Another year, another Call of Duty. You know how this stuff works; we get another title which finds new ways to lead you through bombastic set pieces. After sitting through a demo today at E3, I can confidently say you can still expect that kind of stuff in Call of Duty: Ghosts. What actually stood out in the demo, amusingly enough, was the fauna of Call of Duty: Call of Duty Dog and the not-so-impressive Call of Duty fish.
Riley, as you might recall, is based on real life canines used by Navy SEALS. You can give him commands and heâll do his best to tear out the throats of your enemies. I saw this in action today: the player sends the dog ahead of the squad, Riley hides in the grass and waits for an opportune moment to attack. During these segments, the perspective is based on Rileyâs cameraâwhich makes it seem as if youâre looking through Rileyâs eyes.
Heâs a tough pup; itâs hard not to be charmed. And you can bet on having that charm work against you: in a segment where the player orders Riley to burst into a building on his own, I couldnât help but fear that maybe the dog wasnât going to be able to make it out alive. I mean, you canât see whatâs going on inside! Sure, heâs wearing a bulletproof vest, but what if thereâs a bunch of dudes in there? Riley is all alone! So you hear the barking and the screams and you canât help but wonder how things are going, only to suddenly have the entire thing explode in chaos. Somehow, Riley is fine. Thank god. Good boy!
Itâs not always that nerve wracking, of course. There was a part where you order Riley to go ahead and act as a distractionâhe barks, that catches the guardâs attention, and it gives you an opportunity to shoot him down. A smooth operation where you donât wonder if Call of Duty dog is gonna die, which is great because Iâm not sure I could handle an entire game full of anxiety over Rileyâs well-being.
Our love for Riley mightâve started out as a joke, but based on what I saw today, he very well might steal the show in Ghosts. The real question is, how does Call of Duty dog compare to Call of Duty fish?
Today, I also got to see the infamous Call of Duty fish in action. Last time we looked at the fish, we discovered that the super advanced technology that makes the fish move out of the way isnât actually, you know, all that advanced. Games like Super Mario 64 did that like 17 years ago.Of course, itâs easy to be cynical: what if there is actually something to them worth being wowed about?
In fact, the fish simply didnât seem to give a f*ck about the playerâs presenceâor heck, even the objects in the game. I watched as one fish clipped through a shipping container. I watched as fish stayed put when you swam up next to them and fired bullets. (???) The only time I really saw them âswim out of the wayâ was when the player had to go into an underwater lighthouse which apparently housed a school of fish. But that seemed scripted.
All in all, donât expect to be wowed by the fish in Call of Duty. They donât even seem to sport last-gen technology. But get ready to be thrilled by Call of Duty dog.
