History VideoGame / CallOfDutyGhosts

* [[YanksWithTanks Yanks with Tanks....and GHOSTS!]]: Well what did you think an InvadedStatesOfAmerica storyli9ne would feature...the Germans?

* [[YanksWithTanks Yanks with Tanks....and GHOSTS!: Well what did you think an InvadedStatesOfAmerica storyli9ne would feature...the Germans?

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The Federation are explicitly genocidal savages who, inexplicably, incorporate a number of resurrected YellowPeril tropes including "exotic Amazonian torture methods" and [[ManchurianAgent Manchurian agents]]. One of the first things we see Federation soldiers doing is executing civilians in the first level. Meanwhile, the Ghosts are, well, standard [=COD=] protagonists, even being less morally ambiguous than the SAS/Task Force 141 from ''ModernWarfare''.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Dr Cross, post Nightfall. [[spoiler: After binding with the Beacon amplifier, she starts to gain psychokinetic abilities, which she uses to attack the crew in their dreams. Once she becomes powerful enough, she breaks out of her cell on the ‘’Stormbreaker’’ and escapes to Bell’s Pyramid.]]

* CallBack / ShoutOut: The masks of the Ghosts are a modified version of the mask worn by Modern Warfare 2's Ghost. In addition, the dog's name is Riley, named after Ghost's real name (Simon Riley).

** The Shuttle that brings the Federation forces to ODIN at the start of the game is called Daedalus which is possibly in reference to the ODIN satellite bringing misfortune onto its creator much like Daedalus' invention did to him.

* TurnsRed: When the Kraken does this during the boss battle in Mayday, it gets very powerful, at the cost of its defences; hence it is a signal to start hammering it with everything you have.

* AfterTheEnd: The game takes place in an America with its power shattered by ROG strikes.

* ApocalypticLogistics: A minor example. One criticism of the game, mentioned by [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], was that despite the fact the the United States has been stated to have been devastated by the ODIN attack, it still has enough resources to mount a sizable army with weaponry that looks no worse for wear than pre-ODIN strike.

However, their victory pales in comparison to what they have unleashed. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero In firing up the Cortex, they activated every beacon in every Ark across the planet, and in doing so, have inadvertently caused the Extinction of the human race. Godfather tells the US President that the only option left at this point is [[GodzillaThreshold ‘’Scorched Earth’’]], and reminds the President that they too had an Ark, [[KillSat waiting right over their heads.]]

As the extinction of humnity commences, CIF-1 fights their way to the Exodus launch site, fending off attacks from Cryptids and even facing off against the Ancestors themselves.

* BiggerBad: Arguably the Ancestors in the grand scheme of things, as they are bringing about [[TitleDrop the extinction]] of the human race.

A co-op game mode styled on Treyarch's successful Nazi Zombies sub-game.

After the Colorado outbreak has been dealt with, Godfather tasks the team, CIF-1, to Alaska; [[spoiler: to rescue a scientist (Dr Samantha Cross) who was recruited by Cpt David Archer for a top secret project codenamed Nightfall. In truth, Archer's project was to use the aliens, [[InsistentTerminology (sorry, Cryptids)]] to bio-engineer a new breed of Cryptid and learn how they operated. However, the captive Cryptids escaped, killing almost all that were present, except for Archer, Cross, and a few surviving soldiers.]]

After securing [[spoiler: Cross, Archer was able to obtain a Chinese decommissioned Destroyer, the ''Stormbreaker'', which he planned on using to reach an 'Ark' containing the Cryptid leaders, and planned on using Cross as a beacon due to her ''unique'' gifts. However, Cross became too powerful, and after almost 3 weeks captive, attacked the ship using the Cryptids. Archer issued a Mayday, calling for aid from Godfather, who sent CIF-1 to extract him and eliminate Cross. Cross escaped with help from a massive Cryptid beast – the ‘’Kraken’’, and fled to the Ark, now known to be ‘’Ball’s Pyramid’’.]]

Archer led the charge towards the Pyramid, but his team were ambushed. With most of his team dead, [[spoiler: Archer is approached by Cross, who wants to make a deal with him and Godfather. Archer and Cross head to the main chamber, where they meet the Ancestors, the Cryptid commanders. After losing contact with them, Godfather sends CIF-1 to extract the pair and recover the Cortex, a device capable of combating the Cryptids, created from the autopsied remains of an Ancestor’s brain. CIF-1 fought off wave after wave of Cryptid soldiers, decrypting obelisks and scouring the maze-like pyramid, before finding Archer and Cross in the command room. Cross leaves Archer to die in the pyramid as retribution for his actions towards her, and the five escape the pyramid with the Cortex.]]

However, their victory pales in comparison to what they have unleashed. [[spoiler: [[NiceJobBreakingItHero In firing up the Cortex, they activated every beacon in every Ark across the planet, and in doing so, have inadvertently caused the Extinction of the human race.]] Godfather tells the US President that the only option left at this point is [[GodzillaThreshold ‘’Scorched Earth’’]], and reminds the President that they too had an Ark, [[KillSat waiting right over their heads.]]]]

** [[StoneWall Tank:]] Increased health and melee damage, and can become invincible for a short time, while focussing all cryptid attention on them.
** [[TheSmartGuy Engineer:]] Increased drill armor, and can make traps more efficient. Has the ability to produce an inpenetrable forcefield around them.

* GrenadeLauncher: You have the option of including a deployable Grenade Launcher armored turret, as well as the War Machine rapid fire launcher.

* ApocalpyticLogistics: A minor example. One criticism of the game, mentioned by [[ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee]], was that despite the fact the the United States has been stated to have been devastated by the ODIN attack, it still has enough resources to mount a sizable army with weaponry that looks no worse for wear than pre-ODIN strike.

* TurnsRed: When the Kraken does this during the boss battle in Mayday, it gets very powerful, at the cost of its defences; hence it is a signal to start hammering it with everything you have.

** NecessaryEvil: Quoted word-for-word by Godfather when conversing with POTUS over his decision to recruit Archer over shooting him.
* [[FiveManBand Four Man Band:]] CIF 1, which has 4 major roles:
** Weapon Specialist: Highest Damage Output, and can boost damage of allies for a short period of time.
** Tank: Increased health and melee damage, and can become invincible for a short time, while focussing all cryptid attention on them.
** Engineer: Increased drill armor, and can make traps more efficient. Has the ability to produce an inpenetrable forcefield around them.
** Medic: Increased health regeneration, and revive allies quicker. Has the ability to produce a stasis ring capable of instantly reviving downed allies (but not dead allies).

* Action Girl: Potentially, since you can choose the gender of your soldier. Played straight with Dr Cross.
* Alien Invasion: Of a sort. The cryptids are in fact natives of Earth, so it would be more accurate to call it a subterranean invasion…
* Attack of the 50-foot Whatever: the Breeder in ‘’Nightfall’’ is almost 5 times the size of a human, with legs capable of piercing straight through a soldier’s body armor, skin and bones. The Kraken is a 100ft behemoth with large tentacles capable of producing more cryptids, and also heating up metal to the point it causes severe burns to humans. Both can also take quite a lot of punishment from small arms fire, not so much from autoturrets…
* Big Bad: Swings between Cross and Archer from map to map; the former for being a human-cryptid spy, the latter for being a disavowed captain conducting experiments to make a bioweapon.
* Bigger Bad: Arguably the Ancestors in the grand scheme of things, as they are bringing about [[TitleDrop the extinction]] of the human race.
* Cunning Linguist: Dr Cross, who can speak 28 different languages due to a neurological condition. This makes her a prime candidate for translating alien glyphs.
* Da Chief: General ‘’Godfather’’ Castle, and by extension POTUS.
* Death from Above/ Kill Sat: Implied by Godfather in the Awakening Epilogue, when he mentions that the human race had an Ark of their own, and how the only option left is the ‘’Scorched Earth’’ protocol.
* Enemy Mine: Invoked by Archer during the events of Mayday, as he is the only person that has the data Godfather needs to attack the Ancestors, as [[BlatantLies ‘’some careless git’’]] destroyed every other copy.
** Necessary Evil: Quoted word-for-word by Godfather when conversing with POTUS over his decision to recruit Archer over shooting him.
* Four Man Band: CIF 1, which has 4 major roles:

* Gatling Good: Part of CIF-1’s loadout can include, among other things, a portable HMG turret, and a Death Machine minigun.
* Godzilla Threshold: What occurs during Awakening apparently crosses it, as Godfather and POTUS discuss [[spoiler: Scorched Earth]].
* Grenade Launcher: You have the option of including a deployable Grenade Launcher armored turret, as well as the War Machine rapid fire launcher.
* Handicapped Badass: Players, via the use of any of 10 relics. The effects of these are:

* Incendiary Exponent: Incendiary ammunition, which burns on impact, as well as fire traps.
* No Sell: Rhinos and Mammoths, which are massive hulking beasts that charge you and pound you into putty, can take an astonishing amount of punishment before they go down…
** More Dakka: Unless you are a maxed out Weapon Specialist with an LMG, Armor Piercing Ammo and the appropriate upgrades, in which case they turn into chunky cryptid salsa in about 10 seconds…
* Person of Mass Destruction: Dr Cross, post Nightfall. [[spoiler: After binding with the Beacon amplifier, she starts to gain psychokinetic abilities, which she uses to attack the crew in their dreams. Once she becomes powerful enough, she breaks out of her cell on the ‘’Stormbreaker’’ and escapes to Bell’s Pyramid.]]
* Red-Eyes, Take Warning: Almost all of the cryptids have red eyes, bar the Seeders and Scorpions which have yellow eyes instead.
* Turns Red: When the Kraken does this during the boss battle in Mayday, it gets very powerful, at the cost of its defences; hence it is a signal to start hammering it with everything you have.

** Justified in that he was needed alive by one group and wanted alive by the Ghosts at the time.

* DenserAndWhackier: The DLC packs for ''Ghosts'' have added a number of rather whimsical special characters to the multiplayer modes, including [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]], [[Franchise/{{Predator}} The Predator]], ghost pirates, and a revolver dual-wielding Mexican mariachi with the ability to turn killed enemies into clones of himself. As Infinity Ward's previous entries in the series have generally stuck to a "hard realism" edge, this seems to be them trying to show that, yes, they actually do have a sense of humor too.

* ThrowawayCountry: It's mentioned in passing during the prologue that the entire Middle East was utterly incinerated, presumably in some sort of nuclear incident. Specifics are not given (although it's implied this may have been the same conflict where the Ghosts were first created), what's important is that the loss of Middle Eastern oil leads to the collapse of the world's superpowers and the rise of the oil-rich Federation.