By – Carlin Au
Call of Duty’s multiplayer has always been renowned for its emphasis on close quarters combat. Their map sizes tend to be small, but they feel large because of the multiple layers the developers have added to them. Creating those upper and bottom levels in a map provides multiple angles of attack. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it makes Call of Duty Ghosts a lot harder because instead of watching your surroundings on a 2D plane, you need to be a aware on a 3D plane. First person shooters generally put enemies around us, but never above or below. I think this generation of FPS players aren’t used to checking spots above or below them. The map design in Call of Duty Ghosts is great for people who can adapt to this, but those who can’t may have a hard time playing. I fear that this may have caused players to camp more than usual since the verticality in the maps raised the chance of getting killed from unexpected angles.
Sometimes, these unexpected angles come from behind you, seconds after you spawn. There were countless times where I would spawn and get almost immediately killed because the system would place me near people running in my direction. I’ve been on the other side of this problem as well, and it’s annoying since I feel like I don’t deserve to get that kill. That wasn’t a kill I earned, it happened by chance. There’s no skill in getting lucky because the spawn system decided to put someone in front of me. This problem doesn’t happen often, but it’ll occur at least two to three times per game. When the spawning system works well, it’ll spawn someone far enough from enemies, but close enough so that it’s not hard to find people to shoot at. However, when it actually works, it’s not necessarily a good thing. The verticality in the maps increases the size of the map, so when someone spawns far from other people, they’re even further away from enemies. This means that you’ll have to run a lot more to find other players to shoot at.
To some extent, the verticality in these maps makes them feel larger because it doubles, sometimes, triples, the size of the map. This makes it a lot harder to find people to shoot at. Yes, there’s more angles of attack in the map, but what good is that when there’s only twelve people in it? In the previous games, the map design was clearly based on an arena, there weren’t many layers, just a lot of different paths that tended to funnel players in a certain direction. When you take those maps, duplicate it while modifying certain paths, and then stack it on top of the original, suddenly the entire level is twice as big. Whereas before, those paths that the arena-like maps created made it easier to find opponents, these new levels tend to divert players into different sections while spreading people out.
When the players happen to find each other on the map, the combat is pretty solid and fluid. The movements when climbing over things feel very smooth and make traversing the level fun. The neat thing about climbing and vaulting is that when you vault through a window, you can still shoot. In the past, this was not possible and it was pretty easy to get caught climbing defenseless. With this new feature, players won’t rely too much on doorways, as most of the windows are viable entry and exit points. Using these windows was never a new idea, but the improvement creates new opportunities and a new dynamic in the gameplay.
The new cooperative mode, Extinction, was a pretty good experience for my friends and I. The aliens have personality; they feel more varied than zombies do in Treyarch-developed games. To some extent they’re a little more challenging than zombies since they move around a lot more and can have special attacks. The progression of the map was mostly controlled by player actions; to start the next wave of aliens, all you have to do is place the drill on the hive. Since hordes only come when players are ready, it may be a little easier to play.
There’s more time to take advantage of player abilities like disposable turrets, IMS, and extra ammo drops during those off periods. I really enjoy having a loadout to start the game with; those perks and skill trees come in handy. There’s a class system and I suspect that Infinity Ward was trying to encourage more teamwork between players, but I don’t know if it has made a huge impact since I found myself choosing the same classes as my friends were. Either way, its a fun game mode and I believe there is a lot of potential in the next maps they will undoubtedly include in their DLC packs.
Conclusion – Is It Worth Your Money?
Call of Duty Ghost’s multiplayer leaves much to be desired so far. Without the awful spawn system and larger maps, Ghosts could have been a pretty solid entry in the series. The gameplay feels smoother and more fluid than ever before. However, I can’t recommend getting Call of Duty Ghosts because these are problems caused by design; these issues aren’t glitches that can be fixed easily.
Call of Duty Ghosts – Multiplayer Review Technical Summary:
Time Played: 27 Hours
Widescreen Support: Yes
Resolution Played: 1600×900
Windowed Mode: Yes
FOV Slider: No
5.1 Audio Support: Yes
Bugs/Crashes Encountered: Stuttering in Menus, Performance Tips: switch CPU Priority to Normal in Task Manager, Turn off Terrain Detail.
Control Scheme: Mouse and Keyboard
DRM: Steamworks
System Specs: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, AMD Radeon HD 6870, 12 GB RAM
Game Acquisition Method: Review Copy
Availability: Steam, GreenManGaming, Amazon
Demo: No