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GAME REVIEW: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Did it live up to the hype?

 
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call-of-duty-advanced-warfare-logo
call-of-duty-advanced-warfare-logo

 
Overview
 

Published by: Activision and Square Enix (JP)
 
Developed by: Sledgehammer Games (PC, PS4 and Xbox One) High Moon Studios (PS3 and Xbox 360)
 
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows Playstation 3 Playstation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One
 
Genre(s): First-person shooter
 
Mode(s): Single-Player
 
Game Type: , ,
 
FG RATING
80%
80/ 100


User Rating
no ratings yet

 

Raves


Huge jump visually from previous versions. Nifty gadgets and use of advanced weaponry. Fluid controls and adrenaline pumping action.

Rants


Overused theme with its storytelling. Lack of groundbreaking stuff that separates it from other FPS games.


Bottom Line

After an enticing preview during this year’s E3 convention, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is finally out and it looks very promising. This will be the first time we’ll see Sledgehammer Games takeover the helm of this blockbuster franchise ever since Call of Duty: Vietnam was cancelled. We just had been fortunate enough to finish […]

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Posted November 11, 2014 by

 
FULL REVIEW
 
 

After an enticing preview during this year’s E3 convention, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is finally out and it looks very promising. This will be the first time we’ll see Sledgehammer Games takeover the helm of this blockbuster franchise ever since Call of Duty: Vietnam was cancelled.

We just had been fortunate enough to finish downloading the huge game file (full game size is around 40gb in Steam) and tested the game to its limits, storywise and visually.

Here are the PC specs used to make this review:

Processor: AMD 8320FX 8-Core Processor
GPU: MSI Radeon R9 290 Twin Frozr Gaming Ed OC
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8gb Dual Channel

Essentials before and during gameplay:

A lot of food, beverages and a ton of patience (download times and the game’s actual mission loading time).

The Story

The game kicks off with you playing as Private Jack Mitchell narrating his reason to join the US Marines 6 months prior. He is joined by his best friend, Private Will Irons and they are smashed between the conflict between North and South Korea. The invasion, which took place in Seoul was an unforgettable one for Private Mitchell since he lost two of the most important things in his young career as a soldier: his best friend and his left arm which happened almost simultaneously in one dramatic sequence.

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The devastating event also caused him to be discharged from the military service but this seems to be what destiny had planned for him all along. During the funeral service for Private Will Irons, he was introduced to Jonathan Irons, private military contractor and ATLAS CEO, also Will Irons’ father (played by none other than Kevin Spacey). Here he was offered to join ATLAS and was also offered the great chance to have his left arm restored by an advanced technology which the military lacks. The adventure kicks off from here.

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Gameplay

Nothing much has changed since CoD: Black Ops 2. The game pretty much utilizes the same mechanics as before and only added a few tweaks here and there. The most significant I saw would probably be the return of the customization system which CoD: Ghosts used in the past. The upgrades mainly focuses on your ‘EXO Suit’ and how it affects you during battle.

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A lot of new fun weaponry is added to the fold and they really took opportunity to use a lot of futuristic military tech for this game. This is the first game I’ve played where there are at least 4 types of grenades you can carry at any given mission with Flashbang as the only traditional one out of the bunch. The game also opened my eyes to Mute Devices which pretty much silences everything in it’s vicinity, and a ton of drones which you either hate (if you’re on the other side of the gun) or something you would love to have in your arsenal.

One thing that’s new is they removed the standard player HUD and replaced it with holographic projections either on your actual weapon or something that pops up every now and then on your screen when vital information is being relayed to you during the mission.

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Players are also given the free will to choose from energy type weapons to traditional ‘Rambo’ weaponry. This gives you the chance to strategize on what to use for every situation since each has its advantages and disadvantages. Apart from the things mentioned here, nothing much is really striking when it comes to gameplay and any fan of the franchise would be slightly disappointed with the lack of significant changes.

Visuals and Performance

Here is where CoD: Advanced Warfare pretty much stands out to its predecessors. The graphics was surely levelled up from the previous engine being used in the past CoD games. CGI for the characters was not rushed as seen with Kevin Spacey’s in-game image below.

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The gameplay rarely stutters during single player campaigns and that’s a good thing in my book. It closely matches with Battlefield in terms of the visuals but you somehow get that feeling that they could’ve done more and should’ve utilized the power of the gaming systems nowadays. Another thing that struck me in a slightly annoying way is the loading times. You tend to wait for at least a few minutes for each campaign to load especially if you set everything at the max in terms of the visual options.

The Verdict

Overall, I was satisfied with the direction Sledgehammer Games went with the Call of Duty franchise. It’s a diamond in the rough especially with the visual performance and storytelling. The story leaves much to be desired due to it being too predictable and still using a canvas seen before in previous iterations.

The game is not something groundbreaking or game of the year material yet but I believe we will be seeing a huge contender next year once they polish a few cracks and add a few more features to the series.

 


Mac Barredo

 
Hi I'm Mac. The day my father Odin banished me from Asgard, I was bitten by a vampire and had radioactive waste dumped into my eyes. To make matters worse, my mutant ability to control weather activated just as I was hit by a blast of gamma radiation.


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