Call of Duty: Ghosts has a bunch of new features for fans to look forward to. A multiplayer reveal held in Los Angeles, California has shed new light on the shooter due to arrive later this year. The game will feature dynamic maps, a bunch of new weapons, maps, and game modes, and will come bundled alongside a brand new progression system and squad management feature. Activision and Infinity Ward are touting a “new, next-generation engine” to be powering the new game, and you can be the judge of just how much improvement has been made to the game in the numerous videos found below.
Call of Duty: Ghosts Character Customization
In Call of Duty: Ghosts, players don’t just create-a-class anymore, they create a soldier. In fact, they can create a group of soldiers known as a squad. But let’s start at the very bottom before digging into the Squad functions of the game. The Create-A-Soldier system allows players to customize their weapon loadouts, and the physical appearance of said soldier. It was noted that Ghosts has over 20,000 possible customization combination, and players can choose heads, body types, equipment, and even gender in this edition of the game.
In creating the loadout for this soldier, players are allocated a spending budget, similar to what was found in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. This budget will go towards selecting your primary weapon, secondary weapon, lethal & tactical equipment, and perks. Killstreaks and weapon attachments are not part of this points system. As players progress through the XP system in Call of Duty: Ghosts, tokens are earned and can be spent on weapons, attachments and equipment for loadouts.
Perks see the biggest changes in Call of Duty: Ghosts. The new perks system lets players choose the perks they want to play with, and each are assigned a point value or cost. These range in value from 1-5, and players can choose to spend large chunks of points on the higher valued perks, or take many lower valued perks, the decision is yours.
A quick breakdown of the perks system was recently released, you can find it below.
Call of Duty: Ghosts Perks
- Speed – Examples include Sleight of Hand and Agility allowing players to quickly move through the environment.
- Handling – Improve the player’s weapon handling abilities with perks such as On The Go (reload while sprinting) and Strong Arm (throw equipment further and decrease grenade cook time).
- Stealth – Perks such as Takedown (kill enemies without revealing their death location) and Off the Grid allow players to move through the environment undetected.
- Awareness – Improve a player’s situational awareness and ability to detect enemy equipment.
- Resistance – Enhance a player’s ability to withstand damage and regenerate health faster.
- Equipment – Perks that allow players to hold extra equipment, attachments and ammunition.
- Elite – A new type of player perk that includes Ping (a sonar ping that’s activated upon killing an enemy, revealing nearby hostiles)
- Deadeye  – (consecutive kills increase the chance to deal more bullet damage).
Call of Duty: Ghosts Strike Packages
Like Modern Warfare 3, Killstreaks will be called strike packages, and broken into three distinct groups for different style players. Â Assault, Support, and Specialist classes return. Â These three groups are explained in full, below.
Call of Duty Ghosts Assault Strike Package – Strike package based on consecutive enemy kills that resets upon death. New
streak rewards include:
- Sat Com – Utilize satellite communications to relay enemy movements. Drop multiple Sat Coms on the map for enhanced reads on enemy locations.
- Guard Dog – Man’s best friend is watching your back. Your Combat dog will warn you when there are nearby enemies and take out ones that got the jump on you.
- Maniac – Call in advanced juggernaut armor via Care Package; one catch, this knife expert forgoes guns in favor of a high-speed melee attack.
Call of Duty: Ghosts Support Strike Package – Strike package that does not reset on player’s death. New streak rewards include:
- Night Owl – An advanced companion drone that detects enemies based on proximity and protects you from explosives.
- MAAWS – Lase targets to guide missiles from the free-fire shoulder mounted rocket launcher.
- Helo Scout – Provide sniper support for your team aboard a controllable helicopter.
Call of Duty: Ghosts Specialist Strike Package – Consecutive kills earn players additional Perks.
So what else is new in Call of Duty: Ghosts?
Dynamic Map Events – Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces dynamic map events to the franchise. Map events vary from level to level, from player triggered traps to map-changing events that allow gamers to strategically redirect the action and transform the map to deliver new levels of strategy and gameplay.
Field Orders– Randomized challenge drops on the battlefield that awards players with a Care Package when completed, and refills your ammo & equipment. First blood will always drop the first Field Order briefcase; this could be anything from getting a headshot to using your Lethal.
Squads  – Call of Duty: Ghosts features an all-new third mode of play, Squads, which allows players of all skill levels to take their squad of soldiers created in multiplayer and enlist to play solo, cooperatively with up to six players, or competitively. Squads features a variety of play-types, allowing fans to swap-out their custom soldiers at any time with a friend for quick-action co-op. The competition can be fierce, as squad soldiers display life-like, skilled tactics and behaviors like side-strafing, corner-camping, jump-shooting and more. Players and their squads will earn XP, and if you’re offline, be prepared, as your squad may be challenged for play on their own.
- Squad vs. Squad – Two-player competitive, pitting you & your squad vs. your opponent & their squad.
- Squad Assault – Play against another player’s squad – even when they’re offline in up to six-player co-op. Match-make against squads made from around the world, or select one of your friend’s squads to assault. Offline players get in on the action, as they apply strategy too as they can determine the loadouts of their squad, as well as the map and mode that their squad will defend.
- Wargame – You & your handpicked squad of five soldiers vs. another squad, swap out your custom soldiers at any time with a friend for quick co-op play.
- Safeguard – Survive wave after wave of enemies in up to four-player co-op.
- All progress in Squads counts towards multiplayer XP, so players can rank-up their characters and unlock weapons, equipment and more.
New Game Modes in Call of Duty: Ghosts
-  Search and Rescue – A take on Search & Destroy, but rather than having a single life per round, in Search & Rescue your team can revive you. It combines that teamwork and communication from Kill Confirmed with the objective-based cooperation of Search & Destroy.
- Cranked – A new level of TDM. When you get a kill, you gain new abilities, but you also start a countdown clock. Rack up the next kill before the timer hits zero, or you’ll explode. In this mode, players not only end up competing against the competition, but also against the clock.
New Weapons in Call of Duty: Ghosts
Call of Duty: Ghosts features over 30 new weapons across Assault Rifles, SMGs, LMGs, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, Launchers and the new Marksman Rifles class.  Marksman Rifles are more versatile than classic Sniper Rifles, with greater stopping power than Assault Rifles. Marksman Rifles are great for protecting an objective point from range, while still having the power to deal with mid-range combat at ease.
Examples of the new weapons and equipment include:
- Assault Rifle –Honey Badger, SC-2010
- SMGs – Vector CRB
- Marksman Rifle – IA-2 (built in sniper scope with dual render site)
- Equipment – Thermobaric Grenade, Canister Bomb, 9-Bang
