When Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was first revealed to the public earlier this year, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from the eleventh installment in the popular first-person shooter series. With a primary focus on advanced technology and strong performances by Troy Baker and Kevin Spacey, it seemed as though Activision was aiming to reinvent the franchise and give both new and returning fans a fresh and satisfying experience.
After having played Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare all afternoon, I can safely say now that this is shaping up to be one of the most engaging entries in the series so far. Here are a few brief impressions on what you can expect from both the single player and multiplayer portions of the game.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is set in the year 2054 and revolves around a brutal war between a technology savvy terrorist organization known as KVA and a private military organization called Atlus. The player takes on the role of Jack Mitchell, a former United States Marine, who joins forces with Atlus after losing both a friend and his own arm during a battle in Seoul, South Korea.
These unfortunate circumstances are put on full display for all to see at the dramatic conclusion of the first mission. The sequence of events are very powerful and succeed at commanding an emotional response from the audience. Being this early into the campaign, I cannot yet confirm if the rest of the story will maintain this level of quality. However, I will say that the opening is very strong and I’m looking forward to seeing where the narrative goes from here.
From a graphical standpoint, the look and feel of both the characters and the atmosphere are absolutely stunning. The high tech approach to standard weaponry is also creative and offers up some interesting possibilities on what we could actually see in the future. At first glance, I’d have to say that Advanced Warfare is definitely the most polished game in the series to date and proves that the three-year development time put into this title was well worth it.
Shortly after having a brief look at the campaign, I decided to jump right into the multiplayer portion of the game. This was easily the most addictive aspect of the title thanks in part to the fluid movement that you are capable of doing throughout each beautifully designed map. Using weapons and perks against adversaries never gets tiresome and the system is balanced enough where even the worst of players is capable of getting better fairly quickly over time. In many ways, I would compare this experience to Titanfall‘s multiplayer without mechs and the ability to run on walls.
One aspect of multiplayer that I still need to explore is the effectiveness of each weapon in different circumstances. I do have a concern that some weapons might be slightly more overpowered than others and this may be detrimental to the overall experience if other players use these items to their advantage. Again, it’s still to early to tell if this is the case but I’ll definitely address this sooner rather than later.
On the surface, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is already several steps above Call of Duty: Ghosts when it comes to story, concept, graphics and gameplay. Are these factors alone enough to make it the best in the series? Stay tuned for my in-depth answer on this and more when I release my review later this week.
For more information on this highly anticipated title, please feel free to check out our informative post on Eveything You Need To Know About Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
