Activision's phenomenally successful first-person shooter series returns with overhauled multiplayer modes and a story that finds the United States fighting as an underdog rather than a superpower in Call of Duty: Ghosts. Set ten years after a renegade group known as The Federation hacked a powerful space station and kinetically bombarded the globe, Ghosts find players taking control of a group of elite former special forces soldiers as they engage in guerilla warfare, stealth operations, and tactical assaults in an attempt to destroy The Federation and take back America.  With the country's infrastructure in shambles, soldiers are forced to fight small-scale battles against The Federation, which is now a super-powered collection of former South American countries propped up by Venezuelan oil money. The group includes brothers Logan and David "Hesh" Walker, Booth, Neptune, the Navy SEAL commander Merrick, and even Riley, a trained German Shepherd. Missions find them battling across the war-torn remnants of the United States, under water, and even in outer space, all in an attempt to hack into The Federation's own space station and kill its leaders Almagro and Rorke.  Call of Duty's massively popular online modes have been altered and updated in a number of new ways in Ghosts, including a greater number of character customization options, new perks and kill streaks, destructible map environments, new game modes, and the new squad system. Players can choose from more than 20,000 customization options when designing their character, including the ability to make a female soldier for the first time. There are more than 20 new kill streak rewards, including unlocking a cat-quick Juggernaut Maniac, or calling in Riley to attack nearby enemies, while the revamped perks system assigns a point value of between one and five for each weapon and perk, and lets gamers use 12 points in any way they please.  During the course of multiplayer battles the environments can change in a variety of ways, from small traps being triggered to entire buildings collapsing, and a host of new contextual movements lets players lean around corners, quickly vault over objects, and slide on their knees. In addition to earning XP as they level up, gamers also earn new squad points which can be used to unlock new weapons and add squad members. Squads can then be used in a variety of new co-op and competitive modes, and team members can be used by other squads to earn XP even when the system is turned off. Traditional multiplayer action gets a few new modes as well, including the fast-paced and explosive Cranked mode, the bomb-planting action of Search & Rescue, and Blitz, in which players merely need to reach a small zone in enemy territory to earn points.  This Hardened Edition comes in a SteelBook case and includes the full game as well as a paracord strap, the bonus Free Fall in-game map, a soundtrack, an in-game player patch and card, and access to the Ghosts Season Pass, which offers four different DLC map packs.