User blog:Callofduty4/Call of Duty: Ghosts: An early look

Following Activision's Ghosts teaser at the Xbox One reveal, IGN's Scott Lowe visited Infinity Ward to "pull back the curtain" on more details of Ghosts' campaign. He writes about the following.

Preamble
Ghosts' campaign puts the player's focus on one soldier and his brother, in a departure from past games, which involved more than one playable character. These two characters have grown up in a "United States ravaged by an unspecified "mass event"".

In Ghosts' storyline, the Modern Warfare saga never happened; and most importantly to note, is that Ghost will not turn up in the game henceforth. The "mass event" is also not related to anything in the Modern Warfare storyline.

As a refresher to the series, and possibly to FPS shooters in general, the almost trope-ish Russian enemies have now been replaced by enemies of "resource-rich" countries, such as the oil-rich nations of South America, reflecting a more up-to-date "geopolitical climate".

Campaign level - No Man's Land
"No Man's Land" is a campaign level which pits the aforementioned protagonist and his brother travelling through an area 10 miles north of San Diego, which is now nothing more than a wasteland. Stealth is emphasised in this mission, implying that the area is being fought over by the US and an unspecified enemy faction. After progressing through the level, the player will come across a crater with a diameter of several miles, being surveyed by enemies in HAZMAT suits and gasmasks.

The player is given a new tool to use - a military dog. Not only is it an AI companion, it is also a controllable scout, and according to IW, "it's based entirely on the real-life use of service dogs by elite Navy SEAL teams." The dog is controller like any character, and can be used to target enemies and take them down with a lunge to the throat, and distract enemies by barking so the friendly AI can take them out silently.

Unnamed underwater campaign level
The underwater scenes that were seen in the Xbox One reveal teaser are actually part of a campaign level, but they are much more than just a cutscene. Instead the underwater setting serves as a battleground; enemies in diving gear will fight the player, leading to underwater gun battles. Not only will enemies dive for cover behind coral and other underwater features, the underwater setting also permitted Infinity Ward to introduce a different method of cover, by swimming up or down to find cover or dodge shots.

After some firefights, an enemy submarine enters the area, using powerful sonar pulses to cause damage and disorientation to the player. After swimming away to find cover from the sonar pulses, the player destroys the submarine with a portable torpedo, causing a "helicopter" and other debris to fall in the water, pinning the player down. The player is rescued just in time by his partner, as more enemies descend on them.

Conclusion
So, what do you think? Looking forward to the next reveal? Tell us in the comments below!

Original article and images - E3 2013: Call of Duty: Ghosts - Diving Into the Campaign (IGN)