Call of Duty: Ghosts is a 2013 first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. It is the tenth major installment in the Call of Duty series and the sixth developed by Infinity Ward. It was released for PlayStation 3, Wii U, Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in November 2013.
The game acts as a standalone installment in the wider Call of Duty franchise in lieu of the World War II, Black Ops and Modern Warfare series that preceded it. Ghosts inherits much of the core gameplay and structure of previous titles, with a mission-based campaign and an open-ended multiplayer, but introduces a near-future setting to the series as well as an increased focus on tactical gameplay, including the addition of new "Squads" modes and orbital strike superweapons to the multiplayer. The single-player campaign follows a protracted high-tech war against a dictatorial united South America. Ghosts also features an alternative co-operative shooter mode titled Extinction, acting as a spiritual successor to the Zombies co-operative PvE game modes introduced to the franchise in Call of Duty: World at War. The science fiction elements of the game's campaign and setting would be further explored in Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare.
Ghosts received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its multiplayer gameplay and the Extinction mode, and criticism for its single-player campaign, rehashing of familiar concepts, and general lack of innovation. Retrospective reviews have been generally negative, with the game placing low in lists ranking the series' games. Because of its reception, and coinciding with the launch of eighth generation consoles, it failed to meet Activision's expectations. Ghosts was the last Call of Duty game to be released on a Nintendo system until Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on the Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.
Gameplay
Campaign In Call of Duty: Ghosts, the story is mostly told through the eyes of Logan Walker, with several other playable characters, including an astronaut specialist named Baker; Sergeant Thompson; Elias Walker, member of Ghosts and Logan's father; and the newer option to play as a German Shepherd, Riley, the first non-human playable character in the franchise.
Multiplayer The multiplayer mode in Call of Duty: Ghosts features changes from previous Call of Duty games as some new mechanics have been added to it. Maps now have areas that can be altered or destroyed. There is a nuke-like kill streak reward, the KEM Strike. The player can get the ODIN kill streak by either getting a certain amount of kills or by killing the top player on the other team and then completing various challenges after picking up a blue briefcase that is dropped. The sniper rifle scopes also have new "dual render technology" allowing the player to see around the outside of the scope (although blurred) when zoomed in. The game features playable female soldiers.
Squads Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces a new game type called Squads. This mode can be played either solo or with other players, including friends. A squad consists of ten different customizable characters. Squads can be utilized in unique gamemodes involving AI-controlled enemies and squad mates. The game modes include Squad Assault, Safeguard, Safeguard Infinite, Squad vs Squad, and Wargame. All of these modes can be played while online or offline.
Multiplayer game modes Call of Duty: Ghosts features several staple multiplayer game modes, including Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, Search and Destroy, Domination, and Free For All, while introducing several new game types, including Cranked and Blitz. In Cranked, once a player kills an enemy, becoming "Cranked", the player who earned the kill has 30 seconds to earn a subsequent kill. If they do not earn a subsequent kill within 30 seconds, they blow up. In Blitz, a mode similar to Capture the Flag, the player needs to go to a portal located at the enemy's spawn point while preventing players from the enemy team from reaching theirs. These portals are temporarily closed for 10 seconds when they are captured to prevent players from rushing. In Infected, similar to the mode in Modern Warfare 3, one player is randomly infected at the beginning and can infect other players until either all survivors are infected, or time runs out. Playlists will rotate between several different scenarios involving various loadouts. This mode allows up to 18 players on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions and up to 12 players on the other platforms. The Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC versions of the game featured Ground War, a more expansive version of the Domination and Team Deathmatch modes with more players. Gun Game was added in a later update.
Extinction Extinction is a 4-player co-op mode, which pits the player(s) against various types of aliens (known altogether as Cryptids) in a base-defending survival style map. The main goal is usually to destroy all of the Cryptid hives scattered across the map (except Awakening and Exodus; the former requires players to scan for obelisks in an area that needs to be destroyed, while Exodus features generators that the players have to activate). Players choose from four different class types, with unique traits and customizable loadouts. The player(s) can level up their classes, unlocking more weapons and equipment for their loadouts. This mode is unlocked by finishing the first level of the Campaign.
The first map, "Point of Contact", is included within the base game and serves as an introduction to the game mode. The map takes place in an abandoned city in Colorado, two weeks after the events of the campaign mission "Ghost Stories".
The second map, "Nightfall", was released as part of the Onslaught DLC pack. The map takes place in an Alaskan research facility, 14 weeks after "Point of Contact", and introduces two new story characters: Dr. Samantha Cross and Captain David Archer. The map also introduces two new types of Cryptid aliens, one of which (the Breeder) serves as a boss-type enemy. Players are also given access to a mysterious and powerful weapon: The Venom X. Players can unlock several pieces of intel, revealing details about Cross and Archer.
The third map, "Mayday", was released as part of the Devastation DLC pack. The map takes place on board a Naval ship, 26 days after the events in "Nightfall", and introduces two more new types of Cryptids: The Seeder (Which looks like the red seekers) but is bright orange and spawns' plantlike turrets that shoot projectiles at the players, and the Kraken, the large, multi-tentacled boss at the end of the chapter. In addition to weapons scattered throughout the ship, players can access schematics to build powerful offensive and defensive weapons, including 4 variations of the Venom X from the previous chapter. Players can also find intel to learn more about the story of Extinction.
The fourth map, "Awakening", was released as part of the Invasion DLC pack. The map takes place in an underground Cryptid hive, 36 hours after "Mayday", and introduces three new types of Cryptids: the flying Gargoyle, the explosive Bomber, and the powerful Mammoth. The Cryptids' masters, the Ancestors, are also seen in the map. The players have access to ARK attachments, which turn weapons into laser weapons, greatly increasing their power. As with the previous two maps, story intel can be found.
The final map, "Exodus", was released as part of the Nemesis DLC pack. The map takes place in a launch facility, 3 months after "Awakening", where the players are pit in a final battle against the forces of the Cryptids. Nearly every Cryptid type is encountered in the map, including the Ancestors. Players can choose their own paths in progressing throughout the map. The map also introduces two brand new weapons, the NX-1 Disruptor and the NX-1 Grenades, which are required to take out the Ancestors.
Plot Campaign Sometime before the events of the game, a conflict in the Middle East devastated the region, destroying several oil fields that resulted in a global energy crisis. Many oil-producing countries in South America formed the Federation of the Americas, a military dictatorship, which then annexed all its remaining countries in the continent before invading Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico.
In 2018, U.S. Army Captain Elias Walker (Stephen Lang) tells his teenage sons Logan and David "Hesh" Walker (Brandon Routh) about the legend of the Ghosts, a coalition of all U.S. Special Operations Forces units, and how they first appeared during the conflict in the Middle East. Meanwhile, in space, the Federation hijacks the Orbital Defense Initiative (ODIN), an American network of space weapon satellites using kinetic bombardment, which the Federation uses to destroy cities in the southwestern United States. U.S. Air Force astronauts Captain Baker and Mosley sacrifice themselves to destroy the space station and stop ODIN from launching more payloads into the U.S, and the Walker family narrowly escapes the destruction of San Diego.
Ten years later, the war between the United States and the Federation was fought to a bloody stalemate along the destroyed cities and the former United States-Mexico border, called "No Man's Land", turning into a war of attrition as Federation forces tried to break the frontlines, with the U.S. holding its ground. In 2028, Hesh and Logan enlisted in a special Army unit under Elias, with Riley, their loyal German Shepherd. During a mission into No Man's Land, they see Federation agent Gabriel Rorke (Kevin Gage) interrogating a Ghost operative named Ajax. They meet and join fellow Ghost operatives Thomas Merrick (Jeffrey Pierce) and Keegan Russ (Brian Bloom) to rescue Ajax, but he is killed. The brothers return to Santa Monica, California, where U.S. forces hold out against a Federation assault and reunite with their father, who reveals himself as the leader of the Ghosts. Recruiting his sons into the Ghosts, Elias tells them about Rorke and how he began hunting the Ghosts.
In 2016, during the Federation's initial expansion in South America, General Diego Almagro ordered all U.S.-born citizens in Federation territory to be imprisoned or executed. Rorke convinced the U.S. government to send the Ghosts to assassinate Almagro in Caracas. They succeeded, but Elias was forced to abandon Rorke to save himself and his squad. The Federation captured Rorke and brainwashed him with torture and hallucinogens into becoming a Federation commander.
In the present, the Ghosts infiltrate Caracas to interrogate Rorke's location from Victor Ramos, the head of the Federation's R&D. They attack and capture Rorke from his base in the Gulf of Mexico, but Federation forces rescue him after destroying their plane. Landing in the Yucatán Peninsula, the team witnesses a Federation missile launch. To determine its trajectory, they infiltrate a Federation base in the Andes and learn of plans for a new superweapon. Constructing a counterattack, the Ghosts destroy the Atlas oil platform in the Drake Passage and sink a destroyer guarding a factory in Rio de Janeiro. The team then breaks into the factory, finding that the Federation has reverse-engineered ODIN into LOKI, their own orbital bombardment system.