REVIEW: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

First of all I would like to put this out there: Like many of my gaming friends (cue The Inbetweeners ‘thumbs up friends’ meme), I had long grown weary of the game that Call of Duty had become.

Up until EGX 2014 I had written this latest instalment off, due to my grumblings of the previous iterations. I was fortunate enough to withstand the (2hr) queue to play Call of Duty. With courtesy Atlas pin in hand, I sat down on one of the booths and played like it was COD 4 all over again. Suddenly I felt that I was enjoying the game, but couldn’t place where the fun factor actually came from.

To say the least I left that booth quietly confident that Sledgehammer Games are on something good, (it also helped I beat my Editor in Chief @XboxMADUK and XboxMAD’s @Planty1982 at Uplink).

Let’s talk about expectations (more precisely my own). Call of Duty is unfortunately in the predicament that, despite a loyal fan base, they ultimately fall short of many veterans’ expectations. I wanted to look at this game and not only base my thoughts on its immediate merit, but also its longevity. There are fewer titles than I can count on one hand that have kept me playing for longer than a month, generally due to lack of campaign or a shallow multiplayer.

Long story short, I haven’t enjoyed myself so much since the launch of the new consoles. The year is 2054 the world is not what it once was, it’s changed and you have to change with it.

Advanced Warfare introduces Exo suits into the battlefield, opening up multiple options for new ways to navigate or ’Traverse’ the map. No longer are you just an elite marine sent into the mist of war. Advanced Warfare’s Campaign puts you in the boots of Mitch -a former US Marine, who suffered a severed arm in an accident on the field. Now he has turned Atlas elite soldier (The largest Private Military Company on earth) when given a second chance (and a new arm) by Jonathan Irons (Kevin Spacey).

The overall story and theme of Advanced Warfare’s near future single player is one that is easy believable. Real world news and current topical issues are implemented throughout the course of your experience. What makes it all so possible is that they add a layer of truth beneath all the chaos of the weapons of mass destruction, PMC’s and dysfunctional governments.

One aspect that sets it apart from its predecessors is that the Exo suit and abilities are introduced through different missions in a way that compliment the task in hand. You can feel a real sense of power in some instances, usually down to the vast array of technology at your disposal (awesome!). Breaches, for example, are far more interesting than in previous games. You can use a threat grenade to highlight the enemies through the walls, who then unexpectedly meet their untimely death via bullets through concrete.

Player progression via upgrades have been added into campaign, too. Between each story mission you can spend the XP points you acquire to equip your soldier with various upgrades from top to toe. This is a nice addition, but how much it impacts the main story is hard to tell. However it is most a most welcome addition to the single player as it adds a layer of immersion of the character.

It also appears Sledgehammer have really tried to open up the choices you can make during the single player -It adds elements of stealth while dangling opportunities for more ‘direct’ alternatives.

The single player campaign ticks all the right boxes, and Sledgehammer have certainly put their own stamp on the franchise without sacrificing the defining characteristics that made Call of Duty so popular.

The graphics as well are astounding, and this is not a word I use lightly. The faces of the characters are so detailed you can see the pores, hair and wrinkles in the skin which is something that earlier Call of Duty’s could never of dreamed of. Character models and facial animations are so good I felt like I was in a Hollywood movie. The rest of the scenery is also fantastic, with an obvious great attention to detail from the audio, lighting and explosive visual effects.

You can be safe in the knowledge you can expect all the same exciting, white knuckled, adrenaline-pumping action that you have come to expect from the single player. The journey takes you through war-torn streets of Baghdad, Seoul and Detroit, through to the breath-taking scenery of the San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. With climatic, hazy cinematic scenes and gritty characters, this is one story you will remember despite the predictable power struggle of global powers.
The new game mode in Sledgehammers Call of Duty is the wave-based horde mode. The game mode pits you against multiple enemies while giving you objectives to complete.

One moment you are fighting general grunts, then the next they got the K9 unit on you with cloaked enemies wielding laser shooting guns and mechanical robots. It’s definitely a brave take on a horde mode and is a glimmer of what Call of Duty can be when co-operative elements are added to the game. During the course of the rounds you need to collect orbital care packages and intel to progress -which will, in turn, give you rewards (in points) for unlocks (such as an attachment or extra perk).

This will be one game mode which (over time) people will adapt to. They will learn the best strategies through trial and error, and this I love. Just like Treyarch’s ‘Zombie mode’, methods and strategies will be refined to deal with the onslaught of enemies.

However, we all know the multiplayer is the real star of the CoD show. When Day Zero arrived everyone clambered to the Call of duty servers eager to prove their worth and gain that first prestige. The one thing that was missing last year was that the multiplayer didn’t catch my attention enough. With this in mind I believe the winning formula to a great Call of Duty experience is one that has you wanting to come back for more, every day.

I was hooked on the multiplayer for Advanced Warfare from the first game, and I have hit the prestige level already. If that doesn’t scream an addictive multiplayer formula then I don’t know what does.

Many of the XboxMAD team also picked up the game and joined in the fun early on. I quickly noticed that everyone’s soldier looked completely different. Player customisation has been radically improved. With so many timed and permanent unlocks given to you through supply drops, you quickly earn enough to kit your soldier out exactly how you want.

The Exo suit has also given the multiplayer a new lease of life. Within the first game I realised that the suit it going to the key to your survival. The Exo allows you to dodge in any direction with a quick boost and becomes your best friend on the battlefield, giving you new ways to navigate the maps.

The already fast-paced action just got a lot more intense, however it’s not overwhelming -even for newcomers. Playing through Day Zero left me feeling like they had truly brought Call of Duty to current generation and this could be a fresh start for the franchise.

The suits themselves can do a lot more than boost and dash you around, they also come with abilities which you can unlock as you progress. These abilities included invisibility, a quick health boost, ‘Exo ping’ and a ‘trophy’ system. Each ability is extremely fun in its own right but I quickly found my favourites among them, which I’m sure everyone will.
Advanced Warfare is very good at keeping you hooked too, since you always feel like you are progressing, even in the games you don’t do well in.

Supply drops give you ‘rare’ cosmetic items, new weapon variations and temporary perks such as increased supply drop speed or double XP for a fixed amount of time. It feels awesome unlocking a new weapon variant of your favourite weapon (in my case the KF5), as they give you better stats (increased range or decreased mobility penalties) and weapon skins.

Each weapon also has a plethora of attachments ready to go, and with the right wildcard you can have up to 3 attachments. Although some of the attachments are long-standing additions, new attachments and perks compliment the story modes sci-fi esque technology.

Load-outs give complete customisation from the ground up, so how you enter the battle is up to you. Are you a quick and sneaky lightweight sub machine gunner running a silenced KF5? Or are you the sort of person to go loud and proud with a heavy machine gun? Well you can choose and pick exactly what you want.

Returning from Black ops from Treyarch comes the ‘Pick 13’ system which is a revamp of the earlier Pick 10 system. Pick 13 is a truly welcome feature in this game. There is nothing more satisfying than when you’re given the flexibility to play how you want. Many of my friends had found that they hadn’t played a Call of Duty in a few years and adjusted their scorestreaks to express their game style.

This was brilliant as it puts you in control of the game, at no point did I have to use a class set-up I didn’t like for the sake of keeping up with the opposition. I started my multiplayer experience with low scorestreaks such as the UAV and the orbital care package and left out the third scorestreak in favour for another perk or attachment.

There are no longer pro perks, but instead wildcards give the chance of going gun-ho while still staying off the radar.
Not too sure you like your current weapon set up, but don’t want to have to go through a match to find out if you like it or not? Well now you can try out the firing range in between lobbies!

This is great as no longer do you have that predicament of whether your class is up for the task in hand. Personally I don’t know why no one else has does this before, but I hope this becomes standard.

Want to test the weapons against some bots, or feeling below par? Try out the ‘combat readiness’ mode. This pits you against a mixture of nameless bots and players alike in a friendly environment that you can even enjoy playing with your console-fearing partner.

Map design at first glance gives a hint of similarity between other franchises out there, which is expected when we start heading into the realms of sci-fi future tech. Call of duty has shipped with 13 base maps and one bonus map (Atlas Gorge) which feature in both the multiplayer and Exo Survival mode.

No longer do the maps feel flat and predictable. You suddenly find that, because of features such as the Exo and the dynamic events, you become immersed in the game at hand. Each time you play it is harder to predict what the enemy is doing now there are so many options at hand.

Dynamic events have been upped this time round. Maps such as Defender will ring alarms when a Tsunami comes rushing in through the coast of the map. Other maps give access to remote-controlled turrets through the orbital care packages, which can really turn the game around.

New game modes such as Uplink and Momentum are in the mix too, which adds a refreshing twist to the line-up. It is nice to see more game modes that focus more on points and not simply relying on the kill count to stack in your favour.

Ranked play is also making a return since it pits you against other hopefuls and ultimately decides your fate as to which league you play in. Do well and you’ll be promoted up a league, do consistently average or bad and expect demotion, it’s a dog eat dog world.

One aspect which has let the game down is the fact that dedicated servers are still only a pipe dream, despite being mentioned. I will update this review if they decide to add it at a later date.

Despite this I have had very few problems over the course of my review time.

Conclusion:
So in conclusion Sledgehammer Games have had an amazing debut in the Call of Duty franchise and have certainly set the bar in terms of where the game should head.

The single player is explosive and memorable if not slightly predictable, Exo survival mode is also a valiant attempt at a co-op mode and will be interesting to see how it takes of in the community.

Advanced Warfare’s multiplayer is truly a refreshing experience, for a veteran player like myself it gives me hope that the franchise still has life in it yet.

This game is certainly going to keep me playing well into the new year and I recommend it to anyone who played and loved Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2. Despite the lack of the dedicated servers (which for some is enough to avoid), I still found myself thoroughly enjoying the game so much that I kept coming back for more.

^Jack (@Jack_XboxMAD)