Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Review

"Call of Spacey"

Campaign

With a franchise as large and long going as Call of Duty there's definitely times when people feel fatigue. Advanced Warfare hopes to spice that up by completely revamping the movement system and setting of the series. Taking us a good fifty years into the future we are presented with a world that has moved towards private corporation and Atlas is quickly becoming the largest of those along with being the largest military in the world.

The company respects no borders and is paid to take on tasks that the military or governments are not able to handle themselves. You could see how this power could create craze as it grows, though you almost instantly join the ranks of that organization after a quick arm slice leaves Mitchell the main character disabled. Being the best friend of a fallen soldier whose father was coincidentally Irons played by Kevin Spacey which owns Atlas.

Looking after your character he gives you an arm prosthetic and you're instantly back in the fight. After a few missions there's a tragic event and time jumps even further in the future. This is where things get exciting and the campaign really takes you to crazy places all across this futuristic world. For the first time the characters felt so alive throughout the cinematics and Spacey just steals the show with his amazing performance.

The whole plot and story was perfectly done while being well executed throughout one of the better stories in the series. There are so many things to see and interesting technology to take advantage of alongside some decent stealth missions. For all the buildup I thought that maybe split endings might have fit better, though that's my opinion by the end of it. Also didn't particularly enjoy the flying levels again as they just don't fit into the series.
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Review Xbox Wallpaper Screenshot

Multiplayer/Survival

The multiplayer is set back on track with a focus on unlocking and less on buying things which is annoying. The custom creation system available right from the start is well done balancing everything quite well for so many damn customizing options. From wildcards to weighted slots everything is quite well designed. The exo suits are weird, though I suppose they do change up the gameplay a bit at times with small bonuses.

Actual combat is very strange with people zipping all around, though this addresses many complaints such as the campaign; bad spawning and snipers which are non-visible at this point. Of course this could all change in the future as the online community does evolve over the course of a Call of Duty release. I'd say this is a definite move forward in terms of changing it up for multiplayer, and it's more enjoyable than past entries.

Scorestreaks have also returned with many options to make each item unique depending on how many points you want to save for it like extra additions to sentries or your missiles like emp blankets as an example. Taking a note out of Battlefield's random loot drops we are given a similar thing with clothing and weapons though this could lead to some awful micro transactions which it will. Items also occasionally have a time limit which makes it feel really free to play and I don't like that aspect. A good amount of modes return to Advanced Warfare though there seems to be no focus on objective since it doesn't give enough points to waste time on them.

Momentum is a returning one I'd like to highlight as way to quick compared to the amazing War mode it's inspired from. They also ripped of Halo's Ricochet mode which is essentially a sport like throwing objective game. It depends on the type of player you're to determine if you'll enjoy this drastic change. The maps are also really hit and miss not being well design for the core game changes with some being downright terrible. Even if the aesthetics are great, some the maps level design is just off. Finally we have custom emblem creation returned which I liked from Treyarch's games.

The survival gameplay is a continuation of of Modern Warfare's mode and just enhances that slightly with more custom options. There are also fun events that show up to mix up play like grabbing dog tags or disarming things randomly on some wave levels. The mode also seems more heavily focused on the Exo which offers changes depending on your first class selection. It's made for four players and I can only see some time spent here as it honestly wasn't too exciting of an offering.

Gameplay

Everything relies heavily on the Exo suit around the core of gameplay and ever mechanic you know feels different. At core the gameplay feels like Ghosts though all the quicker movement changes play. The maps often don't accommodate this and it feels out of place at times, especially in campaign.

It will sure be hard going back next year when I'm guessing the next one doesn't have the same sort of skeleton surrounding the player. Weapons are also very bland looking with few changes across all of them except for how they fire, there's a laser gun so that's something I suppose. The entire game feels like it borrows from the other franchises and meets somewhere in the middle.
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Xbox One

The Conclusion

It's different, honestly at times when playing I'm having a great time that I haven't had in a couple years with Call of Duty. Everything comes down to whether you want to give a different studio a chance at a franchise that's well known. The entire movement system is radical and causes quick displacement for everyone.

Many of my issues with multiplayer are addressed so it should be smooth until people come up with exploits around it. Survival mode of Exo coop is rather boring, but does offer a mix-up of play for you. Kevin Spacey brings an awesome performance along with the other characters bringing one of the better stories I've seen from the franchise.

I would have liked more decision choices towards the end, though we are following a tale they give us. There's many great locations to explore from campaign the multiplayer and I'm sure there will be even more once the Season Pass rolls out which is now fairly much a part of the game I'd say. So if this sounds like something different to try out then you may very well like a different take on a fatiguing series.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Review on Xbox One

Rating Overall: 8.0

Gamerheadquarters Reviewer Jason Stettner