Over its nearly 22-year-long existence, the Call of Duty franchise has often experimented with new game modes and gameplay elements across its many campaigns and multiplayer systems. From Call of Duty: World at War’s phenomenal debut of Nazi Zombies to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout battle royale mode, the Call of Duty series has always striven to build on its core FPS gameplay. These attempts were launched to varying degrees of success, with many gameplay experiments being left behind in their debut titles. However, one gameplay mechanic deserves a second chance in the spotlight: Call of Duty: Ghosts’ dog partner.
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Call of Duty: Ghosts’ Riley Explained
Today, Call of Duty: Ghosts is best known for its fish AI memes and unresolved story, but it was groundbreaking in the series for featuring the first playable dog in a campaign with the German Shepard known as Riley. Dogs had been prevalent in Call of Duty campaigns and multiplayer before, such as Black Ops 1’s undead Hellhounds and Attack Dogs Killstreak, but never to the expansive degree seen in Call of Duty: Ghosts. Played by the real-life German Shepard called Ruger, Riley is a partner of U.S. Special Operations soldiers Logan and David "Hesh" Walker.
In certain sequences, Riley can be seamlessly switched to from human protagonist and become briefly playable, the first non-human playable character in the COD franchise.
When playing as Call of Duty: Ghosts' Riley, players can remotely control him using a radio and camera attached to his vest. Here, Riley can steadily attack enemies, bark at enemies to distract them, and point out enemies through walls. However, Riley is not invincible and can be killed if misdirected.
When playing as Logan, players can order Riley to sniff out nearby explosives, flank enemies, and attack most enemies, including pilots of vehicles such as helicopters attempting to take off. While Riley was immediately popular with many fans, Ghosts’ campaign was often criticized for the lack of Riley, as he only appears in a handful of sequences, most of which were in the first half of the game.
The Potential of Playable Dogs Returning in Call of Duty
Dogs in both their killstreak and playable campaign forms have seldom appeared in Call of Duty games since the mid-2010s, but there is still potential for dogs to make a prominent resurgence in Call of Duty going forward. For instance, one Reddit user by the name of Fearless-Jeweler-39 made a fairly popular thread calling for the return of the Attack Dogs Killstreak in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 after its brief return in 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. While Attack Dogs still haven’t appeared in BO6, the killstreak and playable dogs could still return in future Call of Duty titles.
The next COD game will be Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, set in the sci-fi future of 2035, with David Mason returning as a protagonist from Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It’s unlikely David would be paired with a dog partner, as he didn’t have one in BO2, but he could be paired with a futuristic robotic dog similar to A.G.R.s or CLAW robots.
This robotic dog could be just as agile as real dogs but offer more combat and stealth functionality by having built-in firearms, grenade launchers, a welding torch, and remote hacking capabilities. BO7 could feature some sequences having David operate this robotic dog, or Treyarch could allow players to embody the robotic dog in co-op, similar to Gears 5’s JACK.
A Return of Riley in Future Call of Duty Titles
Given the immense popularity of Call of Duty, it’s likely Activision is already working on another COD game set in either modern combat scenarios or back in past wars. Either scenario would make for a perfect return of playable traditional dogs similar to Riley.
A direct follow-up or prequel to Call of Duty: Ghosts’ storyline is unlikely, but other COD games could still have Riley reappear, perhaps as a completely different dog, similar to how Dogmeat appears in most Fallout games. For example, if a future COD is set in the Vietnam War, one protagonist could be paired with a German Shepard partner named Riley, as that breed was the most common service dog in the war.
Call of Duty Ghosts
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 72 /100 Critics Rec: 40%
- Released
- November 5, 2013
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Infinity Ward
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- IW
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
