Well, what can I say. I have always enjoyed the campaigns in Call of Duty games and this time around was no different. There were a couple of twists here and there and the ending did surprise me a little, but overall, it's more of the same. It looks great on 360 as well with a nice and stable framerate to go along with it. If it looks this good on Xbox 360, I hope it looks absolutely stunning on PS4 and Xbone. The game came on two discs for 360 with disc 1 being the play disc and 2 being a mandatory "HD Content" installation. Yes, mandatory, it won't even let you start the game unless you install Disc 2 first. Not a huge deal.

The dog(s) were definitely the highlight for me. Lots of other cool stuff and some surprises throughout the campaign that kept me interested the whole way through. Many, many different environments, definitely more than any previous COD game. Pacing was spot on. Voice acting was on point too, none of the actors stood out as being out of place or particularly bad, which was nice. Overall it was just a nicely paced, highly polished and carefully directed 4-5 hour campaign which is exactly what I expected. Call of Duty didn't disappoint in delivering more Call of Duty.

Of course, the real value in a package like Ghosts is all of the different multiplayer modes. I've played a bit of Squads and it seems fun but there also appears to be a really long progression ladder to climb unless I'm totally missing something with how to get your squadmates experience so they can level up. It seems like if you want to be competitive in squads mode it's going to be a hell of a grind to get everyone geared up the way you want. As far as actual multiplayer, I haven't been able to do any of that because matchmaking hasn't been turned on yet. Extinction mode is a completely separate progression ladder and is a slightly different take on Horde gameplay...it seems interesting and different enough to warrant including it in the package, but I'll have to revisit it when I can play with some friends. One thing that stood out about Extinction was that it seems to be a completely separate .exe, you click on the menu to start it and your screen goes black for a few seconds while it loads, and you're presented with practically a whole new game. It's a little strange compared to how well put together the rest of the package is, especially considering the Squads and regular MP integration. Something tells me that Extinction mode was possibly in development as it's own non-COD game at some point, and it got tossed into the Ghosts package instead of getting it's own release.

So, no surprise here but if you really like Call of Duty, you'll probably like Ghosts, too.

Was there anything as hard to see as the drones in Black Ops 2's presidential rescue mission?

please, tell me more about the dog. How do you reward him? can you train him? Level him up? What would you compare the dog with other video game animal companions?

@mb: I've heard that Extinction is more like Left 4 Dead than a zombies mode, and that levels actually have start and end points, rather than being a big bunch of unlockable rooms that you can "kite" enemies through. Is that true? If so, I'm much more excited for the new mode, as I never could get into the zombies mode in Treyarch games.

@sparky_buzzsaw said:

I had to think about this for a few minutes but...it depends on how you look at it? I don't really want to spoil anything. Lets just say that there were a couple of moments in the campaign where I died a few times in a row because I couldn't figure out exactly what the script wanted me to do.

Does the dog die at the end?

Better or worse than Black Ops 2, would you say?

@spaceinsomniac: To be fair I've only done two levels worth of Extinction mode so far. It's essentially horde mode against aliens with progression. The couple of maps I did play of it were like this...you pick up a drill, move it to an alien hive, plant the drill, then wait for a timer to countdown while you protect the drill from aliens who are intent on destroying it. You earn skill points to level up your character, and earn money by killing aliens that you can use to do things like drop ammo for your teammates and stuff like that. It's almost like horde mode with some vaguely moba-like elements thrown in.

Better for sure, and I liked the BLOPS 2 campaign. I think it's paced better and the story flows much more smoothly than what the previous COD game tried to do. There is some jumping around between characters and areas but it's not as jarring and I was never sitting there trying to figure out where the hell I was or what I was doing.

No. It dies right at the beginning of the game. A guy comes up and shoots it during the tutorial, then looks at the camera and gives you the finger.

I actually have no idea about the plot of this game.

I lol'd at the picture.

Have you tried extinction mode? At first I seriously thought it was joke by IW.

So its a Call of Duty game...

How did you play it? Anyways, that's pretty cool. I was actually playing MW3's campaign earlier, and I too enjoy Call of Duty's campaigns despite the length (Infinity Ward's more than Treyarch's).

4-5 hours... It's no Gone Home, but...

Is the plot as great as Black Ops II's?

Good to know it's at least on par with the other cod campaigns. It should be a fun launch game for my shiny new console.

Is this at all surprising at this point?

Great news. I'm looking forward to getting this for PS4.

These things come with a campaign?

If COD can deliver on a solid campaign every year why cant dice do it since they have an extra year of development time ? Could be resources spent on the Multiplayer though.

Awesome to hear. Love CoD, and Ghosts is one of my PS4 launch games, so I'm really excited about it.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12 - it was a fun ride, 15 minute campaign.

@mb: I need more info about the mandatory Disc 2 install stat. Can you save that stuff to a USB flash drive, much the same way you could with Halo 4, or does it HAVE to be on a HDD?

This could prove problematic for our business (gaming center) if it's forced to be on a HDD.

*EDIT* Just looked this up and you CAN use a USB flash drive. Thank goodness.

Good to hear positive stuff about the campaign. I've always enjoyed the campaigns for the games.

Dumb fun is about all I ask for from these games. This, AC IV and NFS:Rivals are what I expect to be playing over the holidays

Better dog: Chop or CoDoggy? Are the words "Who's a good boy?" ever uttered? And if so, is there a moral decision where you have to decide who is indeed a good boy?

I'm only interested in knowing the fate of the dog

@jakob187: I installed both discs to the same USB drive and performance is fine on 360.

@mb: Good news, man. Thanks for the info.

So, what... what is this one actually about? Because this isn't under the Treyarch... arc, right? And I'm assuming MW3 wrapped up the Soap/Price storyline, so are you still fighting Russians n stuff, or is this a whole new thing?

It's a whole new thing, new characters, new enemy, all of it.

Spoiler kinda for those that don't care about the ending:

There is a final post-credits cutscene that clearly sets the stage for Ghosts 2.

I dunno man, as far as campaigns go, Modern Warfare was stellar, Modern Warfare 2 was awesome, Black Ops was pretty good, Modern Warfare 3 was just okay and Black Ops 2 was completely boring. The series is hampered by its old engine and inability to top the big moments from MW and MW2. I can't see how yet another 4-5 hour romp through devastated America would be satisfying, no matter how many things explode/nukes go off/Eiffel towers fall/POV executions/torture scenes happen.

Your second paragraph sounds exactly like what everyone was saying about Black Ops 2 :(

I'm not saying you're wrong or that you didn't have fun, but maybe it's finally time I admit the CoD campaigns aren't for me anymore....

I must be about half way through and I'm finding it staggeringly underwhelming. I just don't give a toss about any of the characters. There's no charm to anybody. No Soap, no Price, no care. I love the campaigns in COD4, MW and MW2 and can't understand the anger at them because they were pure romping nonsense but even though things are exploding 5 times more than they should and the guns sound like they're cannons something is definitely missing.

I tried to kill the dog straight away, even grenades wouldn't work. Controlling it is like using an RC car with teeth. It's almost its own All Ghillied Up minigame. I'll report back and maybe it will rollercoaster into the wow-zone but currently it's a 6/10 for campaign.

EDIT: FInished it now and it's weak. Worst Infinity Ward COD by far. And I hate the dog.There's a bit where it says 'press x to put down Riley' and I wish it meant put down as in put to sleep as in fuck off you fucking Jonah of a mutt and stop getting me killed.

5/10.

So does Ghosts more closely follow the K-9 plot or Turner and Hooch?

The final plot twist actually leads into an ending reminiscent of Beethoven's 2nd.

I just beat Ghosts. Generally I enjoy CoD campaigns but this one was really terrible. Just bland all the way through. Not memorable at all.

That ending was baaaaaaad

I was debating between this and Battlefield for my PS4. Ultimately, after hearing from my brother, who is a huge CoD fan, I went with BF4. I also really like that, in that terrible Ghosts commercial with Skeletal Megan Fox, they do a whole lot of stuff you can't do in Call of Duty, but totally can do in Battlefield. REGARDLESS OF MY BIASES THOUGH, I'm glad you enjoyed it. After being really bummed out by MW3's campaign, I think I'm just over Call of Duty now.

Also I'm PRETTY SURE that Chalky White from Boardwalk Empire is Irish in BF4 so....Battlefield all the way. And also your commanding officer is some guy from Sons of Anarchy.

What difficulty did you play? As someone who plays on veteran, every time i hear 4-5 its more like 8-12 for me.

@me3639: I just complete on Veteran and so far it looks to be around 6-7h to complete if you do not die or have to retry, but there are a few spots along the way where the enemies are so hard to see that i at least could not help but retry a few times :) might be because i am more of a duck and cover guy than a rush-Rambo-style.

But its a decent campaign and a decent story.

That sounds like it could be a commercial for Battlefield 4.

From what I've played, I'm really enjoying the campaign. It feels like a polished action movie. I haven't been able to play much of it lately, don't want my daughter exposed to Mature rated games & movies, but I look forward to finishing it.

I also like the multiplayer a lot.

Rented it via Redbox just to burn through the campaign (my connection is so patchy I can't really enjoy multiplayer games) and found it...rushed? Not so much on a programming level, but there's a sense that you are being aggressively ushered from point to point, so any wonder they could generate (Post calamity, not-quite post apocalyptic West Coast! Spaaace!) is undercut by WE GOTTA GET TO ____! Underwater scuba scenes continue to be the drum solos of film and now games. And for so much hoopla made about the dog, it's a relatively minor factor that the bulk of its use is covered in the Quick Look.

The post credits scene was a bit much, too. It might as well have a "Hilariously Silent Protagonist Will Return in Ghosts II: Thunderball" text flashing on the screen.

The scale on how US is weaken by that satellite missile strike is very inconsistent.

One time you're like "this wall is our last line of defense, we're out numbered, we're so broke we can't mount a machinegun on your jeep.".

Then 2~3 mission later you can magically sneak into the enemy capitol city, kidnap some scientist dude, blow up the skyscraper, then proceed to destroy some battleship, an oilrig, then send a spaceship full of space marines(no, really) to hijack that satellite missile thing and mount a fullscale invasion/assault against south america with tanks and chopper and aircraft carrier, WTH?

A DLC that was 100% dog would interest me. The rest, meh.