It's that time of year again: As every year, a new installment in Activision's controversial "Call of Duty" series was released this November. This time, however, it wasn't developed by Infinity or Treyarch, but by their previous co-developer Sledgehammer Games, who presented their first completely original game, "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare."
Activision promises that with this additional third studio, which will now always work on a standalone Call of Duty title simultaneously with the others, the longer development times will result in a better overall player experience in the future. Whether this promise has been kept with the new installment "Advanced Warfare" is something we'll reveal in our review of the PS4 version.
The story – spiced up by Kevin Spacey
The events in "Advanced Warfare" take place nearly 40 years in the future. For the first time, you assume a single role throughout the entire game: that of Jack Mitchell, a soldier in the US Army. You quickly become a mercenary for Atlas, a highly advanced private military company with a larger army than any nation. This army is led by a man named Jonathan Irons, played by Hollywood star Kevin Spacey. Spacey delivers his usual brilliant performance, which definitely made the story more interesting than it likely would have been without him. In photorealistic cutscenes, you could almost believe you're watching live-action footage of Spacey, whose character is strongly reminiscent of his role in the series "House of Cards." You carry out various missions for him, which constantly take you to diverse locations around the world to prevent attacks by the fictional terrorist organization KPA. We don't want to spoil too much of the campaign here, which as always will evoke mixed feelings among players and testers, but you can expect some twists and turns – some more predictable than others.
After a somewhat dull first mission, the game gradually picked up pace and managed to keep me glued to the screen, although this diminished somewhat towards the end of the roughly 5-7 hour campaign due to the slightly illogical behavior of the characters. I felt that more attention had been paid to a compelling story that progressed steadily, more so than in previous installments. Those looking for uncompromising shooting will therefore be even less satisfied with the single-player campaign than perhaps before, as cutscenes and sections without gunfire now occur more frequently. I enjoyed this. I was somewhat reminded of the current "Wolfenstein," whose campaign also impressed us this summer. Combined with the new mechanics, which you can learn more about in the next section, I had – and this is subjective! – the most exciting story experience in a Call of Duty game since the fifth installment, "World at War." Nevertheless, it doesn't work miracles, as some gameplay sections could have been significantly more interesting with more options and freedom. The game still clearly shows its name. Anyone who hasn't warmed to Call of Duty so far probably won't like it this time either.
The campaign gameplay: Many new toys
The biggest innovation in "Advanced Warfare" is undoubtedly your exoskeleton. This allows you, for example, to quickly dodge in certain directions, jump very high, or even rip off a car door to use as a shield. As the campaign progresses, more and more new gadgets are added, making the missions more varied. Towards the end, for instance, you can use a kind of grappling hook on your suit to pull yourself to higher ledges. This offers a relatively large degree of freedom in terms of movement. Unfortunately, this freedom is almost entirely absent in other areas, even though the series has already demonstrated its ability to do better. While you do gain new abilities, some of them disappear in the next mission, only to reappear at some point. This feels inconsistent and means that you can only use the well-designed innovations when the game demands it – a real shame! I particularly liked a device that isolates all ambient sound, allowing you to eliminate enemies without alerting nearby foes. Here too, I had to curse the developers a little, as I can't use this myself whenever I want.
Otherwise, there are of course several stealth missions included, which, while they didn't offer enough of a challenge for me personally and therefore don't come close to the legendary Chernobyl mission, are still quite exciting. Vehicles of all kinds are also present again, but they feel more like an added gimmick than a genuine enhancement to the gameplay. The culprit here is once again the lack of freedom of movement, which is practically nonexistent in these sections, forcing you through a linear, corridor-like environment. This is a shame, as slightly larger areas would have offered great variety. The new grenades, however, are interesting. You're no longer simply equipped with a few flashbangs or explosive grenades. While you still have a tactical and an offensive grenade, their mode can now be changed before throwing. Each offers three different options, some of which are new. This allows the tactical missile to detect nearby enemies for a few seconds or emit an EMP, while the offensive missile can explode on contact or hover in mid-air, flying towards the nearest enemy like a heat-seeking missile. This enables new strategies to defeat the – admittedly still somewhat dim-witted – opponents.
What's also new is that you earn points throughout the campaign, which you can use to upgrade your soldier. This not only provides additional motivation but also the opportunity for specialization. Do you prefer to charge head-on into your opponents? Then you'll probably want more health and better armor. Do you prefer a more tactical approach? Then an increased grenade capacity will certainly be helpful. A total of 11 aspects of your soldier can be upgraded twice, resulting in 22 possible improvements. And these aren't insignificant upgrades, but rather truly noticeable enhancements, such as, in addition to those already mentioned, a very fast reload speed. You earn the necessary points through four categories that are added up over the course of the campaign: number of kills, kills by direct hits, kills by grenades, and collecting the intel found in all missions, which are sometimes more, sometimes less well hidden. It's a shame that each category has a maximum number of points that can be earned. I had already achieved the maximum number of required hits by the fourth mission, while the remaining ones were still unfinished even after completing the campaign. Nevertheless, this system is a step in the right direction, and hopefully it will be further developed in the next installment.
Multiplayer: A breath of fresh air thanks to the exoskeleton
The multiplayer mode benefits most from the exoskeleton's new abilities. A nimble upward maneuver, followed by a swift forward thrust to eliminate the nearest enemy mid-air, and then a ground slam to damage the next foe, requires even series veterans to rethink their strategies and learn new techniques. The maps are accordingly vertically oriented, allowing for quick leaps over walls to surprise opponents from above. The accelerated dodging in all directions also demands practice and contributes to the new dynamics of the multiplayer, which otherwise plays as smoothly as ever. The only downside to this new freedom of movement might be that it makes it harder for newcomers to get started, as experienced players will quickly gain a significant advantage with these abilities.
All established game modes, such as Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, Search & Destroy, and Hardcore Lists, are back. Infected, where players are gradually transformed into zombies, also returns and is made even more exciting by the exoskeleton, offering a completely new gameplay experience. A new and fun mode, "Uplink," requires you to maneuver a drone into a sort of enemy basket. The player controlling the drone can only throw it to a teammate or opponent, as it cannot be used to fire.
Otherwise, far more customization options are offered than ever before. You can almost completely freely choose from 13 different pieces of equipment and customize your character to your liking. Over time, you'll regularly receive packs containing equipment of varying rarity levels. The equipped items of other players can be quickly admired in the lobby, increasing the collector's appeal. While rare weapons may have better stats than the standard version, they suffer an equivalent penalty to another stat. This ensures that rare equipment never makes the game unfair, but rather adds a motivating element to the multiplayer experience.
Additionally, a survival co-op mode for up to four players is available again. In this mode, you must face increasingly powerful waves of enemies. A challenging difficulty level offers determined players the opportunity to prove their skills on the leaderboard.
Graphics and sound
The rendered cutscenes in "Advanced Warfare" are, without exaggeration, the best I've ever seen on a console. Absolutely photorealistic characters with realistic movements made me feel like I was watching a movie. Even in the in-game cutscenes, which seamlessly switch to whenever characters are speaking and the player is standing still, the protagonists look impressive. However, as soon as you regain full control, the characters' faces lose their life. Aside from the stable frame rate at 1080p, the game's graphics constantly fluctuate between reasonably good and incomprehensibly bad. Especially in the distance, some textures appear shockingly muddy and almost monochromatic. The lighting effects are passable but certainly not groundbreaking. Overall, Call of Duty has to face a graphical comparison with last year's "Battlefield 4," in which—apart from the cutscenes—it clearly falls short, as the game's graphics haven't really improved compared to its predecessor, "Ghosts."
The sound, however, completely won me over. With a suitable sound system, the fitting background music and explosions come across powerfully. I was particularly impressed by the anti-sound mine, which causes a small earthquake when triggered by the subwoofer, thus convincingly conveying the action into the living room. The original voice actor, Kevin Spacey, along with the other equally top-notch voice actors, further contributes to the game's excellent rating.
Developer: Sledgehammer Games
Publisher: Activision
Release: Available
Official homepage: www.callofduty.com
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