Guns, Cash and Eight Year Old Boys


From falling skyscrapers to fish that move out your way, first person shooters have started to fall into two categories; the ones that you can’t tear your eyes from and the disappointing. With the next generation consoles released games have understandably increased in their pricing. But why?

It has been a substantial while since famous first person shooters; Call of Duty Ghosts and Battlefield 4 have been released. With Ghosts being released on the 05/11/2013 by well-known game developers Infinity Ward and Battlefield 4 being released 07/11/2013 it is understandable why both games were considered to be rivals. Battlefield 4 is currently selling in the UK for £59.99 whereas the latest in the Call of Duty franchise is selling for an average of £40, a significant £20 less.

Its true more hype surrounded Battlefield 4 when it was released, with EA proudly boasting they had falling skyscrapers and epic sized maps; whereas Ghosts flaunted it’s fish that moved out the way and boasted they had completely changed the Call of Duty franchise. By this they meant they had replaced zombies with aliens, which is still pretty much the same as the pointless ‘see how far you can get’ zombie mode and the combat knife is still the most powerful weapon in the game.

So why should you care?
You may very well not even own a next gen console, but that doesn’t mean these latest shooters are cheap though. So why is there such a price difference for games that let you do the same thing? Point a virtual gun that lets you kill virtual people. Owning both games I know that although they’re both first person shooters they’re completely different.

Ghosts doesn’t change much else from its predecessors, campaign, multiplayer, extinction (like the original zombie mode on the older games but with aliens) and an all new ‘squad’ mode. So, campaign is promising at first, with the plot focussing on a near future where a new region of America named The Federation  has declared war against normal America. A promising campaign, until you meet the Ghosts. This is when the plot seems like it’s written by a twelve year old boy, you have to play a new initiative to the Ghosts and yes once again your character has to do literally everything. From sinking boats to surviving missile strikes. The plot is insulting to anyone who has half a functioning brain. And the main villain Rorke is just boring, oh and it turns out he can survive anything. However the multiplayer, is actually very damn fun. They’ve kept the normal game modes, but players will have to say a tearful farewell to past favourites like Headquarters; but a fond greeting to fan favourite Infected. The class system is entirely different, you can have multiple characters with multiple classes and all the weapons are available from the get go; the player just has to unlock the weapons and appearances for their characters with challenges and squad points. However the multiplayer is ruined by the countless eight year old boys who have hoodwinked their parents into buying the 16+ rated game for them. 16+ players will undoubtedly be familiar with the countless times they’ve had to mute these children due to the swearing when their three kill streak is lost. But this has been the curse with any Call of Duty game, which has given it it’s poor reputation. The Extinction mode is okay, but players who have a low rank will struggle to find other players who will be willing to put up with them; another reason why Ghosts is discouraging to anyone looking to extend their friend list. This game is average, there’s no other word for it, Infinity Ward should do fans a favour and make a new series and let sleeping or rather dying dogs die.

Battlefield 4  on the other hand is a game made by grown ups for grown ups. The campaign, set in the near future, follows a America facing off against China, it’s realistic, simple and visually beautiful. The use of vehicles is well done and not overused. The multiplayer isn’t ruined by eight year old boys or their swearing and encourages players to build squads, or have to spawn back at base. This encourages players to build relationships with each other, which as we know is what gaming is all about. No doubt you all know about the falling skyscrapers and flooded cities, EA finally did it. They made a decent game that players will want to spend their cash on; oh an by the by there’s not an eight year old in sight.