Call of Duty: Ghosts‘ co-op mode finally has some footage, and it looks like a healthy mix of XCom and Natural Selection.
Whatever you may think about Call of Duty, you can’t really say it’s a one-trick pony. The series hasn’t done a “single-player campaign plus multiplayer” release since Call of Duty 4, mixing up the formula with Black Ops‘ Zombies and Modern Warfare‘s Spec Ops. Infinity Ward’s upcoming Ghosts, for example, is the first to feature Extinction, a co-op mode pitting players against monstrous hordes in the ruins of a human city. Extinction Mode was actually leaked to the internet earlier this week, but Activision has finally unveiled an official trailer to give fans a better sense of its gameplay.
Extinction Mode takes place in a small Colorado town overrun by a menace from beneath the Earth’s crust. From the looks of the trailer, players first scout the area and set up defenses before activating a device that destroys an alien nest. Unfortunately, destroying a nest takes time and attracts massive waves of enemies. Your squad will be well-equipped with portable turrets, flying drones, and even air strikes to buy time, but moving beyond initial waves will require teamwork to keep from being overwhelmed.
Extinction Mode has a few new features that help it stand out from Zombies or Spec Ops (you know, other than the egg-laying monsters). Specifically, the official Call of Duty: Ghosts website advertises “base defense, player customization, and class leveling”, all of which line up with descriptions from the leaked screenshots. The squad-oriented gameplay, class types, and human-vs-alien gameplay give Extinction a pretty strong XCom meets Natural Selection vibe, and at the moment I can’t say that’s a bad thing. We’ll have to wait on Activision and Infinity Ward for further details, such as the number of maps or whether it’s possible to actually beat the game mode.
