Call of Duty is one of those franchises that has a love/hate relationship with its fanbase, much like a lot of other popular game franchises. This one however is between the regular FPS player and the “pro” players that have altered the future of the game for competitive gain. While some over the past few releases have felt that this game no longer caters to the FPS gamer and has shifted to fit “e-sports”, others feel like it has only gotten better and better. Sledgehammer has taken the reigns for this Call Of Duty release and we’re taken into a much different war than “Modern Warfare” or unveiling the “Ghosts” of yesteryear. We…have finally hit the future, the future where combat is no longer left to the ARMY put together by THE GOVERNMENT.

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What We Liked

• Graphically, this game is one of the best in the franchise. When you see Kevin Spacey and the supporting cast during the story as well as some of the environments that you’re placed in, the game looks fantastic. I’m not a big specs guy when it comes to what a game is running at on these consoles but I’m pretty sure it was 1080p.
• Multiplayer has a little something for everyone as well, it has a wide range of playlists and over 13 playable maps (with more to be added through DLC). From my experience so far, the gameplay online has been pretty fluent and I have not encountered any lag. The thing I really liked about this games multiplayer is the fact that they have an e-sports mode for those who are into that type of thing as well as a playlist for those who don’t want to play with the new exo movements that are in this game and want to go a bit more classic.

[section label=”Average” anchor=”Average”]

Love/Hate Relationship

• Story, while the acting and the script are pretty good and I love the cinematic style that Sledgehammer has brought to this game. There are some moments in the story where it just seems cliché or as if they want to run with the gag of including the games’ title in the script. For instance, there is literally a point in the early part of the game where Kevin Spacey says “Advanced Warfare” and I couldn’t help but giggle. The story is intense and has its moments and in the end, you might feel a little satisfied to go through everything you just went through.

[section label=”Disliked” anchor=”Disliked”]

What We Didn’t Like

• There are still some flaws in gameplay, like it seems to take too long to take out an enemy during single player or sometimes your bullets don’t register online. I know I mentioned that I didn’t encounter lag while I played multiplayer, but I don’t think during that time it was attributed to lag at all but most likely something else that I can’t seem to put my finger. Much like the Gears of War effect where they admitted that there were blanks in the shotguns at random times. This coupled with how the controls can sometimes ignore your inputs, I witnessed a point where I wanted to dodge out of the way using the exo movements and at that exactly instance it wouldn’t execute. It could have been ME personally but it worked for me the next time I tried to use it.

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Conclusion

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is a pretty darn solid game that Sledgehammer put together. It has great visuals that bring the story and the game itself to life. Some great dialogue despite some clichés being used, coupled with a great acting job by Kevin Spacey and crew. I feel like if you are the type of gamer who likes a cinematic approach to their shooters, this game is for you. Heck, even if you just like shooting people in the face multiple times you will like this game. It’s a fun game with some flaws intact but I think the good far outweigh the bad in this situation and you should pick up this game!

*This game was provided to us by Activision for review purposes*

Now that you’ve read the review, maybe you should…watch Kevin play the game here