Flame Break: Impressions on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

This year, Activision will release their latest installment of the Call of Duty (CoD) franchise, which will be dubbed “Advanced Warfare”. The game was developed jointly by Sledgehammer Games and High Moon Studios, and it will be released on November 4, 2014.

The game is set in the future where private military corporations have become the dominant security forces for numerous nations around the globe. With loads of terrorists attacking all over the world, countries have been brought to the brink of chaos and defenses have been devastated.

The game developers claim that it is a “plausible future”, and that the setting “has been carefully researched and crafted.” Overall, the technologies that are used in-game come from a later generation — from orbital drops to directed-energy weaponry.

This title clearly marks the beginning of a new age of first-person shooter games. Whether the game lives up to its hype is currently unknown, but for now let us focus on its multiplayer aspect.

There will be twelve modes for the game and so far, nine of them are confirmed to be playable upon release. These range from the classical Search & Destroy (similar to Counter-Strike where one side plants a bomb and another tries to defend itself) and Domination maps (basically controlling certain points in order to win) to new modes like Uplink (it’s like handball, where two teams try to plant ball-shaped drones in the enemy base in order to get points for the team; the drones have special characteristics that help define the game mode, and players gain two points for dunking the ball towards the goal and only one point for throwing the ball towards the target). My first impression of the game is that it is extremely different from the other CoD titles that I have played so far.

One of the things that I personally believe would define the casual portion of the game is the so-called “Pick Ten System”, wherein players are to choose their weapon load-out, weapon attachment, grenades and perks for their character. Each class is allowed ten allocation points, with three extra allocation points granted by the “Wildcard” system so players are able to maximize the efficiency of their respective classes. With this system, each player can be a specialist in scouting, harassing, tanking or defending. There are a lot of possibilities that can be explored throughout the multiplayer portion of the game.

The other thing that amazes me is the introduction of the exoskeleton system, where players are able to jump over obstacles as well as have extra boosts to a certain aspect of game play, whether it be cloaking, regeneration or movement speed. It is interesting to note that only one battery is offered per life; this means that players will have to think twice before using certain abilities. After all, some abilities cost more in terms of energy cost than others. This brings a certain sense of balance to the game. In other words, it would be impossible to spam or abuse certain unbalanced skills that may bring immense advantages to a certain player and this leads to a much more stable game overall.

Now, it’s time for my take on the new title of the series. Let me be honest here: It would be hard to play this game without the recommended specifications on one’s computer. I have played previous editions of the game on private servers, so I know the feeling when trying to play the game on a low-end computer. The next-generation graphics and game engine guarantee that it would be quite heavy in terms of graphics and memory. However, if your computer can meet the required settings, then I can assure you that it will be worth your while to install this game on your computer!

As for the gameplay and overall atmosphere of the game, it would be extremely revolutionary if they will apply the exoskeleton system to the competitive gaming scene. It will change the way first-person shooter (FPS) games are played, because instead of having to deal only with a certain weapon or tactical positioning, they now have to deal with aspects such as mobility, defense and sustainability in a match. After all, every corner of the map is now free for grabs! Even though the game has not been released yet, the features that have been revealed so far will ensure that this edition of the CoD franchise will be at least different from its predecessors.

Waiting with fingers crossed!

Sources:

Official Website (for general details about the game)

IGN (for information about the game modes)

Nowgamer (for detailed descriptions of the Pick Ten System)

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