Review

Call of Duty: Ghosts (Next Gen)

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times – I’m a big fan of the Call of Duty series. And as a fan I feel the series is suffering due to its yearly push. With Call of Duty: Ghosts, I was hoping that the innovations included in Treyarch’s Black Ops 2 would be expounded upon or at the very least feature new elements to help elevate the series. Regrettably that’s not exactly the case here.

I don’t want to retread the talking points used in the current gen version of the game (you can read that review here) as most of what I said still holds true. Instead I want to point out the differences I saw after receiving my review copy of the next generation version. With that being said, let’s get one thing out of the way right now. Everyone complaining about the lower resolution when comparing the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game can seriously stop it. Ghosts looks great and at 60fps, it runs smooth as butter. Even on a large HD TV I honestly couldn’t tell the game was running at 720p. And though it might be slightly (emphasis on the word slightly) better looking on a PS4, all that really matters is that it’s much better looking in comparison to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.

For some reason, the game also seems to play better on these next gen systems. I don’t know if it was because of better controllers or the fact that I was enamored by how Ghosts looked visually, but I tended to fare better in online matches. Outside of this “feeling” of better gameplay, almost everything else was identical to the Xbox 360 versions multiplayer modes. One thing that was changed is the omission of the coveted Ground Wars multiplayer match option. Because of the new engine used in Ghosts, there weren’t enough resources to smoothly run 18 player matches and allow for customizable soldiers on the Xbox 360. Not a problem for the Xbox One.

Brining back this popular mode isn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. It alone won’t make gamers run out and purchase an Xbox One or PS4 to play it. At the same time having 18 player matches is quite fun, especially on some of the larger maps. Based on my experiences with both versions of Ghosts, I believe that the better versions are the next gen ones. This isn’t as obvious as it sounds; beyond visuals, usually the next gen versions are bare bones because of a lack programming knowledge with the new hardware.  In this case, Ghosts on the Xbox One features better graphics, seems to play better, and has an extra set of online matches all for the same price as the current gen edition. If you plan on getting Call of Duty: Ghosts, and don’t have a decent PC, then next gen is the way to go!