Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Call of Duty is one of the most beloved and hated game franchises to emerge from the generation of consoles, depending on who you ask. 

Personally, I've always been somewhere in the middle. The series has its highlights such as the genre changing Modern Warfare (original) and bang-for-your-buck Black Ops (original), but it also has its fair share of innovative retreads (think Modern Warfare 2 and 3, and last year's Ghosts) that feel more like an update akin to a Madden game, rather than a justifiable $60 purchase. 

I get it, from both sides, I really do. Call of Duty features some addicting gameplay and success in the multiplayer can lead to some serious bragging rights. On the flip side, it's a yearly series, which often means that you'll have several iterations that scream "cash grab" and gamers aren't fans of their funds being spent on anything less than stellar titles (at least I'm not). Like I said, I've always been somewhere in the middle...able to easily tell if I was "pumped" for this year's new COD or not. There are some gamers who only play Call of Duty, which, in my opinion, is a serious travesty to the medium and another issue altogether, but as someone who likes to experience as many games as possible within a year, there are some years where COD just doesn't have a place in my mind. 

This year's iteration, Advanced Warfare, has had my attention since the beginning. It was the first COD built on a new engine -- the series had been painfully clinging to its old one -- it features an eerie motion capture performance from Kevin Spacey, and it finally decided to mix it up a bit with probably the biggest innovation in the series since the original Modern Warfare. It wasn't a "Day One" purchase in my mind as I often wait for reviews with this franchise, but it was certainly one that I figured I would be purchasing sooner or later. 

And I'm damn glad that I did. 

Great looking level in Antarctica? Check!

Advanced Warfare is a series highpoint, and while not a classic like Modern Warfare, it is an example of what this series could be year-after-year if there was more innovation. 

I'll start with perhaps my favorite aspect of Advanced Warfare, and this is sure to elicit some "there's a single player campaign!?" responses (players not touching the single player campaign is another issue that baffles me that I won't get into here): the campaign. It's story is a scary one with a plot that can most easily be described as what would happen if a mercenary company were to gain too much power. Atlas is essentially an "army for hire" and it is both the world's largest company and most powerful military...a dangerous combination. It reminded me of some of Metal Gear Solid's main themes to a certain degree, but with a much less complicated story than Kojima usually presents. Spacey plays the President and CEO of Atlas, Jonathan Irons, with as much talent as he does playing Frank Underwood in House of Cards. The characters are fairly similar, with Irons representing basically what Underwood could become with too much power. I absolutely loved having a famous face throughout the cutscenes as it added some gravitas to the proceedings. I truly hope that it becomes a new trend for games that can afford it. Voice acting legend, Troy Baker (who seems like he is in every single game these days) plays the cliche protagonist, Mitchell who is poorly written and just about what you would expect from a macho COD main character anymore. God help us the day they decide to add some depth to a character, or, God forbid, make them a female! Either way, the motion capture of the campaign is stellar, and it features some of the most accurate face rendering I have ever seen. Sledgehammer Games wanted to make it clear that this is a new engine and within a few seconds, that's pretty obvious with every wrinkle, pore, and laugh line on Spacey's face. 

That's NOT real-life Kevin Spacey. That's an in game cutscene.
Pretty crazy

Doesn't get more linear than this!

The levels and setpieces themselves are almost equally as impressive. The new engine isn't on par with some other next gen shooters (i.e. Killzone Shadow Fall), but it's much better than what COD has given us in the past. The campaign is exciting from beginning to end, and it really does a good job of breaking up the "shoot this, now shoot that" monotony that plagues many FPS titles of today. You get to drive a boat, control a sniper drone for nearly half a level, use a grappling hook in a well-designed stealth level, pilot an awesome mech suit, among other activities, often all while in the middle of a jaw-dropping set piece. The newest introduction to the series is the exosuit, hence the "advanced" in the title, and it is a fun thing to play with during the campaign. Unfortunately, this is marred by an idiotic decision to limit what your suit can do each mission. I understand that some more unique features, like the grapple hook, can't be available in every mission, but why on earth can I not boost jump on every level? I can't think of a sufficient explanation. Despite a few small issues and a bit of a lackluster ending, the combination of an awesome story, intense setpieces, and gameplay variety make this one of my favorite FPS campaigns in quite some time. If you are one of those unfortunate souls who only plays MP, I urge you to check it out. There may not be a level equal in caliber to the famous "ghillie suit", but they are awesome regardless. 

From a gameplay perspective, Advanced Warfare is still the Call of Duty that you are used to, but, shockingly, faster. And that's because of the exosuit. This allows the player to double jump, boost dodge either left, right, or backwards, boost slide, and boost fall downward. This is layered on top of the typical Call of Duty gameplay that features aiming down sights, melee, lying prone, etc. There is certainly a learning curve, it took me a while to get used to the boosting downward ability, but it really makes things exciting and fluid. Some may scoff at the idea of a "double jump" or "boost slide" in a military shooter, but the game incorporates it really well. Your character never feels like a superhero or Master Chief-esque character, but rather a normal soldier wearing an awesome suit. It's innovation that this series sorely needed and as someone who hasn't been excited about Call of Duty in quite some time, the exosuit has been a long time coming. 

Camping? Not in this version

The iconic multiplayer is back and a very complete package. The increased pace online means that you really do have to always be moving, which can be a bit tiresome, but still incredible fun. I've never been a huge online lover as I strongly dislike getting my ass kicked, but even the games I was doing poorly in were pretty fun. Once I got on a roll I experienced the "Call of Duty high" and leveled up several times within a few games. The loadouts feature a "Pick 13" system where leveling up unlocks greater perks, attachments, killstreaks, etc. It's a smart design that gives you a ton of flexibility. If you wanted to, you could go into battle with a single weapon and tons of perks/killstreak or with two decked out weapons and almost no perks/killstreaks. I found that some of the unlockables, especially weapon attachments, were annoyingly hard to unlock (as in, they require grinding), but it hardly detracts from the overall experience. Also much appreciated is the ability to play split screen (both online and offline) with AI Bots. For me, bot mode is a must if a FPS wants to stay in my collection as it provides a relatively stress-free environment to experience the MP in. Want the recipe for a great pre-game for your pre-game activity (a pre-pre-game!)? Turn on some of your favorite tunes, grab a stiff drink, and play COD botzone with one of your buds. 

I haven't experienced all of the maps yet, but so far I'm pretty impressed. It's hard to deem any map as a "classic" right off the bat as it usually emerges from how the masses interact with it, but I do foresee a couple that could become favorites, one of which features a timed tidal wave that forces players to find higher ground and another of which is in an outdoor Greek nightclub right along the Mediterranean. There are a few too many indoor maps for my liking, but like I said, I haven't played all of them yet so I can't say for sure or not if they are good or bad. 

A tight, well designed, and purple level!

I briefly played the co-op in order to have a complete picture before I wrote this review and I was also impressed with it. It's more forgiving than past iterations' zombie mode and rather than just "kill everything" there are objectives in most rounds that keep it fresh, not to mention they are contained within the MP maps, so there is ton of environmental variety as well.

At the end of the day, and this review, Advanced Warfare is really just more Call of Duty. But for the first time in a long time, it seems like a Call of Duty with a higher ambition past making a metric s**ton of money. It very nearly acts as a "reset" button for the series, much like the first Modern Warfare did all those years ago. It aims and succeeds in telling an interesting story, providing an exciting campaign, significantly changing the gameplay while retaining what made it special, providing the MP that everyone is used to, and being fun to play again.

In a gaming year of some decent disappointments, it's both shocking and a bit pleasant, that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is not one of them. 

CONS: 

• A very cliched and uninspired protagonist, which is a shame when you have someone as talented as Troy Baker for the voice work and motion capture
• The ending is a bit underwhelming
• Why can't I access all of my basic exosuit features in every campaign mission?
• Some of the unlocks in MP are tedious
• There is always the chance that there could be MP issues (guns that need nerfing, map bugs, cheating, etc.) It's happened in COD before and just because I haven't seen it yet doesn't mean it couldn't happen
• At the end of the day, there hasn't been much innovation to multiplayer other than the exosuit gameplay
• The fact that "zombie" mode will be paid DLC
• Some quick time events in the campaign are a bit buggy (but still pretty awesome) 
• I usually suck at MP :-P

PROS:

• Amazing motion capture work. Features some of the best facial capture of any game I've ever seen
• Jonathan Irons is an interesting and well constructed antagonist and Kevin Spacey was the perfect choice to play him
• I actually cared about and followed the story for once. Even better, I knew the greater purpose of each mission that I was on with relation to the story. When's the last time you can say that about a FPS?
• The new engine looks great. Not the best on the next-gen block, but impressive none the less
• Awesome variety throughout the campaign all housed within some great set pieces. This is a campaign worth playing
• The exosuit doesn't revolutionize the COD formula, but it certainly evolves it. Boosting is a blast after you get the hang of it and you'll be hard pressed to go back to other CODs
• The co-op is a worthy addition and quite fun
• Multiplayer is as strong as its ever been with a breakneck pace, well balanced reward system, and "Pick 13" loadout system
• Botzone for the win!
• Some great maps that could be crowd favorites within a few months
• A great combination of many strong elements and new innovations that help a oft-hated series to become worth playing again, at least for this year

Rath's Review Score: 9/10