I was a little hesitant at first with the idea of a Call of Duty game set in the future. After all we have dozens of high caliber games already set in the future. Another game isn’t going to blow us all a way, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this game. Advanced warfare is one of the most solid games in the Call of Duty games that I have played. From a very strong and action packed story mode, to the multiplayer we are all familiar with, Advanced Warfare is a very well built game with a lot of enjoyment to offer.
Campaigns in Call of Duty games are something that I get a lot of enjoyment out of. That is why I went into this game with a bit of a negative attitude toward this game. I had already played Killzone and Crysis games, there was no room for another game in the same category, but I soon changed my tune. The futuristic setting of Advanced Warfare didn’t paint the future in a beautiful “We have fixed everything” kind of way. In fact very little has changed as this is a very similar build up to WW2. The voice acting and cut scene animations were top notch. Kevin Spacey brings a lot to the role of Irons and was one of the biggest strengths of the games main story.
Like any futuristic game, Advanced Warfare contains a massive amount of kick ass gear. Powered exo skeletons play heavily in the games campaign and multiplayer mode. Boost jumps, high speed sprint, slow down time and even an ability to heal yourself. The exo is a really helpful tool to help you on the battlefield. Variable grenades were definitely my favorite gadget. Having a single grenade that can be used as a flashbang, emp or threat grenade. The threat grenade was the most valuable grenade I have ever used in a game before. Toss the grenade and watch as every enemy in the area appears on screen as a red hologram. It makes wiping out rooms of enemies a breeze, no more enemies sneaking up and kicking your ass. There are dozens of other cool things i could mention here. To keep it short I’ll just say that the way they have used technology to enhance weapons is incredible.
No Call of Duty game would be complete without a multiplayer game mode. Advanced Warfare does not fall short in this area. The multiplayer was a hell of a lot of fun, but at times it did feel like the advanced side of the warfare made things too powerful and took a lot of the skill out of the game. Pretty much every gun in the game was highly accurate. As soon as you get an enemy in your sights, you are almost guaranteed to get the kill. This led to a lot of annoying tactics that really benefited campers. If you like to camp, you will love them! As someone who likes to run and gun I found the amount of tools used to help campers greatly outweighed those who like to run around the map. The available kill streaks also mimicked this as a lot of the kill streaks could only be used to kill players running around the map. Thankfully the saving grace were the multiplayer maps. The diversity and lack of areas that campers could use really helped a lot. Almost all of the maps contained a choke area where all of the action seemed to go down. As soon as you die, head back to the action and get some more kills.
As a complete package, Advanced Warfare was a really good installment into the Call of Duty series. The story was gripping and incredibly dramatic. Filled with action from start to finish with strong voice acting, beautiful cut scenes, flawless controls and really cool weapons. The campaign is one of the best in the series. The multiplayer also delivers a lot of entertainment, but it feels like the game has been mutated too much. The developer has gone too far trying to balance all of the weapons, perks and kill streaks to the point where there is no real advantage to using anything anymore. There is a lot of entertainment to be had online, but it isn’t as fun as it has been in past games.
THE VERDICT
- Visuals are very strong with the characters looking lifelike at times.
- The story for the campaign is a lot of fun with a ton of action.
