Better late than never, here’s my in-depth Call of Duty Advanced Warfare review.
Sledgehammer games takes the helm for the first time in this entry into the Call of Duty franchise, but is their work as good as Infinity Ward’s or Treyarch’s?
Gameplay
Many people have been negative towards Call of Duty for releasing a game every year without adding anything new to the core experience. Since Call of Duty 4, the basic gameplay has been more or less the same. Call of Duty Advanced Warfare on the other hand shakes things up with the all new Exo Suit. The Exo Suit allows each and every player to move in all new ways in every game mode. Players can now jump incredibly high, slam into the ground, dodge shots from all angles, and more! This is a very welcome addition to the franchise!
Other than the new Exo Suit, the majority of gameplay is still the same. Weapons handle just as they do in past entries, but there are new futuristic weapons, equipment, and scorestreaks to keep things fresh.
Campaign
The Campaign of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare follows Jack Mitchell as he joins the Marines in the 2050s. Shortly after losing a limb, he is taken in by his old comrade’s father, Johnathan Irons, who owns and runs a huge multi-national corporation called Atlas. It’s a private military company with some of the latest technologies — one that gives Mitchell a brand new arm.
The Campaign is pretty similar to all the past Call of Duty games. You play linear levels killing massive amounts of enemy combatants. After each level, the story continues with a short cut scene. Other times information is given in a real time scene during the mission.
The story itself isn’t exactly new, but then again it’s almost impossible to find a military video game with a fresh story. Luckily, you are still treated to a high production action movie style with well established actors playing the primary character roles.
Multiplayer
The Multiplayer of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is pretty much the same as usual. Earn XP in a variety of game modes — all of which have been featured in past Call of Duty games in some form or another — to rank up and unlock new weapons, equipment, and scorestreaks. Once you reach max level, you can reset your unlocks through Prestige Mode.
Create A Class in Advanced Warfare has a system similar to Call of Duty Black Ops II, the Pick 13 System. Just like the Pick 10 System in BOII, you can choose a variety of weapons, attachments, equipment, and perks for each loadout. Every item counts as one in the Pick 13 System. However, in Advanced Warfare, you can now pick one to three scoresteaks in your loadout as well.
Scorestreaks are the same as killstreaks from past games, but they’re tied to score earned in games instead of just kills. This encourages players to go for the objective instead of camping in a corner while holding the team back.
The majority of weapons, equipment, perks, wildcards, and scorestreaks feel the same as past entries, but there are a few new additions that give this game a more futuristic feel. There are directed energy weapons, detection equipment that highlights enemies through walls, and even cloaking abilities on Exo Suits!
Exo Survival
Exo Survival is the new co-op mode for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. You can play split screen or with up to three players online. It’s similar to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Spec Ops Survival Mode. Survive wave after wave of enemy combatants with the available weapons and equipment. The difference in Advanced Warfare is you will earn upgrade points at the end of each round that can be spent on Exo Suit upgrades, Scorestreak upgrades, or new weapons.
In addition to normal enemy combatants, you may face enemy drones and a very tough hostile in a Goliath exo suit. Select waves also have optional objectives that will net you bonus upgrade points for completing. However, if you don’t complete the optional objective, all players will be penalized.
Overall, this co-op mode is a ton of fun, but the only way to unlock later maps in Exo Survivor (which are the same maps available in multiplayer) is to defeat a set amount of waves on select maps. For example, you must clear 50 rounds on tier 1 maps to unlock tier 2 maps. Some of the maps in a tier may not even be available in online Exo Survival, or if you play a game on a tier 2 map online before unlocking it locally, the progress won’t count towards unlocking tier 3 maps. The whole unlock process is incredibly annoying and tedious.
Unlock all maps to find a teaser for a new Exo Zombies mode! Unfortunately, it will only be available in future downloadable content. That’s an incredible gut punch to the fans of Call of Duty Zombies, which many players look forward to the most in Treyarch games.
Final Verdict
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare actually brings some new blood to a stale product. The gameplay finally feels a little fresh, which in turn breaths life into the three main game modes: Campaign, Multiplayer, and Exo Survival.
Overall, a lot of the stuff seen in the game is a little recycled. Multiplayer’s Pick 13 was taken from Treyarch’s Pick 10 system in Black Ops II, Exo Survival seems like a re-purposed Spec Ops Survival from Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 3, and the Campaign has the usual cinematic action feel. Don’t get me wrong, Sledgehammer still improved on each area, and the Exo Suits definitely help create a new experience — though they’re a tad bit similar to the Crysis franchise. I would still recommend this game to all Call of Duty fans and anyone who enjoys fast-paced action shooters.