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Posted on April 24, 2013, Ian Miles Cheong How Call of Duty: Ghosts Can Shake Up the Series

We’re hyped about Call of Duty: Ghosts, and we hope you are too. In case you haven’t heard, the game’s existence has kinda/sorta leaked out thanks to an epic fuck-up at a bunch of retailers, and it’s given us the juice to speculate on what we think could shake up the series as a whole. Before we get into any of that, here’s the first fact: THE GHOST MASK IS ON THE COVER. If that’s not enough reason to get hyped, then you shouldn’t call yourself a fan of Call of Duty.

The game, which has yet to be officially announced, had its existence unearthed ahead of schedule through retailers like Tesco and Target with a launch date of Nov. 5, placing it in line with previous Call of Duty releases. The leak indicates that the game is slated for release on current-generation systems, with no word on whether it’ll come out on next-gen platforms like the PlayStation 4 and the next Xbox.

To verify the fact of the leak, a Tesco representative confirmed with Venturebeat that box art for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game are in fact real, and that they were published by mistake.

Activision spokesperson Dan Amrich previously confirmed that the company was in possession of PlayStation 4 and next-gen Microsoft hardware, implying therefore that the game would be released on next-gen platforms in addition to current-gen systems.

As for what the game will actually be, we’re going to use this as an opportunity to speculate on Call of Duty: Ghosts and what we think the game needs to do to shake up the series. We’ll be attending Activision’s Pre-E3 event May 14. But until then, we’re sharing some wild desires. Because why not?

First things first—what do we know of the game? Well, besides the title, Call of Duty: Ghosts? Next to nothing. But we can say with no small amount of certainty that the game will be an FPS. It has to be an FPS because the series’ popularity demands it, and because Call of Duty has never been anything but an FPS. Too much of a change wouldn’t fly with either Activision or fans of the Call of Duty series waiting for a new installment of the game this year. It wouldn’t be terribly easy to confuse the game Sledgehammer Games is rumored to be working on at Activision, but I feel it necessary to point out that Ghosts is not that game, and thus the reason why we shouldn’t think Ghosts is anything but a first person shooter.

Beyond that, Infinity Ward has never made a third-person shooter or a non-FPS, so there’s little reason to think that they’ll start by taking a huge risk with Activision’s most successful yearly franchise. As the undisputed leader of the FPS genre, they have every reason to want to keep their crown and prevent EA Games from gaining ground with Battlefield 4.

Call of Duty: Ghosts may well offer a yearly update to the Call of Duty formula, but it also presents the developers with the opportunity to deliver true innovation to the series. So here’s what we think they can do with the game.

Credit: Flickr/SupraMK86

Larger Battlefields

The game could afford to see the addition of large-scale battlefields. The maps do not necessarily have to be of the same scale as those in the Battlefield series, but they can offer vehicles, squads, support roles, and other elements missing from the Call of Duty experience. Ghosts may be a Call of Duty game with that follows the Call of Duty formula, but its developers should realize that they’re going up against Battlefield 4 as their main competitor. What better way to show how next-gen they are than by increasing the scale of the battlefield? Go big or go home, we say.