Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

By: Robert Murphy

It's hard to fight those little voices in your head that tell you to not go out and by the latest game in a franchise, Call of Duty often being the one people struggle with the most I would think. Irregardless I have enjoyed the games for various reasons over the years and I recently picked up the latest addition to the franchise Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. And why wouldn't I want to with all that the game has boasted about it with a new setting and a new futuristic tech to be seen, I was ready to check it all out. 

Your standard three pronged approach returns with AW this time around, there is the main campaign, the online competitive multiplayer and then the co-op play for you and your friends to play. The campaign is something that gets a major uplift this time around and brings cut scenes and story moments to practically cinematic levels in it's visuals. All the characters look amazing on the screen and have great definition put into each and every one of them. Don't ask me what their names are though, sadly I really can't say much for the characters themselves as I wasn't too personally invested in any of them. Your captain or leader of your squad through most of the game did give me some Cpt. Price flash backs to be honest. We also receive a big A-list celebrity, Kevin Spacey, who lends his voice and likeness to perhaps the more memorable character from the campaign, Jonathon Irons, who steals the show like he was meant to.

As for your new tech, it all comes pouring out into your missions from the moment you join Irons and his private security force that works independently and seemingly more efficiently than any governing body does in the story. Working for a private organization was a nice change of pace for AW and was one of the more redeeming qualities to the story especially when I got my hands on my exo suit, flying assault drones and many more badass toys in my toolbox. The level of intense action I felt for the first few levels of the game were fantastic, dropping out of orbit in a drop pod, boosting forward, left, right, up and over with my exo suit and blasting away swarms of robot drones was quite the adrenaline high. It is a shame that all of this doesn't transfer over to the story and its characters as things lose stream about half way through and you begin to see the ending coming a mile away. But I will leave all of that for you to discover and move on.

Now as you all would expect multiplayer is also back again and in every Call of Duty game it proves to be insanely fun no matter the changes or differences but this time around the big changes are something to admire. Players can still deeply customize and change their characters skills to fit whatever way they choose to play but now that customization goes a step further. Players who take a liking to a particular weapon and use it more often than the rest gain access to a special and unique model for that gun with it's own stats and style to make you stand out from the rest. This also comes coupled with AW's new loot system, now in post game match making players can check supply drop boxes with assorted items inside but sometimes there are Elite versions of weapons that can be found. Just like your unique gun that you can gain from use of a specific weapon over and over, Elite weapon variants come with their own stats and styles to make your character unique. 

Throw this on top of the fact that the game allows you to augment your character with Perks, new Exo abilities and gear such as helmets, boots and more, then you've got a character you can call your own. It's funny how a shooter has almost become a role playing game where you can end up taking great chunks of time to design and make your game character. And of course, all the features and elements of the single player campaign have transferred over as well and changes up the multiplayer strategies of a lot of players. Now you can jump for cover and dash away from danger far easier than you could in the past or on the opposite end, you can dash forward and get more up close and personal now with your weapon. Finally, I could make a shotgun class and not only use it on the smaller maps which have also been well balanced to accommodate the new changes to the gameplay. 

Lastly, AW's response to cooperative play and many may not be excited by what there is to be had, no real Zombies mode and Extinction is history....see what I did there. You and your friends or group will be faced with wave after wave of gun totting enemies that come your way. You can further upgrade yourself throughout the waves of enemies with guns and equipment but really that's about all there is to it. The whole experience ends up being nothing but a big botz fight and it feels like a big waste of time and an opportunity that the game should of jump all over. AW had the perfect set up for a great new co-op feature, I would of settled for more Zombies even but sadly that just wasn't the case.  

In the end, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare shines exactly where you expected it to shine and that's with it's multiplayer and there isn't anything wrong with that in the least. Other new features that the game introduces work amazingly well for the campaign and multiplayer. Above all else, I was extremely impressed with the levels of design that went into the stories cinematic moments and character presentation and I hope to see more like it in the future of gaming. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go grab my hover bike and fly out of here. 

Good:

- The impressive visuals throughout the campaign

- Incredible multiplayer customization and perks

- New in game weapons, features and abilities for the campaign and multiplayer

Bad:

- The campaign falls short at the half way marker 

- The new co-op mode is lack luster and a wasted opportunity

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10