Welcome to Advanced Warfare

by Abhishek Singh, staff reporter 

Game: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Developer: Sledgehammer Games, High Moon Studios, Raven Software

Publisher: Activision

Release Date: 11/4/14

Availability: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and PC

Genre: First Person Shooter, Action

Rating: M for Mature

Let’s face it, last year players were disappointed with the critical failure of Call of Duty: Ghosts. Players felt betrayed and robbed with lack of content and no innovation, and was rated the worst Call of Duty of all time.

This year, Sledgehammer Games (SHG) showed innovation right away, that pleased all critics and most importantly, players.

Advanced Warfare tells a story about a futuristic America, where PMC (Private Military Corporations) are at the center of power in Warfare. The game mainly focuses on Atlas, a PMC lead by Jonathan Irons (voiced by Kevin Spacey) who is at the center of power and weapons to secure a safe America. After a global attack on the USA, he declares war nationwide to gain power, with corrupt practices.

The story is nothing short but spectacular! This is one of the first Call of Duty’s to integrate a great narrative with a great supporting cast to make sure the game feels like a future shooter. The jaw dropping moments never stopped, and was heavily intense in battle scenes, or as SHG calls “movies.”

“It’s a big step in the franchise for sure. They’re showing everybody that they can make beautiful games with movie like story lines,” Junior Daniel Kricheli said

While there is a lot of good parts of the game, there is one bad. The campaign sometimes disappoints with gameplay when players feel as the exo suit isn’t as heavily implemented as they had hoped. While the game is new and fresh, more could have been done in this interesting world, as players seem to want more.

Call of Duty is heavily known for its multiplayer component. This year, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is pushing the limits and breaking all formulas for an original and new multiplayer mode, which is heavily influenced from Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

SHG wanted more innovation rather than reskin, and have shown off polished and smooth exo movements into the game. It shows different directions and mechanics, for example Boost Jump and Boost Dodge which lets the player jump to higher vantage points and dodge different shots and explosions. Pick 10 is back from Black Ops 2 but this timed a little changed to Pick 13, in which now score-streaks are a part of the player class which allows the ultimate flexibility. The key features are Customizable and upgradable score-streaks, weapon loot, and of course, Pick 13.

“It just feels different from the past Call of Duty games,” junior Vincent Casey said

Last but not least, Advanced Warfare includes a co-op mode, which is a past iteration of CO-OP found in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 called Survival Mode. However, this time it’s called Exo- Survival and it’s the same as Modern Warfare 3 with the ability to use the exo movements for more gameplay time and as well as the fun reaction.

It has an easter egg on one of its levels about a fan favorite game mode from Treyarch’s Black Ops series called Zombies. Zombies is confirmed and revealed to be part of the DLC season of Advanced Warfare.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare showed promise to fans about innovation, and has finally paid it all off.  The game is a homage to fans and was entirely what the fans wanted. SHG shows promise and is at a good start in its Advanced Warfare series. Who can only imagine what can come next, as well as how much innovation can happen in three years. Sure, the game has issues, but every game does, and Advanced Warfare isn’t only a masterpiece, but is also a step into the right decision.

Final Verdict: 9.5/10