I don’t like Call of Duty. I don’t hate it either. When I reviewed Call of Duty: Ghosts last year, it was the first time I had played more than an hour in what is arguably the world’s most popular FPS title. I found the experience unmemorable. So I’ve been impervious to CoD fanaticism/hype and don’t have high expectations for this year’s iteration of the franchise, subtitled Advanced Warfare.
As the name implies, this tour of duty is set in the future of 2054 where clever human technology (no alien involvement here) has greatly improved soldiers’ mobility and combat skills. I don my exo-suit and jump buildings in a single bound to bring you this review.
In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, you play as US marine corps private Jack Mitchell on a mission in Seoul, Korea where your fellow marine and best friend Will Irons gives his life to save you. Mitchell bears the scars (literally) from the encounter and after being discharged from the military, he joins Atlas, a private military service run by Will’s father, Jonathan Irons. Mitchell teams up with veteran Atlas operators Gideon and Joker and feels a great sense of camaraderie. Everything couldn’t be better with his new “family” until Mitchell learns a secret about Irons that changes EVERYTHING. This leads to the eventual about-turn in loyalties and the hunt for Irons. As far as it goes, the story is serviceable and can be completed in a weekend on the normal difficulty. It’s a short, focused, clinical strike that drops you right into the tense action. With all the explosions going on around you, it’s hard to notice the times when the games tries to tug at the heart strings. The story here is certainly better than the one in Ghosts if that counts for anything.
If you’re used to Call of Duty, the game’s harder difficulties (Hardened and Veteran) are unlocked from start, although if you are new to the series, normal difficulty should suffice. It’s not so difficult that you’ll continually be restarting checkpoints but you can’t just expect to charge into battle and expect bullets to bounce off. A few well-placed shots from the enemy and you’re seeing red. That’s your blood and you’ll be drowned downed unless you find cover. Advanced Warfare does provide some hi-tech tools that will increase your chances of survival. Can’t throw grenades to save your life? No problem, there is a smart grenade (one of six—six!—types of grenades!) that will seek out enemies for you. Can’t spot enemies in the urban jungle? The target enhancer attachment will make them light up like a Christmas tree on fire. While the majority of the time is spent shooting things, sometime you’re shooting things from different perspectives, be it in an overwatch role, piloting a drone and raining death from above, or mounting a turret and mowing down pests. Other times you get to ride a bike, escaping with with your bagged target. Other sections have you sneaking around, avoiding sentry drones, driving a hover-tank, and skewering enemies with your killer grapple. You get a taste of air combat as well, flying a fighter jet into enemy airspace. These little welcome distractions break up the usual monotony of clearing room after room of enemy soldiers.
You’ll recognize the usual weapon types in the game. The assault rifles, sub-machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, heavy weapons, pistols, and rocket launchers seem fit for the future time frame. The shooting mechanics are good, but I did find the riding the bike and piloting (boats and airplanes) a little awkward. They are way more twitchy than the sensitivity of “medium” would expect you to believe. While you can’t upgrade any of your guns, you can upgrade your exo system by getting a certain number of kills, head shots, and grenade kills, and by gathering intel. You earn points that can be spent on upgrades such as a boost in health, the ability to carry additional grenades, a decrease in weapon kick, and increased sprint time. There are 11 of them and each can be upgraded twice, so there’s plenty to aim for (see what I did there?).
The locations visited are hardly glamorous, but that is not surprising considering the storyline. So there are no assaults on beautiful tropical beach resorts or infiltrating a base hidden in a cave under a giant waterfall. Instead you visit many utilitarian areas such as nuclear plants, hotels, and the country retreat of the US president. You even get to make like a chicken and cross a road in peak hour traffic. It’s not easy as it sounds; talk show host Conan O’Brien took 59 attempts to get across.
The visuals in this game are outstanding, as are the movie-like CGI cutscenes that frame each mission. The action set pieces that are so well executed have you at the center of the action, and you can’t help being drawn into it. Shooting is fun and it’s buttery smooth, and even in the action-heavy scenes I didn’t notice any loss in framerate. But to the trained eyes of the Digital Foundry boffins, even though the presentation is 1080p on the PS4, the frame rate fluctuates between 40 and 60fps. On the Xbox One, it runs more consistently at 60fps, but the resolution takes a dip.
What also runs at 60fps is Advanced Warfare’s multiplayer mode. Let’s talk about that for a bit. Similar to Ghosts, the “Operator” feature enables you to customize your player’s looks from head to toe (literally). The “Create-a-class” feature makes a return as well, but for new entrants to Call of Duty, one does not simply walk into Mordor create a class. Here is where the “pick 13” system comes in. As the number implies, you pick the 13 elements that make up your customized class. Choose the default weapons from the different types available. Choose the attachments to be used for the different weapons. Set your three perks, exo ability, exo launchers (grenades). And choose up to 3 wildcards. AND choose what will be deployed if you happen to achieve a certain scorestreak. That’s an awful lot to take in if it’s your first touch of CoD multiplayer and if that isn’t daunting enough, there are 12 game types to participate in! Progressing up through the levels to level 50 unlocks Prestige mode where your rank is reset, allowing you to get to level 50 again, and again and again. You can prestige up to 15 times. There are almost as many maps available (13 base maps) and are set out to take advantage of the jumping abilities provided by your exo-suit.
Finding games on the PS4 were a breeze. If it wasn’t an immediate join in a game, it was (mostly) a short wait. A level 1 operator with the basic gear going up against level 48 super-soldiers shouldn’t be surprising prospect to online players. CoD multiplayer is a trial by fire and unsurprisingly I got burnt to a crisp. BUT I wasn’t discouraged. The shooting may be twitchy and fast but so are the rewards you get from it. The medals came one after the other and so did the XP gains, and the level up to rank 5 came in but a short few games. It’s this kind of progression that leaves the player wanting more.
All in all, I’ve had a fantastic time in Advanced Warfare. On the current generation of consoles, the game looks and plays great. While the story may not be of such a high calibre (chances are you’ll spot the plot twist a mile away), the multiplayer offers a best-in-class experience with its deep class customization and slew of modes and maps. With Advanced Warfare, I think I finally see how the CoD experience can be so habit-forming.
Final Score: 9 duty-callin’, multiplayin’ prawns out of 10
Detailed Information:
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Publisher: Activision
Distributor: Megarom
Platform: PS4 (reviewed), PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC
Age Rating: 18
Website: http://www.callofduty.com/advancedwarfare