Both “Call of Duty Ghosts” (COD Ghosts) and “Battlefield 4” (BF4) have been out on shelves for about a week, but with both first-person shooter (FPS) titans aiming to win the top sales slots, which should you put your money on?
Campaign
Both franchises aim for Hollywood style stories, but only COD Ghosts really achieves it. BF4 amps up the explosions and situations, but the missions feel hollow and tedious. Sure, a giant building is falling in front of your eyes, but 20 enemies and the fact that you’ve already seen this before takes away from the emotion.
COD Ghosts tries to reach the scale of BF4’s destruction and reaches it only in a few moments, but better storytelling wins here. COD Ghosts focuses on three main characters and a dog, and that’s what makes everything feel like it has weight. Giant building tumble and explode, but not before having a shootout in space.
Winner: “Call of Duty Ghosts”
Multiplayer
Multiplayer is king here, but only one can wear the crown. BF4 presents new scales of destruction for multiplayer and not only does it look pretty, it also affects the match making each firefight different. COD Ghosts follows suit with the destruction but never reaches the scale of BF4.
Winner: “Battlefield 4”
Unique Modes
Not just straight shootouts, both franchises also carry a unique take with different modes. COD Ghosts brings a zombies-style mode called Extinction. Extinction plays similarly to Left 4 Dead, but adds a great change of pace, switching from full-on bullet assaults to cooperative survival and tower defense against an alien onslaught.
BF4 presents the Commander mode, a returning gem. Commander sets one player as the titular commander, away from the field but giving out orders and awarding vehicles, promotions and weapons all from afar. Commander mode does fall apart when people don’t cooperate and listen, which I saw a fair mix of rebellious players in my time of playing. I would prefer to play a survival game with deadly aliens rather than listening to a stressed out commander on my headset.
Winner: “Call of Duty Ghosts”
Solo or Teamwork
This really came down to a tie. Both games put a focus on teamwork, but BF4 is the only one to really give incentive for it. Commander mode alone adds a true feel of co-op, especially when playing with a group of friends rather than a random match up. COD Ghosts tries to step away from the fast pace, lone-wolf formula but ends up in a limbo state; you can go at it alone if the maps didn’t focus so much on team work by forcing matches to end up in the same central location almost every time.
Winner: “Battlefield 4”
Overall: Tie
Both games are fairly on par, and it really comes down to which franchise you prefer. I’ve usually been a battlefield supporter, but with a higher emphasis on storytelling, I have to give “Call of Duty Ghosts” my personal approval.
