Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
While At E3 I Got To See Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare In A More Intimate Setting Than Just The Trailer. Here’s My Take On It
Now for the doozy of a game from E3, Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Love the franchise or hate it, Call Of Duty is still one of the largest titles in gaming history and thankfully it seems to be pushing the technology more and more in the recent years. I know some of you would complain about its annualization and how the mechanics have been going downhill for a while but from the showing that Sledgehammer brought they really left and impact. As the name implies. See where I’m going here?
By now I am sure that most of you have seen the “Induction” gameplay footage for Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare. It has been shown all over the place as well as kicked off the entire E3 event during the Microsoft press conference. I’ll only bore you with the details that may not have been completely apparent during the gameplay video. I’ll also include that after all the required reading here just in case you want to see it again or for the first time. You can also pick up on what I talk about when Sledgehammer and Activision walked us all through that level before showing us a completely different level/map.
It was a bit of speculation during the Microsoft conference if the gameplay for Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare was captured on a high-end PC or on a console directly. Seeing the game driven on the PS4 during the demo I saw I am pretty sure that we saw console visuals and effects the first time. In fact it is insanely impressive how close to life the team was able to achieve while capturing all of the actors and their likenesses for the game. It is almost like they took the custom engine used for Ghosts and ramped it up as even things like eye dilation where taken into account to add that extra feel to characters in the game. One of the last steps to finally trick us into believing they are completely real people and not just renders.
It also may not be completely apparent but Sledgehammer is also doing away with the player HUD as we are used to and using the in game items to indicate the information we need. The easiest version of this to see is that there is no longer and ammo gauge on the screen to indicate how much we have left. It is now on the weapon we are using in a similar fashion that some of our real world tech is starting to implement. The real world stuff just isn’t as cool. Watch in the Induction demo to see what is going on there. In fact, I’m not going to make you wait any long to see that level for Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Do come back after as the next half is all about the new hardware and gadgets shown in the Collapse demo.
Badass stuff there huh? All in game and all from a console so you PC gamers can only imagine what you’ll be able to see in Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Enough of that now; let’s move onto the second half that hasn’t been seen by the public at large.
The second half of the Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare demo opened in a car chase of sorts. There was no explanation as to why but I am sure that was due to not spoiling the story of the game at all. The chase ends with a “boom” on what looks to be the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Also no indication that is the bridge but it was a futuristic San Francisco. This is where the showcasing of the exoskeleton and crazy new tech had its turn in the limelight during a very traditional “advance and shoot” Call Of Duty scene.
Some new features that were available now all had to do with us being able to use the environment in multiple ways as well as being able to approach in multiple ways due to “super jumps.” We are also going to be able to kick and punch things around to aid us as well as rip more than just car doors off to use as shields during a fight. Looks like we are no longer going to be limited to a specific path due to all of this because one well-placed kick can remove cover or a blockade. That is if you just don’t jump over everything to get around the level for a better shot.
There was one really odd moment where we were able to slow down time for a brief moment, like a breach in other Call Of Duty titles, but there wasn’t much added as to why. It looked cool and looks like a feature that will get abused during the campaign if it isn’t balanced right but the care Sledgehammer has taken so far I think it will blend in nicely. Can you imagine being able to set up a breach scenario at any time because you exoskeleton and/or tech gives you such an advantage? Madness I say, but fun madness to be had.
All of you naysayers out there for the Call Of Duty franchise might be singing a different tune come this November from what I saw. It looks like the game has been extremely stepped up with Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Not only will it look absolutely amazing on our home consoles, but the new gameplay features and mechanics that have been shown should help to change it from just a generic shooter that rakes in the money every year.
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