Call of Duty: Ghosts

Remember when Activision said that the impending Call of Duty: Ghosts would take advantage of an “all-new engine” on the PlayStation 4? It turns out that the publisher was telling porkies, as the title will merely be operating on a “significantly upgraded” version of the technology that has powered the previous 357 entries in the series. That probably explains why last week’s debut trailer didn’t look so hot, huh?

"When we're talking about a new engine, we're talking about upgrading significant systems within that engine – we're not talking about throwing it all away and saying that we're starting from the ground up," animation lead Zach Volker told Official PlayStation Magazine, adding that it’s “impossible to develop a new engine from the ground up in a two year cycle”.

He continued: "What we do is we say, 'okay what are the things that are significant and that we would say that are encompassing of the engine or its visual quality? Are those being upgraded in a significant way? Alright, then I think that warrants that we've got a new engine on our hands.’”

It’s a touch misleading, though, isn’t it? We’re sure that Ghosts is going to be another strong entry in the series, but, honestly, based on the short snippets that we’ve seen, it looks like it’s going to get stomped visually by both Killzone: Shadow Fall and Battlefield 4. Graphics aren’t everything, of course, but it’s a shame that the biggest franchise in gaming can’t seem to keep up technically.

[source officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk, via computerandvideogames.com, joystiq.com]