Well the first big game of the Holiday Season is here in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Now while I am not a huge fan of this franchise, I decided to give this one a shot.
The campaign for this year’s installment is between 6 and 8 hours and boy does it start off in a big way with a battalion of Marines making an incursion into South Korea after North Korea invades. Players are thrown into the boots of main character Jack Mitchell (voiced by the incredible Troy Baker) and after an epic drop from an airship it is the squads mission to meet up with a demo team and take out an enemy gunship. Teamed up with his best friend Will Irons, Mitchell goes through a lot to achieve his objective that culminates with Irons sacrificing his life and Mitchell losing most of his left arm.
At Irons’ funeral, Mitchell meets Johnathon Irons (voiced and motion captured by Kevin Spacey) who is the CEO of a private military contractor called ATLAS. He gives Mitchell a second chance and a new arm. The rest of the campaign is certainly wild and action packed with an interesting narrative that reflects the current state of affairs in the world.
The best part of the campaign are the performances from Spacey and Baker. Baker is a relatable hero who you care about and Spacey is such a great corporate villain that you can’t help but like. He realizes that the future of the world would be better in the hands of private military companies like his and that the only way to make a difference is with power. I continue to praise Spacey in his performance but I feel the performance that stands out the most to me is the one from Troy Baker. Baker has such an amazing acting range whether it be from being Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite to playing Joel in The Last of Us this is an actor that I feel could make it big in Hollywood.
So let’s talk about the multiplayer function in Advanced Warfare which is the main attraction for most gamers who play Call of Duty games. The multiplayer feels a bit upgraded which is nice allowing use of the exo suit allows the players some more mobility and options in their kills. Classic COD multiplayer modes are back like team death match and kill confirmed but the new uplink mode is a bright spot. It is more like you are playing a game of football trying to score in an end zone to get points for your team. It seems like the folks at Sledgehammer Games took a look at the grifball mode from Halo 3 and Halo: Reach and improved upon it. The point of uplink mode is to gather as much intelligence as possible stored onto a hard drive that is shaped like a ball and get it to your upload point in order to score points. It’s fun and fast paced and sure to keep you on your toes.
Another fun part of multiplayer is you can customize how your operator looks and give them different outfits and exo suits that may help or hinder them. The perk system is back again as well as 13 different customizable classes for you to tinker with. As with every entry in COD prestige mode is back and while the game has been out for only a short time, players have already prestiged and unlocked all weapons and add ons.
In closing, I’m glad I gave this game a shot. With a campaign that feels like an action movie to a multiplayer that not only feels refreshed but is highly competitive Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is something to behold. I give it a five out of five.
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