When the Call of Duty series debuted in 2003, the developers at Infinity Ward were not simply launching an attack on their competition at Dreamworks Interactive, but also laying the cornerstone for a series of games that now features more than 15 titles and counting. Since then, there’s been a new installment almost every year, and the games’ huge fan community has grown considerably with each one. Gamers from all over the world have traveled through the ages, from WWII to the present day, fought their way through the trenches in Russia, and carried out missions behind enemy lines all over the world. The series’ diverse settings range from the past to the present, and it was just a matter of time before we were to see a new Call of Duty game. “A matter of time” in more ways than one, at that.
Storyline
In the course of an operation to liberate the city of Seoul North Korean invaders, the weaknesses of the US military are revealed in a most dramatic way. This four-hour engagement, which cost the lives of 6,000 Marines, makes it clear that the United States of America is no longer capable of meeting every challenge, and much of the national security apparatus is given over to the private sector. Thus begins the age of the private military contractors, the most prominent of which is the Atlas Corporation. Led by CEO and founder Jonathan Irons, the Atlas Corporation has developed into a vast and powerful corporation, and within days they are able to secure the infrastructure and supply chains of entire regions. By their own admission, Atlas doesn’t offer any goods or services, but rather sells power.
This new arrangement turns out to not just be effective in defending refugee camps, but also seems to offer the ideal response to the terrorist activities of the KVA, whose leader “Hades” pursues no lesser goal than to cleanse the world of technology and bring to world back to a more primitive state. For the KVA, the end always justifies the means, and Hades’ unscrupulousness knows no bounds. Terror attacks are carried out all over the globe in their name.
After what happened in Seoul, Jack Mitchell, who was forever marked by the operation, is discharged from the arm after the loss of his left arm has rendered him useless. So it’s no surprise that when Atlas makes him an offer, he takes the chance to offer his services to the mercenary organization.
Irons’ private army, possessing technology 20 years ahead of the government, is held in check by none of the regulations or laws that tie the hands of the state. This makes them the ideal antagonist for the KVA. What was once celebrated as the savior of humanity from the forces of lawlessness soon proves to be an unruly beast grown to proportions far beyond the control of any state, and becomes a serious menace right before the eyes of helpless politicians and governments. While in other Call of Duty games you changed player characters at regular intervals, allowing you to experience the overall conflict from various points of view, the only playable character in this game is Mitchell, who experiences the whole adventure, starting with the mission in Seoul and the changeover to Atlas. However, there aren’t any real surprises in the five-hour campaign, and the plot surrounding Jonathan Irons, played by Kevin Spacey, is just a bit too predictable.
Gameplay
If you’ve played other games in the Call of Duty series, you’ll feel right at home in the latest one, as for years Call of Duty has been a series that has known how to take advantage of the qualities of a good action movie – a mostly easy to understand good vs. evil plot in a world on the brink, which needs to be saved again every year. This time the world that needs to be saved is the world in the year 2054 – a futuristic setting that has strong sci-fi elements, but doesn’t overdo it. For the most part they just extrapolate on technologies that already exist today, which gives the in-game world the feel of an old friend who you haven’t seen in a while. And this is just fine, since you don’t have any more time for sight-seeing in this game than you did in other games in the series. After all, if you’re playing a Call of Duty game, what you’re really after is the high-adrenaline action you’d find in a war movie, not an open and explorable game world.
Mitchell’s missions take him all over the world. From San Francisco to Bangkok to Lagos, he travels everywhere, always trying to stay one step ahead of the KVA, whether it’s a nuclear power plant they’re planning to blow up, or a hostage crisis requiring the intervention of special forces. There’s a huge amount of variety here, and as you might expect, no mission is quite like any other. All the levels appear believable and alive with activity – locals go about their business in front of shops, and there’s a lot going on the streets too. Unfortunately this illusion is only briefly able to distract you from the title’s weak points, and it’s not long before this graphical façade, which is actually really nice, begins to crumble, and many situations reveal technical aspects that are just poorly conceived and realized in the game. The first few levels in the mad hunt for Hades are revealed to be extremely linear in their structure, and the game often suggests that the player has freedom of action which is in reality completely non-existent. Alternative routes are usually no more than brief departures from the main path, and don’t really add anything at all to the gameplay.
My name is Mitchell, Jack Mitchell
The year 2054 offers a range of gadgets that make the task of hunting down terrorists a good deal easier. Smart Grenades find enemies automatically, the Grappling Hook allows Mitchell to glide through the air, and Magnetic Gloves make scaling walls as easy as hopping a fence.
Which gimmick you can use at which time is strictly predetermined. The only piece of futuristic technology that you can use throughout the game is the Exosuit, a robotic frame that grants superhuman abilities to soldiers in the future. You can even modify it later on. You can use the Exosuit to take evasive jumps in any direction or easily toss heavy objects through the air, even if they weigh several tons. Various challenges throughout each mission unlock upgrade points which you can use to enhance the robotic exoskeleton. The challenges are pretty much the same throughout the game, and have you do things like make a certain number of headshots or grenade kills, or find hidden data in the levels.
After each mission you can use the points to upgrade your Exosuit, and the upgrades can be used to reduce your susceptibility to enemy fire, reduce kickback from weapons, or increase the maximum number of grenades you can carry. These are just a few of the examples of upgradable attributes, and after just a few missions your exoskeleton practically becomes a walking fortress.
Just follow your nose
Mission objectives must be completed one after the other, and there’s no way to avoid them, as you are constantly bound to your team, and it’s only with your team that you are capable of clearing the way to the next segment of the game. Instead of feeling like you’re part of a special unit, you often end up feeling like an intern. The team leader is constantly informing you of things, even when it’s completely obvious, making simple tasks like crossing a multi-lane highway a real test of your patience. The objective, to reach the other side, is clear, but our superior seems to be equally oblivious to the hordes of enemies positioned there as he is to the busy traffic you have to make your way through. And while you’re trying to dodge a hail of bullets from your enemies as well as vehicles that can easily run you over, the game feels the need to keep reminding you, in the form of an annoying voice, to complete your mission objective. The solo campaign is full of such misplaced features that tend to interfere with the flow of the game, which is for the most part smooth and dynamic. The same goes for driving and flying sequences – the joy of driving around in a heavy tank blows over all too soon when you realize it has all the charm of riding on an ordinary train. Fun is supposed to look a bit different.
Press button to win
Mitchell experiences several suspenseful and exciting scenes throughout Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, and these adrenaline-charged moments help to drive up your pulse-rate. While these scenes are spectacular in terms of how they look, they often end up falling flat in the way they’re implemented in the gameplay. Storming a room in slow motion is something often seen in other recent Call of Duty games. These scenes were well structured and let the player know everything they needed to about what to do next. These segments usually did not have to be repeated. In Advanced Warfare, however, it appears things are a bit different. With all the action going on, it’s easy to overlook the prompts telling you which button to press, which are far too small. The actions your own character is supposed to take are often so sudden that you have no way to react correctly. You often have to make extremely quick decisions with no frame of reference. The result is that you have to repeat such scenes over and over again until you know them by sheer rote memorization. This is really annoying, and wastes a lot of potential. If these scenes were done just a little bit better, they’d be able to get a “yippee-ki-yay, mother#$%!” out of John McClane himself.
Army of fools
These little issues take a little bit of fun out of the game, but you’d be able to ignore them if it weren’t for the sheer excess of AI-controlled enemies. Or better yet, just enemies, as many moments in the game might have you questioning whether your adversaries are actually controlled by any kind of artificial intelligence. Usually, looking for cover is about the full extent of their “intelligence” – they don’t even ever really try to flank your position or exploit your weaknesses, so there’s really no penalty for not being careful. If you were looking forward to fights with intelligent opponents that make you think on your toes, you’re going to be sorely disappointed here when the enemy soldiers completely fail to do their jobs. While this doesn’t happen all that often, it still makes you wonder why they didn’t just turn this game into a rail shooter. Especially in larger areas, the combat here ends up feeling like a less than challenging target practice. And then there’s the fact that they throw so many enemies into each engagement that it’s almost ridiculous to look at. Only at higher difficulty levels is there any sort of challenge to speak of, and only because the enemy soldiers’ accuracy is extremely unfair. Your own team is no exception to this terrible AI – the team that’s supposed to help rid the world of terrorists is in this case utterly incompetent. All of this adds up to a single player campaign that simply cannot meet expectations in terms of its technological capabilities.
Multiplayer
Rising above everything else, however, is Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s multiplayer mode. Online as well as offline (with up to four players), the developers give us what fans have loved about the series for years: quick and well-balanced matches with a wide variety of maps. Players face off against each other on teams of up to 18, and depending on the game mode you’ve chosen, this isn’t always enough to destroy the enemy. Sometimes the object is to defuse bombs, sometimes you have to capture and hold certain areas in order to obtain points. Those who just rush blindly at the enemy are quickly sorted out from those who take the time to discuss things with their teammates and those who use their equipment wisely. The biggest innovation in this game is probably the Exosuit, which opens up a completely new range of possibilities to the player. The suit helps you cross maps at lightning speed, and take out snipers from almost any direction. The maps have been designed with this new feature in mind, allowing for several different planes of combat and a much wider range of things to do.
I’m packing my suitcase and taking it with me
All your efforts in online battles pay off as usual in the form of experience points. You can use these to unlock weapons and upgrades, and even individualize your squad leader avatar with clothing and other gear. This has its advantages and disadvantages. You can’t purchase all items at first, and you have to complete certain challenges to be able to use weapons upgrades. These challenges might include a certain number of kills or a certain number of direct hits, for example. While this does increase the sense of anticipation you get, it also means that you’re going to have to invest a decent amount of time in order to get the things you want or need. If you aren’t satisfied with the pre-arranged weapon sets, you can create your own – at your disposal are several models of pistols, submachine guns, heavy weapons, rocket and grenade launchers, and sniper rifles, all of which can be modified according to your personal preferences. Even the Exosuit can be upgraded to feature active camo or additional health boosts.
Of course, you have to use your maximum of 13 points wisely. Every additional weapons part, every grenade, kill series, and skill has a particular value. This makes it absolutely essential to consider all of your options carefully. You can also expand on your individual preferences and adapt them to the various maps and game modes. You can save several different weapons configurations and change them at any time during the game, and they’ll be available when you respawn.
Graphics and Sound
In terms of graphics, a lot has been done in comparison to previous games in the series. High-resolution textures, smooth animations, and an entire repertoire of effects do a good job of showing what next-gen consoles are capable of, even if they come nowhere close to using them to their full capacity. Lighting effects are a lot more realistic, and you can’t miss just how alive the in-game world seems. There are grounds for criticism when it comes to resolution, however. PlayStation 4 owners can be happy with their system’s native 1080p, while Xbox One players get a “dynamic resolution” – depending on how much strain is being put on the system, the resolution can be reduced to 1360x1080. On the other hand, the constant frame rate provided no grounds for criticism during our test.
Once again, this Call of Duty game is excellent, and the powerful explosions, creaking tank treads, and fire from every direction all help to place the player right in the middle of the action. And the quality of the voice acting for the individual characters in no way lags behind, either.
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