Along with the multiplayer reveal, developer Infinity Ward also revealed the cooperative mode for Call of Duty: Ghosts, which as we had earlier heard, is called Squads. Unlike previous cooperative experiences, however, Squads is more of an expanded single player experience than anything else.
But, in order to understand the Squads mode, it’s important to explain one feature from the multiplayer, which coincidentally is a player’s “squad.” Each player’s squad in Call of Duty: Ghosts is comprised of the 10 soldiers, or classes, they have access to.
Players can customize every soldier in their squad by changing their look, their camo, their loadout, and their perks. In essence, these 10 soldiers are 10 different multiplayer personalities for players to switch between and customize when necessary.
These soldiers then become part of a player’s squad, which they can use in the - you guessed it - Squads mode. How it works is pretty simple, the soldiers within a player’s squad become their AI teammates in one of four cooperative modes. They are:
In a lot of ways, Squads is like Ghosts’ version of Combat Training from Black Ops. Players can take on smaller AI and live opponent teams and even get friends in on the action. We’ll just have to wait and see how successful and unique the modes are when Call of Duty: Ghosts ships in November.
Squad Assault: players can challenge a friend or random opponent’s squad while they are offline. The offline player determines the map and mode their squad battles on, and if they are successful the player will earn XP.
Wargame: standard bot match. A player and their team of five take on an all AI team.
Safeguard: this is Ghosts’ version of Spec Ops: Survival, but it supports up to four co-op players instead of only two like in Modern Warfare 3.
In addition to the new Squads mode, Infinity Ward also introduced a new meta game called Clan Wars that will be accessible online and through the Call of Duty app. With Clan Wars, teams will be put up against other clans and the two clans will fight for various control points.
By winning multiplayer matches, online clan members will thereby help their chances of securing a territory. And taking control of a territory will net clans special player customization items.
The one caveat, though, is that once a clan has control of an area, they are vulnerable to other clans as well. So, in addition to great rewards, controlling a point also increases the target on your clan’s back.
Clan Wars will roll out alongside the launch of Call of Duty: Ghosts, and the meta game will presumably kick off on November 5th.
What do you think of Call of Duty: Ghosts’ new Squads mode? Does it sound like something you will try out? What about the Clan Wars meta game?
Call of Duty: Ghosts releases November 5, 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. The PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game do not have release dates yet.
