Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Review

Life teaches nothing. You promise yourself to go to bed early – but still end up staying up late. You plan in advance to start a big project – but only begin it at the last moment. You make a vow not to play any more new Call of Duty games – but it’s like talking to a wall. The next installment is already pre-ordered.

After the global fiasco with the subtitle Ghosts, the following text could have been filled with cries about the death of the series, nostalgic stories about that very “Call of Duty,” and stingy curses towards Activision. However, there is one small factor that gets in the way – Advanced Warfare has nothing in common with last year’s deception.

But let’s not jump to conclusions upon seeing the first campaign footage. Yes, we are in the future again. Yes, there are drones, fictional tanks, and non-existent rifles. Does it remind you of the recent “Edge of Tomorrow” and the second Crysis? Well, they should learn how to make blockbusters.

The thing is, Call of Duty has finally gotten tired of its endless stories about modern conflicts and evil Russians and has turned into a futuristic action game with the right Hollywood structure. States no longer fight – it is done by the military corporation “Atlas”, which owns the most advanced weapons in the world. It is around them that the local plot revolves – and it is their technologies that make the updated gameplay so delicious.

During the juicy introductory mission, the game immediately makes it clear how much everything has changed. The action is already pouring out of the screen, and there is no interface: it fits entirely on a compact projection next to the weapon – a modest detail that all projects aspiring for total immersion should adopt. You encounter a giant abyss on your way, and the heroes effortlessly fly over it to the building across. You want to throw a grenade accurately, but it hovers in the air and decides for itself which target to hit. Call of Duty, is that really you?

Pleasant surprise turns into complete delight when the main character’s exoskeleton comes into play. The biggest innovation of Advanced Warfare justifies its existence to the fullest. While we desperately play along with the familiar linearity, the tutorial increasingly emphasizes that now you can run fast, jump high, slow down time – and just imagine yourself as Prophet in a nanosuit. And it turns out that the environment is not against giving a little freedom for all these tricks.

Here is where you understand that instead of a direct corridor, there is a multi-level level with no clearly defined path. The flashy fiction of Black Ops II was unable to refresh the outdated mechanics – but this time the setting dictates its own rules, turning each location into a small “sandbox”. Tactical experiments are encouraged and welcomed in every way: why run to the entrenched enemies when it’s easier to shoot them from the neighboring house? Or maybe it’s better to bypass the threat altogether by climbing to the upper floor? It’s up to you, be bold.

Strangely enough, the conditional variability of the passage did not detract from the spectacle. On the contrary, the player himself participates in the signature staging of the series, constantly generating situations around him that are as dynamic and explosive as the prepared cutscenes.

The technical execution is also unexpectedly impressive. Oh, have the times come when you can praise the excellent sound in Call of Duty? It’s time for the unforgettable “Battlefield” to step aside, because Advanced Warfare sounds as convincing as possible in its ambiance. Shooting, explosions, the crunch of exoskeletons, characteristic sounds of unknown technology, and even voice acting – everything exudes “cinematic” quality and professionalism of the creators. By the way, the game looks incredibly beautiful as well, which painfully reminds the dull Ghosts of its shortcomings.

Returning to the plot, it is worth noting that it is also the weakest point of the project. No, not because it is bad – the fast pace and truly interesting setup give an advantage over all those stories about Captain Price that we have heard over the years. It just won’t be a revelation if you are familiar with this kind of cinematography, and it will end in your head without really starting on the screen. It is not difficult to predict who will betray whom and how many heroes will survive until the end, which is a bit disappointing – after all, the same Black Ops could boast quite decent twists for a one-day action movie.

Well, and the secondary use of the carousels, how can we do without it. Despite the overall novelty of everything, Advanced Warfare shamelessly borrows convenient situations from previous installments, disguising them with context. It doesn’t stand out and doesn’t make you bored – but the fact is the fact, right?

Freshness is key, both in single player and multiplayer. Whatever you may think, all the aforementioned exoshitoviny are present there as well, only in a slightly trimmed format in the name of balance.

The online mode of the new CoD has been predicted to have an unfortunate fate as a pale copy of Titanfall, but we assure you that after a couple of matches, it will seem the opposite. By combining the famous frenetic dynamics with vertical movement, the developers have achieved an even more complex and captivating mechanics. It will be unlikely to sit with a sniper rifle for a long time now, just as it is to constantly flank the enemy – the risk of getting shot is too great. The enemy is constantly nearby, and predicting their actions is practically impossible due to the variety of tactics used.

You can definitely customize your own fighting style. If the fighter’s appearance changes solely for aesthetic purposes, their equipment has a significant impact. You probably know the rules from Black Ops II: you have a strictly limited number of slots to fit in everything you need, sacrificing any peripherals. The only difference is that for each class, you can choose a unique ability, and rewards for scorestreaks can be personalized, for example, by increasing the radius of a drone, making it a bit more “expensive”.

Fans of a more personal online experience may appreciate the built-in cooperative mode, but it’s better to clarify right away that its essence lies in the usual shooting of waves of computer enemies. You can squeeze a couple of fun hours out of it, but the taste of soggy bran eventually takes over.

Advanced Warfare is the long-awaited shake-up that the series needed. Call of Duty was pulled out of a prolonged slump, groomed, dressed in a neat suit, and released back onto the stage to deliver one of the best performances in the last couple of years.