Call of Duty: Ghosts

Call of Duty: Ghosts
Developer:  Infinity Ward
Publisher:  Activision (2013)
Age Recommendations:  15 and up

Genre:  Video Game

Annotation/Teaser: Will You be able to survive in this crippled nation? 

Overview:  Call of Duty Ghosts is the latest installment in a series of Call of Duty games published by Activision.  In this new chapter, players for fight survival in a crippled America.  The player takes on a world where he is outnumbered in man power and machine power.  In this new format, the player must create a soldier.  In this war, landscapes shift and force the player to develop and plan new tactics for survival.   

Critical Evaluation:  I have to be honest, every time I see a new COD, I think to myself, how many ways can the creators present a first person shooter game.  I just don't get it.  I have watched my husband play it for years and now my 2 teen boys are jumping on the bandwagon.  But I wanted to see what makes COD so popular with tweens, teens, young adults and adults.  Clearly their are people devoted to this series of games.  This new game is no different than the rest.  There were a few added features such as Squads mode.  In this mode, the player can create a team of computer controlled soldiers.  The user can not do this in single player mode however it can be played while offline playing against other players.  There are several new multi-player mode features too, such as Search and Rescue and Kill Confirmed.  In COD Ghosts, the enemy is not the usual Russians, Germans, or Middle Easterners.  They are our U.S. neighbors, the South Americans and there is even a concrete wall constructed around the border.  I felt this was a little weird.  But the players who use these COD games normally don't care as long as they can shoot and destroy.
One character that I particularly liked in COD Ghosts is Riley, the German Shepard.  The player can send him through the maps to find the enemy, just to have him rip his throat apart.  I loved the idea of the dog helping out in the war efforts.  While I didn't see anything special about the newest installment in the COD series, I do know why there are such devoted followers.  The graphics are great and who doesn't love a good war? 

Curriculum Ties:  N/A

Book Talk Ideas:  N/A

Controversial Issues:  Violence, Death 

Defense:  

*I will keep the library's selection policy on hand and memorized with a good understanding  of the standards and policies to show that the selection meets the standards. 

*I will keep good and bad reviews (both electronic and print) and make sure they are from reliable and respected sources such as School of Library Journal, Booklist, and YALSA. I will have copies of these reviews to give away. 

*I will confirm the library's position to provide intellectual freedom as stated in the Library Bill of Rights and keep a copy of this.

*I will keep a written rationale to justify the reasons this material is included in the collection, such as educational significance and curriculum ties.

*I will be respectful and calm and practice "active listening".

*I will make sure I read the material and are very familiar with it.

  * I will keep a reconsideration form on file in the event that my other strategies don't work. 

Why I Chose This Game?  I chose this game because of its popularity with teens and young adults and its long anticipated arrival.  This series of games has devoted followers and it would be a shame not to include this in your library collection for those gamers.