Call of Duty: Ghosts introduces many new game modes, variations to the rank system and the ability to create your own soldier. Even if you've never played a Call of Duty series title, you'll easily learn the basic mechanics of the game and immerse yourself in the action. When you understand the myriad of features and configurations at your disposal, you will be ready to play online with other users.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Preparing for Multiplayer
Step 1. Customize your squad members and your equipment
In the "Create a Soldier" menu, which you can find after selecting "Online" or "Xbox Live" from the "Multiplayer" main menu, you can unlock up to 10 members of your squad, for which 6 gear sets are available. In the beginning, you will have few weapons and few attributes to choose from. By completing some matches, however, you will earn experience points and rank up, gaining access to more gear, weapons, cosmetic customizations, and earning squad points. Squad Points are a currency, mainly used to unlock weapons, weapon accessories, and talents.
- You can share squad points with other teammates, but points that have been spent to unlock weapons, talents, or accessories cannot be exchanged.
- Appearance customizations are purely cosmetic items, which do not affect soldiers' abilities, but allow you to create a unique look for your character.
Step 2. Create equipment for your soldier
You'll start with simple setups - a sniper rifle, shotgun, or auto rifle. Each piece of equipment allows you to bring a primary and secondary weapon into battle, accessories for both weapons, a lethal accessory, a tactical accessory, a variety of talents and a reward for the kill streak. The more effective your equipment is, the more experience you will gain and the faster you will be able to unlock new weapons. It is not possible to change your equipment during the match.
- The secondary weapon can come in handy if you run out of ammo during a firefight.
- You can apply accessories, such as additional sights and magazines, to both of your weapons. These devices cost team points.
- You can also equip a tactical and a lethal accessory, that is, melee weapons or grenades. If you decide not to use these weapons, you will be able to choose additional talents.
- Talents allow you to use specific attributes, which make some actions faster and more effective. Talents cost from 1 to 4 points and you can spend a total of 8 points.
Step 3. Choose your kill streak rewards
You can accomplish these series by consecutively eliminating enemies. You can choose from 3 packages.
- The Assault Pack rewards 3 enemy kill streaks without being eliminated.
- The support package is less effective, but it offers help to the whole team and does not start from scratch at the moment of death.
- The Specialist Pack rewards you with additional talents.
Step 4. Study the maps
There are 14 multiplayer maps, not including those that can be downloaded via DLC. Each map is specifically designed to focus action or defense in certain areas. By learning about each game zone you will have a tactical advantage over your enemies, because you will know where to take cover and how to best use your equipment.
Some maps have environmental events that can interfere with combat, such as moving water masses or earthquakes
Part 2 of 4: Prepare a Multiplayer Game
Step 1. Connect to online servers
If you feel ready to play online, you can start multiplayer mode from the main menu. Press "Multiplayer"; choose "Online" or "Xbox Live", depending on your game console, to play on the internet. To search for a game to join, select "Find Game".
Online service subscriptions are required to play online on Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles
Step 2. Set the difficulty of the multiplayer
You will find 3 categories, which modify the basic mechanics of the game.
- The "Standard" mode contains all the normal multiplayer modes for playing online. This is the best choice if you are playing with other users for the first time.
- The "Hardcore" mode is meant to be more difficult. Players have less life, have less information on their screen, can't use the minimap, and can hit their teammates with friendly fire. All this makes the gaming experience more realistic. Playing certain types of games in "Hardcore" mode will give you more team points, but the risk of being killed will be much higher.
- "Clan VS". Before you can use this mode, you must join a clan. These are groups of passionate players who challenge other similar groups.
Step 3. Choose which mode to play
There are several types and almost all of them require good teamwork.
- You will recognize many of the popular modes from previous titles, such as "Team Deathmatch", "Kill Confirmed" and "Free for All". These traditional games provide a better understanding of the rules of the game and are the most popular.
- There are some new modes, first introduced in the Call of Duty series, such as "Cranked" and "Blitz". These are variations of existing matches that offer a nice change of pace. They are often more difficult to learn.
Step 4. Work with your mates
Communication is essential to play well in the modes that require it. You can use a microphone and headphones to talk to your teammates and hear their responses. Make sure to connect these devices before starting to play.
- Play with friends over the internet or in person with split screen mode on consoles and work together to win.
- The "Free for All" mode does not involve team play.
Part 3 of 4: Play Multiplayer against Other Users
Step 1. Play with the best style for you
The more matches you play, the more team points you will earn. Try to create different equipment, which allows you to use unique soldiers. Each piece of equipment has strengths and weaknesses, determined by the weapon's range, rate of fire, and accuracy. Change equipment to counter enemy threats.
You can change equipment during a match after you have been eliminated. Press Start, or the button to open the Options menu on your controller, or the Esc button on the PC version of the game, then select "Change Equipment" and choose one of the configurations you have previously set
Step 2. Read and understand the signs on the minimap
In the corner of the screen, the minimap shows you where the other players are and gives you a tactical view of the area you are playing in. The location indications of enemy players vary depending on the view of your teammates. This information can help you get around your opponents by approaching them from an alternate path.
- In the more tactical game modes, you will find in the minimap the location of control points, flags and other targets relevant to victory.
- By taking advantage of the Sat COM talent you can instantly reveal the position of opponents within a certain radius. The enemy team, however, can use talents such as Interception to use your satellite communication to their advantage.
Step 3. Avoid shooting all over the map all the time
While it is useful to cover as much distance as possible in a short time, sprinting will make it harder to aim or hit an opponent with a melee attack and you will be more exposed to enemy offensives. Run in short sprints and avoid rushing corners.
Step 4. Look for opportunities to take cover
Line up against a wall or behind a barrier to avoid becoming an easy target for enemies, especially those higher than you.
Step 5. Avoid staying in the same spot for a long time
This practice is known as camping - standing still in one spot makes it easy to target players who haven't seen you, especially using a sniper rifle. Keep in mind, though, that players will know your location after being killed, for example thanks to the killcam, which shows them how they were hit and by whom. Get ready to move to a new location after taking out your opponents. If you are playing in a team mode, stay as close to your teammates as possible.
Step 6. Spend your team points wisely
Choose to unlock accessories and talents suitable for your gear. Team points are earned by all members, but can only be spent by one person.
Step 7. Invest your time in the game
The longer you play, the more gear, talents and equipment you will be able to unlock. To get all the skills available to the game you need time and skill.
- You can get kill streaks faster by completing field orders. You can receive them by collecting the briefcases dropped by the killed players. These are challenges that require you to complete a specific objective, such as defeating another player without dying, to immediately get a streak of kills.
- When playing offline, the experience points you can earn are limited.
- You can go up to level 60. This rank is known as "Prestige". Unlike previous titles in the series, at this rank you keep all items and upgrades you have unlocked, as well as get an emblem that simply shows your commitment to the game.
Part 4 of 4: Learning the COD Controls
Step 1. Play the "Campaign" mode
If you've never played a Call of Duty title or another shooter, you should start here. You can choose "Campaign" from the main menu. You will be able to follow tutorials during the game. This mode doesn't offer the same gameplay experience against human opponents and doesn't have many of the features of multiplayer, but you will only see the differences when you understand how the controls work.
You can change the difficulty of the campaign before playing. It is not necessary to complete all the missions to prepare, but at least try to understand the basics of the game
Step 2. Play the "Extinction" mode
If you want to experience team play, Extinction Mode is a survival mini-game to play with up to 3 teammates. Choose "Extinction" from the main menu. You can decide to play online by selecting "Online" or "Xbox Live", but you can also play with a friend in split-screen mode with "Local Game". Communicate with your teammates and try to defeat hordes of enemies.
Step 3. Learn to use commands
Each title in the Call of Duty series is similar to the others, but contains some changes that make it easier to play than previous ones.
- If you've played a Call of Duty title before, you can easily understand the basics of movement, such as running, aiming, and activating kill streak rewards.
- If you prefer to perform some actions with different keys or if you want to change the speed of movement of the camera, you can find these options in "Command options" of the "Options" menu.
- Some game mechanics have been changed, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's dive move, now known as "Run and Slide". Start sprinting, then press the crouch button, to slide to your knees. While holding the crouch button, you will slide into a prone position. You can also lean over a corner by moving towards it. When you notice an arrow appearing near your sight, you can hold down the aim button to lean in the direction of the arrow.
Step 4. Play a private match
Private Matches allow you to play against computer-controlled opponents (so-called "bots"), to simulate the gaming experience against human users. You can also play with a friend or two in split-screen mode on consoles.
Play private matches to understand how weapon unlocking works. Before trying to use weapons against human opponents, figure out which one is most effective for you
Advice
- The "Campaign", "Extinction" and "Multiplayer" modes have separate ranking and content unlocking systems. Even though all modes are part of the same game, the stats are not carried over from one mode to another.
- The Call of Duty series contains many titles. If you are an expert on another title in the series, you will have no difficulty playing Call of Duty: Ghosts.
- The game versions for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC support multiplayer for up to 18 players, while the other versions support up to 12 players.
- Local multiplayer only supports 2 players on one console.
- When playing local multiplayer on the Wii U version, one player can use the TV and the other the Wii U Gamepad, a solution that allows both players to use a separate screen. Choose between split screen and dual screen mode on the Wii U GamePad after adding a second player.
- The rudeness of the opponents can prevent you from enjoying the game. Be nice to other users, as you may learn something from them. If you feel frustrated playing against some specific opponents, try changing your game group.
- If you prefer to play with a joystick, the PC version of the game supports the Xbox 360 wired controller or a wireless controller with PC adapter. The commands most commonly used on PC use a combination of mouse and keyboard, to obtain a more precise aim. To compensate for this, using a controller you can activate aim assist, which helps you land your shots.
