5. Haphazard Implementation of Quick Time Events
Ever since God of War showed just how much fun mapping the repeated prodding of a button to an on-screen animation could be, everybody and their dog got in on the action, allowing us to play (to varying degrees) with certain cutscenes or sequences. Quick Time Events (QTEs) can be great fun if executed properly in a given context (Metal Gear Solid 4s life-draining corridor-crawl for example), but in Ghosts case theres hardly any indication youve gone from playing a section, to that of a cutscene, until the character you were tustling with suddenly blows your eyes in. The game promptly restarts whatever section you were attempting, but gone is the build-up to whatever the moment was, lost in a whirlwind of otherwise out-of-your-control actions such as collapsed scenery and regular on-screen indications of what youre meant to be doing. With great mainstream appeal comes great sacrifice of subtlety, and in the pursuit of having moments every half hour, the game seems split between holding your hand for the majority, before letting go at the most inopportune time seeing if you can psychically sense when to pilot the ship yourself.