CoD: Ghosts collector's edition, but only paying the price of the regular edition. Score!

Contents of the Hardened Edition

While there aren't a lot of physical goodies in the Hardened Edition, it does include quite a few digital items, including a season pass. Hopefully having a season pass to CoD: Ghosts, will help motivate me to fianlly getting around to connecting my PS3 to the internet. Then I'll not only be able download all the extra stuff (not just for CoD: Ghosts, but for several others titles too), but also play CoD: Ghosts online, as that seems to be where all the fun is to be had.

I haven't played any of the other CoD titles, so this will be my first experience with the series. I wont lie, I'm really looking forward to playing the underdogs in the single player campaign, as well as seeing what all the fuss is about the franchise. I'd also like to see if all the smack-talk from the Battlefield fan-boys is really warranted, although I haven't played Battlefield yet either. If I like enjoy playing CoD: Ghosts, then I reckon it was money well spent, and the Battlefield guys are wrong, if I don't enjoy the game, then I'll know to stay away from both franchises and rather stick to Borderlands for my first person shooter fix

Lastly, in case you are still unsure of whether to pre-order the game, here's single player campaign trailer. And watch those 'south of the equator' comments, I'm from south of the equator...

Will you survive the Extinction?

I happened to be looking at pre-order offers for Call of Duty: Ghosts when I came across an Instagram video from the CoD development team. On the right is the image from the video that caught my attention.

My initial thought was that this 'ghost mask' looked a lot like a chimera from the Resistance series. Turns out that there has been a much rumoured 'Extinction mode,' which as a result of the video, updated profile pictures on Facebook, and an album of screen shots (WARNING: here be potential spoilers!), now seems to be confirmed.

Extinction looks to be Infinity Ward's answer to Treyarch's hugely popular 'Zombies' mode from the Black Ops story arc.

I was considering giving Ghosts a miss, but after this 'announcement,' and after re-watching the multiplayer videos, I may reconsider that decision.