Wraith not, want not?

When Mark Antony instructs his men to, "Cry 'havoc' and let slip the dogs of war!" we doubt he's referring to actual dogs, let alone ones wearing mind-controlling hats. Yet here we are in Ghosts, steering an Alsatian via back-mounted camera as he slinks through long grass and crunches on throats as if they were chew toys.

It's a daft and ever so slightly desperate attempt to disguise a formula nailed in place back in Modern Warfare 1; this is the same scripted stealth as All Ghillied Up, now with a wagging tail. Deviate from the script and he'll go the way of Old Yeller. A new dog can't teach an old COD new tricks then, but does it actually matter?

Call Of Duty makes no bones about being a choreographed rollercoaster, especially not with Riley around, as he loves bones. Sit, beg and roll over on Infinity Ward's command and, in exchange, it'll trundle you through incredible set pieces. By the time you meet Riley (the dog) you've already experienced Die Hard on a space station and seen a giant space lance turned on its US owners, in what is now known as Operation I Told You That Giant Space Lance Was A Bad Idea.

Spirited Comeback

COD's A-to-B thrill ride is snootily dismissed as a 'corridor shooter', which either undersells the game, or oversells corridors. In the corridor by our office, for example, there's a water cooler. In one corridor in Ghosts there's a collapsed dam, ripping apart said corridor with gushing death. In a separate, underwater, corridor, you escape sharks and tumbling depth charges. It pushes us through vertical corridors down the outside of gleaming skyscrapers; aerial corridors liberated via helicopter and icy corridors that crack under explosive stress. Back in ONM's corridors, we once found a plate of free sandwiches. If you dig freedom?

That's fine. COD isn't, and never was, for you. What's odd are whiners who remain nonetheless, judging those who would partake. Calling Ghosts out on its emotional resonance (it has none), narrative (it's dumb) or logic (giant space lances) misses the point. This episode makes no attempt at realism, dumping the dubious Madeupistans of earlier entries for a manhunt in a shattered US and a bit where a dog bites a helicopter out of the sky. It shares more DNA with James Bond's fantastical globetrotting than the modern military shooter, emphasised by no fewer than two riffs on Moonraker.

Infinity Ward has a gift for condensed silliness, packing into single levels the variety of play that would have previously unfolded over several stages. Slinking into a base, timing executions, defending a besieged hacker and escaping across an exploding ice lake: that's practically the entire plot of Metal Gear Solid, here seen in one 20-minute gasp for air. Infinity Ward always understood pacing and cinematic verve, better than Treyarch (although its rival studio does handle the porting job here); Black Ops II's campaign is stodgy as porridge in comparison.

Not that we should put too much weight on the campaign. It is, after all, but a sliver of The COD Experience, acting as an explosive aperitif to multiplayer's eight-course meal. As such, it's odd seeing the game rounded on for dropping Black Ops II's needless story innovations.

Yes, custom loadouts are gone, but who needs to pick their weapon in a game of Press The Trigger When The Dot Is Over The Guy Behind The Crate? And did anyone really explore Blops' branching story? One thing's for sure, not one tear will be shed for the removal of the shoddy Strike Force.

Ghost in the Machine Gun

Eyes may well up online, however. A new Call Of Duty ecosystem always requires readjustment, but Ghosts proves unusually jarring, even so. Before you've even entered a match you find Black Ops II's terrific Pick 10 system - where you equipped whatever you wanted within limited space - swapped for shallower perk-lead customisation and purely cosmetic body-swapping. A lack of selectable heads was never Call Of Duty's problem. The team also takes an ill-judged sledgehammer to the weapon and equipment unlock tree, swapping the drip-feed of goods for a general 'squad point' currency.

Picking items off the shelf deflates the importance of level progression, sucking out the satisfaction of finally wrapping your trigger finger around a previously out-of-reach toy. It was this addictive loop of effort and reward that conquered the multiplayer scene back in Modern Warfare; we can't help but think the game has lost its way. That's before entering a match. One lengthy lobby wait later (surprise, surprise: Wii U is a ghost town in several modes) and we find the game riddled with half-hearted modifications. Interactive map elements are the worst, as tiny alterations only serve to draw attention to their piddling lack of ambition. Pressing a button to shut a warehouse door? Behold, the coming of the next generation! And if a tree falls in a forest map to make a bridge, does anyone care?

When you aren't being underwhelmed by falling foliage, you're overwhelmed by niggly additions. First kills drop a 'field order', offering its claimant a rare care package in exchange for hitting a secret objective. Recon is now granted by placing SAT COMs on the ground, amplifying as more are laid (really hindering the reliability of the map). At once point a nuke levels a stage, giving it a whole new layout. Cool once, but see it again and you shrug. Yep, we shrugged at a nuke. Ghosts kind of does that to you.

Throw enough ideas at a game and some will inevitably stick. The knee slide and cover lean give you valuable options to play with, and the aerial pointstreak rewards are mercifully dialled back to refocus attention on the ground battles. The sheer volume of alterations pecking at your peripheral vision results in a weirdly shapeless online game, however. While we were never huge fans of Black Ops' faster, arcade action, it at least offered a coherent vision. Ghosts is an angry spirit, full of unfinished business.

Violent Cartographer

That said, battered COD still outpaces much of the competition, especially on a console where online multiplayer begins and ends with, well, more COD. If the glue is coming unstuck, the pieces are solid enough, with maps offering a spread of styles - from the tight killing fields of Strikezone to the eerie expanse of Stonehaven - and knotty, looping routes that keep everyone moving and buttocks firmly clenched. Cool new modes suffer from barren lobbies, though some fresh faves have emerged.

Wii U's online wasteland gets support from Squads mode, a big ol' bot battle where you join AI grunts (equipped as you see fit) against a rival computer-steered gang. Taking the squad online lets you test your performing (navy) seals against a fellow ringmaster, taking us back to our days of mowing down meat sims in Perfect Dark. In Squads' 'safeguard' mode, where waves of AI attack your team of human friends, we even find a passable horde survival game, filling the gap left by the mysterious dumping of Modern Warfare 3's Special Ops survival. Not only does it serve as a good introduction to each map, but any XP earned feeds into a single online profile, ready to be channelled into those fussy perks.

Should four pals fancy a more tailored co-op game, Extinction provides Infinity Ward's first proper response to Treyarch's Zombies mode. It swaps gurgling undead for a bland alien threat, though the more territorial objective - you're protecting drills as they chew into alien hives - lends the game a more tactical edge, accentuated by soldier classes and respective skill trees that evolve throughout.

For best results, tackle it with friends armed with mics - aliens will devour lone wolves faster than, well, an alien that eats wolves. Which these aliens probably do. In isolation, Ghosts' myriad modes are an unbalanced lot. A dumb rush of story bombast is flanked by an unusually weak online offering and a couple of surprise breakthrough modes. Take a step back, though, and you're reminded that all these substantial chunks - Extinction alone will last longer than some full-priced games - huddle together on one disc; love 'em or hate 'em, but Activision guarantees plenty of bang for your buck. It's just that in a Christmas where 3D World, Assassin's Creed IV and LEGO Marvel also vie for your attention, Ghosts is a bit of a dog's dinner in comparison. Hey, at least Riley will be happy.

fri3nDS code Verdict:- 76%

The multiplayer pillar is wobbly, but a lightness of touch elsewhere keeps the game steady. Not a stellar year for Call of Duty, but solid enough.

Format:- WiiU Developer:- Unknown Publisher:- Activision Genre:- Shoot 'em Up