Super Soldiers

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare really just feels like an ‘advanced’ version of the last iteration of Call of Duty. I’m not saying that in a negative way either, it picks the best things from the series and morphed them into an engine that actually looks next-generation (sorry Ghosts) plus upped the intensity levels all the way to max. It’s fun and at times, over the top but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.

I was deep within the Microsoft booth at TGS 2014 frantically fitting in as much hands-on time as possible because of a little mishap (more on that later) but I managed to find a spare 20 minutes before my next appointment to fit in Sledgehammer’s Call of Duty. Picking up the controller, I managed to adapt to the new scheme almost instantly. This is probably because of my exposure to games such as Titanfall and Crysis. If you’ve played any of those titles, you’ll become accustomed to the controls of Call of Duty quickly.

Before dropping in, the customisation menus were quite similar to Ghosts but with the addition of exosuit abilities. The customisation, as expected, was quite deep with an assortment of perks, attachments, abilities, grenade types etc to play around with. Also like before, your soldier can be customised for that extra depth in personalisation.

Up on offer was two rounds of Advanced Warfare and two modes. One, of course, being the standard Team Deathmatch scenario which helped us get into the feel of the game and play around with weapons. The other mode we played was ‘Uplink’ which is like some futuristic football match with guns. I didn’t want to say but I overhead someone yell Griffball from Halo which it takes some elements from. It sees each team fight over a ball in an attempt to throw it through some hover circle to score points. This mode was actually fantastic and required quite a bit of teamwork and organisation. It was quite hilarious to see two teams made up of complete strangers attempt to coordinate.

Advanced Warfare was probably the fastest Call of Duty title I’ve played. Boost jumping, boost sliding, boost everything. If you’re not reaching top speed in this game, you’re playing it wrong. Standing still in this game will instantly kill you as movement is the key to survival. The faster paced gameplay allowed some incredible traversing across the maps, reaching vantage points and outflanking your opponents. I really dig this style and reminds me a lot of the good old twitch shooter games.

It’s also about time the graphics get a real good overhaul. The visuals are sharp and the framerate a smooth 60fps without any dipping (from what I can tell) – finally a Call of Duty title that actually looks like something newer.

Like I mentioned before, Advanced Warfare is maybe something different from what was offered from the franchise in the past but it doesn’t do anything new within it’s theme. We’ve been there and done it before, yet somehow I’m still quite anticipated for this title – there’s something about it that keeps reeling me in. It’s possibly the lasers, yes lasers make everything good.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare arrives on November 11th. We previewed two maps and modes during the Tokyo Game Show 2014 on the Xbox One.