Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Year: 2014
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
PEGI: 18
Published: 01/09/23
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
PEGI: 18
Published: 01/09/23
During the troubled development of Modern Warfare 3, Activision created Sledgehammer Games and drafted them in to help Infinity Ward get the game finished up in time for its planned release date. As I’m sure we all know, the game was a big seller but it lacked the polish and prestige attached to the Modern Warfare sub-brand of Call of Duty. But pleased with Sledgehammer’s work, Activision put them on task to make a spin-off Call of Duty action title. However, Activision soon decided to extend development cycles for Call of Duty games to three years and as such Sledgehammer was promoted from working on a spin off to working on the eleventh main entry to the franchise. Eager to make their mark and move the franchise in a new direction, Sledgehammer fully committed to the franchise’s recent dabbling with science fiction and offered up perhaps the most inventive entries in the franchise up to that point.
Following the death of his son Will, Jonathan Irons, head of the Atlas private military corporation, employs Private Jack Mitchell, his deceased son’s squad mate and friend who lost an arm in the explosion that killed his Will. Atlas is hired to track down and assassinate Hades, a terrorist who has orchestrated a number of devastating attacks across the globe. As Atlas grows in power and influence, it becomes clear to Mitchell that Irons’ claims that his private military is for the betterment of mankind may not be the whole truth.
Following the death of his son Will, Jonathan Irons, head of the Atlas private military corporation, employs Private Jack Mitchell, his deceased son’s squad mate and friend who lost an arm in the explosion that killed his Will. Atlas is hired to track down and assassinate Hades, a terrorist who has orchestrated a number of devastating attacks across the globe. As Atlas grows in power and influence, it becomes clear to Mitchell that Irons’ claims that his private military is for the betterment of mankind may not be the whole truth.
To say that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was divisive is a bit of an understatement. Black Ops II had ruffled some feathers for its sci-fi sprinkling, and Ghosts even more so (which was made worse by it being a bit underwhelming). So the prospect of a full blown sci-fi CoD from a studio whose only track record was helping on one of the series’ most disappointing entries didn’t exactly inspire hope. But, Advanced Warfare not only pulled it off but it did so whilst moving the franchise forward in ways previous games haven’t.
The story concerns itself primarily with the plight of Irons following the death of his son. Grief has a unique way of manifesting itself in everybody, but for Irons it turns into hatred at world governments and their wars that they willingly send young men to their deaths for. He believes the greatest prevention to war is to end all wars, becoming a global superpower that strips nations of their power to challenge each other, and by extension challenge him.
Obviously his anti-war sentiments are not particularly ethical and he turns into a wannabe dictator, but you go on this journey with him as his son’s closest friend. You sympathise with his pain, until you realise the human cost of his plan.
This story is given so much more weight thanks to the cutscenes that play between missions. Similar to Black Ops II’s more cinematic experience, Advanced Warfare uses these segments to actually flesh characters out, not just present an Intel screen with a voice over as was the case with the Modern Warfare games and Ghosts. The writing may not be particularly compelling, as is usually the case with Call of Duty games, but it’s a significant step forward from what we usually get from the series.
It’s Advanced Warfare’s gameplay that really shines though, with a significant leap forward in the series gameplay mechanics. The most obvious thing to address first is the EXO Suit, a mechanical skeleton that grants the wearer increased agility and strength. Most missions in Advanced Warfare will see you wearing one and they come with various gameplay alterations, whether it be as simple as the ability to move faster and jump higher, or even grant you abilities such as temporary invisibility and jet boosters to hover in the hair.
Weapons have futuristic new functions, such as your smart grenades which now have multiple functions depending on what you select before you toss it. Got a cluster of enemies? A frag should clear them out just fine, but what if there are drones keeping you pinned down? Select the EMP grenade toggle before you toss it and that drag will send out an electrical pulse rather than explode to disable those pesky drones.
It makes you think far more tactically than just having frags and flashbangs.
The levels are also far more complex in design, there’s a lot more verticality, and there’s more going on in them. For example you might be tasked with crossing a busy highway during a firefight, so you need to be aware of moving traffic as well as cover and enemy placement. Add to this the variety of combatants you’ll come up against, it’s not just soldiers you can put down with a couple of bullets, you’ve got the previously mentioned drones, as well as riot shielded soldiers, armoured foes, and more. Some take a lot more punishment before they stop moving and it means you need to do a lot more than just plant yourself in cover and shoot anything that moves.
The story concerns itself primarily with the plight of Irons following the death of his son. Grief has a unique way of manifesting itself in everybody, but for Irons it turns into hatred at world governments and their wars that they willingly send young men to their deaths for. He believes the greatest prevention to war is to end all wars, becoming a global superpower that strips nations of their power to challenge each other, and by extension challenge him.
Obviously his anti-war sentiments are not particularly ethical and he turns into a wannabe dictator, but you go on this journey with him as his son’s closest friend. You sympathise with his pain, until you realise the human cost of his plan.
This story is given so much more weight thanks to the cutscenes that play between missions. Similar to Black Ops II’s more cinematic experience, Advanced Warfare uses these segments to actually flesh characters out, not just present an Intel screen with a voice over as was the case with the Modern Warfare games and Ghosts. The writing may not be particularly compelling, as is usually the case with Call of Duty games, but it’s a significant step forward from what we usually get from the series.
It’s Advanced Warfare’s gameplay that really shines though, with a significant leap forward in the series gameplay mechanics. The most obvious thing to address first is the EXO Suit, a mechanical skeleton that grants the wearer increased agility and strength. Most missions in Advanced Warfare will see you wearing one and they come with various gameplay alterations, whether it be as simple as the ability to move faster and jump higher, or even grant you abilities such as temporary invisibility and jet boosters to hover in the hair.
Weapons have futuristic new functions, such as your smart grenades which now have multiple functions depending on what you select before you toss it. Got a cluster of enemies? A frag should clear them out just fine, but what if there are drones keeping you pinned down? Select the EMP grenade toggle before you toss it and that drag will send out an electrical pulse rather than explode to disable those pesky drones.
It makes you think far more tactically than just having frags and flashbangs.
The levels are also far more complex in design, there’s a lot more verticality, and there’s more going on in them. For example you might be tasked with crossing a busy highway during a firefight, so you need to be aware of moving traffic as well as cover and enemy placement. Add to this the variety of combatants you’ll come up against, it’s not just soldiers you can put down with a couple of bullets, you’ve got the previously mentioned drones, as well as riot shielded soldiers, armoured foes, and more. Some take a lot more punishment before they stop moving and it means you need to do a lot more than just plant yourself in cover and shoot anything that moves.
Despite this increased variety, the game is usually quite eager to shove you back into a corridor whenever it can. It saves the big and complex firefights for mission climaxes and the late game, but when they come they are brilliant.
Two such examples are the late game missions ‘Throttle’ and ‘Captured’. The former sees you start out piloting an aircraft and taking down targets from the air, before putting you on the ground in a large open-ended environment where you can climb, slide, and boost your way around the battlefield against almost every enemy type in the game. It’s one of the few levels where the game just gives you the whole toy box and lets you go crazy with it. The latter mission is exactly the opposite, it strips you of basically everything and presents a mission that’s relatively unique to Call of Duty, forcing you to rely on stealth and pacifism to get by.
One other aspect of the game I wasn’t keen on the way inclusion of, and frequent use of scripted quick time events. You’re given a couple of seconds to hit a random button during a cinematic slow-mo moment and if you fail then you’re instantly killed, and I feel it really strips back player agency, as well as the button prompts often not being particularly clear and visible.
There is a huge graphical leap over Ghosts, and Advanced Warfare feels like the first truly ‘next-gen’ (at the time) Call of Duty. On the PS4 you’re treated to a buttery smooth 60fps with some advanced lightning and particle effects, as well as highly detailed environments and character models, with a lot of motion capture animation used for character movement.
It looks really good, and I can’t say how it holds up on the seventh generation systems, but I expect that some serious corners had to be cut in order to get the thing to run at a reasonably consistent frame rate.
I did notice that there was a significant amount of texture pop-in though, and this may be a side effect of the new engine used.
The game sounds great too, guns and explosions are really beefy and sound much better than in previous games. It’s clear that Sledgehammer wanted this game to sound as good as it looks, and I really appreciate that.
Two such examples are the late game missions ‘Throttle’ and ‘Captured’. The former sees you start out piloting an aircraft and taking down targets from the air, before putting you on the ground in a large open-ended environment where you can climb, slide, and boost your way around the battlefield against almost every enemy type in the game. It’s one of the few levels where the game just gives you the whole toy box and lets you go crazy with it. The latter mission is exactly the opposite, it strips you of basically everything and presents a mission that’s relatively unique to Call of Duty, forcing you to rely on stealth and pacifism to get by.
One other aspect of the game I wasn’t keen on the way inclusion of, and frequent use of scripted quick time events. You’re given a couple of seconds to hit a random button during a cinematic slow-mo moment and if you fail then you’re instantly killed, and I feel it really strips back player agency, as well as the button prompts often not being particularly clear and visible.
There is a huge graphical leap over Ghosts, and Advanced Warfare feels like the first truly ‘next-gen’ (at the time) Call of Duty. On the PS4 you’re treated to a buttery smooth 60fps with some advanced lightning and particle effects, as well as highly detailed environments and character models, with a lot of motion capture animation used for character movement.
It looks really good, and I can’t say how it holds up on the seventh generation systems, but I expect that some serious corners had to be cut in order to get the thing to run at a reasonably consistent frame rate.
I did notice that there was a significant amount of texture pop-in though, and this may be a side effect of the new engine used.
The game sounds great too, guns and explosions are really beefy and sound much better than in previous games. It’s clear that Sledgehammer wanted this game to sound as good as it looks, and I really appreciate that.
Multiplayer works in a similar style to Black Ops II’s. The Pick 10 system returns but this time it’s Pick 12, and of course the multiplayer makes the most of maps designed around the EXO’s increased mobility. There’s a lot of jumping and sliding involved and personally I’m not a fan, but you can see this as a progenitor of the kind of multiplayer popularised by Titanfall, Black Ops III, and Apex Legends.
Zombies also makes an appearance as DLC, and the unique twist to this is that you must scavenge together parts of an EXO to increase your survival odds. It’s fine, it’s still not able to convince me that CoD Zombies is a fun game type, but at least it’s trying something new with the formula.
Whilst the strong reputation Advanced Warfare gained may be somewhat sullied by Kevin Spacey’s appearance as Jonathan Irons, the game itself is really worth playing for fans of the series, and fans of FPS games.
It’s one of the earliest examples of the kind of sci-fi shooter that dominated the 2010’s, and whilst that kind of rapid reflex, bouncing around kind of gameplay may not suit everyone, Advanced Warfare still retains enough of the old Call of Duty DNA to appeal to fans of the more classic boots on the ground style gameplay.
Sledgehammer Games got off to a strong start here, and it’s a shame they didn’t return to the Advanced Warfare sun-series again. Instead hoping to redefine the series once again, and give a welcome break from the sci-fi shenanigans that Call of Duty became known for around this time.
Zombies also makes an appearance as DLC, and the unique twist to this is that you must scavenge together parts of an EXO to increase your survival odds. It’s fine, it’s still not able to convince me that CoD Zombies is a fun game type, but at least it’s trying something new with the formula.
Whilst the strong reputation Advanced Warfare gained may be somewhat sullied by Kevin Spacey’s appearance as Jonathan Irons, the game itself is really worth playing for fans of the series, and fans of FPS games.
It’s one of the earliest examples of the kind of sci-fi shooter that dominated the 2010’s, and whilst that kind of rapid reflex, bouncing around kind of gameplay may not suit everyone, Advanced Warfare still retains enough of the old Call of Duty DNA to appeal to fans of the more classic boots on the ground style gameplay.
Sledgehammer Games got off to a strong start here, and it’s a shame they didn’t return to the Advanced Warfare sun-series again. Instead hoping to redefine the series once again, and give a welcome break from the sci-fi shenanigans that Call of Duty became known for around this time.