Gone are the days of Modern Warfare, this time around Activision has decided to pull the strings and make the war advance. To paint this idea on a digital canvas, the mantle has shifted from Infinity Ward/Treyarch to Sledgehammer games.
To give face lift to this declining franchise fresh new brains have been called for and their attempt succeeds to much extent.
Soul of this new experience is exo-suit which removes the hurdles in character’s movement. This is achieved by giving players entrée to several new movement abilities which allows them to double jump and dash in all directions irrespective of being on ground or while in air. By reading the above lines CoD fans may feel out of family tradition but actually the combination of exo-suit with the traditional CoD formula makes the experience ‘sui generis’.
The implementation of the exo-suit creates a situation of risk and reward. On one hand the player gets the advantage of better map navigation and allows them to escape gun fire or indulge in a combat scenario through multiple ways. However every action has a reaction whenever a player double jumps or dashes they expose themselves to enemy fire by revealing their location. The balance between the two stands out throughout the multiplayer matches.
Maps have also been re-designed to make them better fit for exo-suit. The size of the maps has been increased compared to previous iterations of CoD and at the same time the player count has been reduced to 12 for last generation of consoles and 16 for current generation of consoles. Maps have a lot of verticality in them opening horizons of attacking an enemy from different directions/locations, increasing the intensity and pace of the combat. In Advanced Warfare every single moment matters, those mistakes made in fraction of seconds can be very punishing for one and at times resulting in defeat. Dynamic maps first seen in CoD: Ghosts make a return however the scope has been reduced. Lack of proper execution of dynamic elements in 13 distinctive looking maps is a disappointment. For example, having a tsunami on a map is good for nothing since its only going to effect a small portion of map. What astound me is the clever design of the maps, they are not re-skinned versions of locations from campaign, but they have been crafted from ground up. Even though maps remain unchanged for all modes even then they always open up with alternate options of combat. A new mode called Uplink, smartly gels the American Football with CoD: AW giving players another leap of pleasure and makes the nonpareil use of exo-suit among all the modes.
Sledgehammer might have taken the game 15 years ahead of time however during this transition period what they forgot to add is futuristic look to weapons. Your arsenal has striking resemblance to that of Killzone, though optics and other attachments have been successfully transformed into future attachments and this creates design consistency for weapons. Advanced Warfare is the first in the series which allows the players to choose between conventional weaponry and not only you choose between regular fire arms but also laser or energy directed weapons, both of these have different impacts on the battlefield. Call of Duty Advanced Warfare is one of the most rewarding shooters I have played in recent times. You progress in a similar way as seen in previous titles. The constant supply drops after every match gives one immense pleasure. Those supply drops unlocks items which can either be used or exchanged for XP bonus. Moving on to customization, CoD AW expands over the customization possibilities of CoD: Ghost. You have complete control over your character’s appearance which can be changed as per your desire to express yourself during action. CoD AW introduces pick 13 system, an advancement of pick 10 system first introduced in CoD: BO 2. This time one can manage the item slots more efficiently. Depending on how the player wants to engage in combat, you have the option to fill the item slots accordingly. Nothing is enforced on one, if you feel you die a lot and are unable to build kill streaks you can remove them completely and use it for other items or some other weaponry. In the end I would like to compliment on smart efforts put in by the team.
