Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the latest instalment in the series and is easily the best game since the original Black Ops. Having that extra year in development allowed sledgehammer to make some bigger (and better) changes to Advanced Warfare.
The Campaign.
The Campaign in Advanced Warfare is actually good. with the use of motion capture this is the most realistic any character has ever looked. seeing Troy Baker perfectly rendered next to Kevin Spacey shows the amount of effort Sledgehammer have invested into making the campaign look fantastic. and it does.
As far as the story goes it’s still very much the main Call Of Duty tropes. but having this extra layer of detail the characters are much more intricate characters keeps me invested in the story. Kevin Spacey is the focus of the campaign, playing a very similar character to Frank Underwood from House Of Cards. That however is part of the reason why his character is actually interesting.Its a slightly longer campaign than most of the previous games and is definitely worth playing. There are some great set pieces in Advanced Warfare including jumping from different vehicles on a busy road in New Baghdad.
Call of Duty has often had the standard, go in and kill everyone missions, and to change the pace often done the stealth mission. There is one particular mission which I thought was a good change to this template. For reasons I won’t go into, you are only able to use one arm. this means no reloading. You really have to pick your shots now, because when you run out of ammo the only way to get more is to pick up a different gun. This is a very interesting change when playing on veteran difficulty. Generally if you are playing on veteran you will be as careful as possible and will stay in as much cover as there is. this forces you to leave the template of, shoot kill hide reload.
The Exo Suit.
The Exo suit is a big enough change that it warrants it’s own section. The Exo suit is the big change the franchise needed. It isn’t a secret that many people have become tired of the same formula that has existed since modern warfare, just look at Ghosts. having the Exo suit changes the game play just enough to make things fresh again but still be a Call Of Duty game. First of all most people will just use it to get around faster. but when you sit back and use it defensively it changes everything. During the campaign on veteran I found myself out of ammo with no gun in the vicinity and one enemy in front. He was far enough away that if I sprinted for him. I would be dead in seconds. instead I double jump above my cover, dash towards my enemy whilst in mid air and hold crouch to slam into the ground behind him. This staggers the enemy and I hit the melee button to launch his body 6 feet from his position. pick up his gun and move on. It’s also a game changer for the multiplayer which I’ll explain in detail in the next section.
The Multiplayer
The mutiplayer is and most likely always be the corner stone of any CoD game since the original Modern Warfare. Advanced Warfare is no exception. As expected the majority of people jumped straight into the multiplayer without any intention to play the campaign and they are probably worse off for doing so. the exo suit has changed the multiplayer. when you use your exo a certain ‘ping’ appears on the radar. Meaning people who do over use it, can easily be tracked. If you use it defensively then it plays very differently, someone shoots you from the left, you dash forwards and you are no longer in eye sight giving you a chance to turn and kill them. in any other cod game, you were dead before you moved.
My only concern is the maps. The maps are far more vertical than the previous games which makes a lot of sense considering you have the exo suit. my issue is that not everything seems to be in the right position. for example if you look at TitanFall you could quite easily, wall run into double jump and land perfectly in a window. That isn’t possible in Advanced Warfare. The windows are too low down that you can’t easily jump into any. I believe the maps have been made this way to accommodate the classic playlist which allows you to play without the exo suit. why anyone would want to go back a step is beyond me.
Summary
All in all Advanced Warfare is easily one of the best CoD games around. with an interesting campaign and fresh changes in multiplayer. the exo suit is the game changer the franchise needed and having a three year development cycle is no doubt going to provide a better quality game each year.