Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Brings the Fight to the Future - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 18 June 2014 / 3,689 Views
After assisting with 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Sledgehammer Games finally gets to take charge of its very own entry in Activision’s wildly popular first person shooter series. Advanced Warfare was not playable at E3 but it doesn't take huge leaps of the imagination to understand the gist of how the game plays in action. The developers showed off two levels behind closed doors: “Collapse” and “Bio-Lab.”
Before the gameplay demonstration began we were treated to a video of a soldier who takes the time out from his mission objective to destroy lab equipment and then break the fourth wall and directly address the viewers. The soldier went into detail about the hard work the developers have been putting into updating the seires' visuals, highlighting new HD facial rendering capabilities that allow for greater levels of detail, even including dilated pupils. I have to admit the graphics had an extra spark to them at first glance, which should be good news for the many critics and gamers that have pointed out the series’ visually dull debut on the new generation of consoles with Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Advanced Warfare tries to imagine what it is like to be a soldier 40 years in the future. Every soldier is equipped with a hi-tech exoskeleton that gives them unique advantages, such as increased strength and higher jumping abilities. The exoskeleton just scratches the surface of the futuristic weapons of warfare at your disposal.
The first mission shown at E3 - “Collapse” - took place on San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge. The player assumes control of an armorized and weaponized vehicle that the soldiers refer to as a “Pitbull” and chases down fleeing enemies through traffic. From the camera angle it appears that the player is in control of the steering while the computer AI handles the firing of the mounted cannon that shoots large volts of plasma. The vehicular carnage and resulting flames that broke out were visually impressive and felt very visceral. The sound design was explosive as well.
The Pitbull turned over in all the chaos, so the soldiers continued on foot. Several firefights broke out on the bridge between the American and enemy forces. No, it is not readily clear who the enemy is this time, not that it matters much. After opposition forced the player to cover behind various abandoned cars on the bridge, he threw a grenade that made it easier to spot enemies hiding behind solid objects, highlighting them in a red glow. Showing off another cool new feature brought about by the exoskeletons, the soldier ripped the door off of a car and proceeded to use it as a riot shield.
Soon, the enemy forces received aerial reinforcements in the form of a helicopter and automated drones. The assault rifle the player was using had a laser as a form of secondary fire and used it to shoot the choppers down. The player then entered bullet time to slow things down and take better aim at enemies positioned high up on the bridge.
The demo skipped through some of the mission in the interests of time and when we rejoined our soldiers their task was to disarm a truck thought to contain explosives. The truck actually contained drones that proceeded to cut and destroy the cables holding up the bridge, at which point the bridge collapsed. Call of Duty is no stranger to epic scenes of large scale destruction, but even so the demolition of the bridge was something to behold, with cars and bodies alike plunging into the waters below.
The next mission - “Bio-Lab” - took place in the forests of Bulgaria during night time and began with two soldiers fleeing from a pursuing sniper in a helicopter. The chase was frantic and tense, with the soldiers jumping over all manner of foliage and wading through a river. This gave the players an opportunity to demonstrate the cloaking ability that turns the soldier temporarily invisible. The player followed the lead of the other soldier, silently taking out enemies and turning off the cloak for a few seconds to recharge it. Eventually they came across a large mobile tank that searched for them using a blue beam that could detect them even while invisible. The only option here was to stay still and avoid detection at all costs.
The two soldiers eventually regrouped with their allies and rappelled down a cliff in order to investigate a secret lab housing chemical weapons. They used the cloaks again to dispatch more enemies and sneakily make their way inside. There they found a room containing vital information which they collected using their hi-tech visors before proceeding to destroy everything they found. This led to a shootout with the security at the lab through many narrow corridors. At the end of their fight they found a prototype of a new giant tank-like weapon that takes multiple people to control. Commandeering the weapon the units soon fought off all manner of reinforcements that arrived from the forest, with the player in direct control at all times. Eventually a friendly aircraft arrived for evacuation purposes. The team ascended to safety but not before blowing up the giant robot they had just stolen and used against their enemies. Thus ended the demonstration.
In case you’re wondering, no, Kevin Spacey was nowhere in sight. The absence of the Spaceman was a definite bummer but the game itself looks to be shaping up nicely. Call of Duty has certainly come a long way from its gritty and realistic roots as a World War II shooter but what can you expect from a series that has already jumped the gun, the shark, and nuked the fridge (as well as most of North America)? We’ll see if Sledgehammer Games can bring back some dignity to this franchise when Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare releases on November 4th, 2014.
