Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014)

FPS - Set in a future where private military corporations dominate global warfare, and focuses on Jack Mitchell, a former U.S. Marine who joins the powerful Atlas Corporation after losing his arm and best friend in combat.

PROS:

++ Advanced movement. Easily the brightest highlight of this entry. The new mobility that Exo-Suits give the player really elevates the gameplay. Double-jumps, a better sliding mechanic than Ghosts, the ability to boost left, right, and backwards which is great for dodging and ducking behind cover, and the ability to drop down hard to take down an enemy, all add up to an incredibly fun movement system. It was easy to use and felt good to master.

++ Competent campaign. It isn't as forgettable as Ghosts' campaign, but definitely doesn't reach the highs of the series' best. But overall, I found it to be mostly enjoyable (mostly due to the new movement). The campaign started really slowly, most of the level settings were only ok, and Will's death lacked any impact. But eventually the campaign improves and ends up having a decent story and antagonist in Jonathan Irons and I found his performance compelling. Gideon and Cormack were also likeable squad-mates. The highlights of the campaign for me was the stealth mission during "Sentinel", the atmosphere of "Captured", and controlling an A.S.T. in the final two levels.

++ New tech. I really liked the new variable grenades that allow you to switch your explosive & tactical grenade modes on the fly. New grenades consisted of threat grenades (reveals all enemies in its radius) and smart grenades (almost like homing missiles). The aforementioned Exo-Suits is worth mentioning again. Also, the grappling hook you get near the end would have been fun to have throughout the entire campaign since it makes each combat scenario so much more interesting to approach.

++ CGI cutscenes. I like the new CGI cutscenes they use in-between missions. Makes it very cinematic.

++ Survival mode. It's essentially the Survival mode found in MW3, but now with the added movements of the Exo-Suit. The new mobility breathes new life into a tired mode and I found this version of Survival even more exhilarating than past iterations.

++ Minimalistic HUD.

CONS:

-- Performance on PS3. I was expecting this so it's not a big deal. Graphics look mediocre with a lot of blurry textures. Frequent drops in frame rate. Also had long loading screens, sometimes even had a loading screen in the middle of a level. My PS3 fans were going full-blast when I played through this.

-- Weak audio & sound. A lot of the guns sounded really weak. Almost like pea-shooters. And many of the guns sounded relatively similar to one another. This doesn't necessarily ruin the gunplay, but it is noticeable. Also, the soundtrack was subpar and not at all memorable. Voice performances were mostly good, but Ilona had a terrible voice actor who delivered all of her lines flat.

-- QTE prompts. The prompts were incredibly hard to see so I often missed them on the first go.

-- Weak intro & conclusion. The story took a while to get interesting. It was only at the halfway point that I started to get slightly interested. And also, the ending was incredibly anticlimactic.

-- Lack of set-pieces. COD is known for its bombastic set-pieces but this entry mostly had forgettable ones. The only somewhat decent set-piece is the destruction of the Golden Gate bridge.

At this point, I feel like I'm one of maybe a dozen people who plays Call of Duty games for the campaign's story, and has never played this series in online multiplayer. As someone who came to this series with Call of Duty 2 and admired the way this game told real war stories, I've continued to appreciate the narratives these games have told as this series has evolved. But understandably, the teams behind the Call of Duty games are often aware that the campaign is usually the last thing on a player's mind with this series, and at its worst, CoD's story can feel like little more than a training mode for playing online. Thankfully, Advanced Warfare doesn't do this, and is quite possibly one of the best stories in this series so far.

My favorite Call of Duty games find the opportunity to really push the expectations of a campaign, whether by making each level feel completely fresh, exploring new possibilities at every turn, or completely upending where we think this story is going to go. Advanced Warfare does both. I never felt like any level felt like what came before it, but also never like it's using that to teach you how to do new multiplayer tricks. Every level throws something new your way, and the new upgrade program is a nice addition to the campaign.

I also found the story to be remarkably strong for a CoD campaign. I thought I knew where this story was heading early on, and it kept zigging when I thought it might zag. I think a major reason CoD became such a massive success was the ways that Modern Warfare surprised the player, and Advanced Warfare continues that trend quite nicely. This is one of the first times I've actually cared about my team of soldiers, and surprise surprise, as in real life, Kevin Spacey makes a good villain.

I also found myself impressed with Advanced Warfare's vision of the future. This takes place about 40-50 years after the game was originally released, and while the technology is remarkable, it doesn't feel out of the realm of possibility that this could be what war looks like in half a century. It's also wild that CoD attempts to actually make a commentary on how wars are fought, criticizing private militaries and somewhat condemning the idea that bigger and better technology isn't always a good thing. No, this isn't Spec Ops: The Line, but I like it when CoD takes a chance and takes a stand.

For a while, I was uncertain whether I should continue with the CoD series, but after Ghosts and now Advanced Warfare, I'm starting to find my faith in this series stronger than it's been in quite some time. We'll see if this holds up, but as I make my start in trying to catch up with this series, I find myself impressed with the state of this franchise.

first play

Played on gt 730, i3 7100
I played all the Modern warfare series, after that this was not up to mark though.

Pros:

1. Relatable and Good Story, similar to modern warfare.
2. Good Game Mechanics, fun to use, but the drone controls and snipes are bit too much.

Cons:

1. The mechanics are tough to implement and use in some scenes.
2. story ending is a bit too dramatic, why the hell does the villain uses his own soldiers to kill others and then kill his own soldiers using his private army.
3. just a bit disappointed.

Can play this game, have fun, just not heart-touching or great storyline. the music and animations are good though, these cod games are focusing more on the graphics and features rather than the storyline and game experience.

edit 2025-10

played on rtx 4060, amd 7700x windows 11 pc.

After Writing so many review i didn't have any structure till now, so deciding to provide a structure for any one reading or my future self.

Gameplay:

This game in terms of weapons is ok, mostly smgs or assault rifles are what needed, can't use shotguns or snipers as the game won't permit. good use of them.

The mechanics of the game are ok, like having a magnetic arm, going overdrive to slow enemies down and scan enemies with grenades. But none of them i used beyond the story needs, as just playing normal COD is fun for me.
Only Mechanic i liked is a gun with target enhancer as this can show the difference between enemies and friends in a group setting.

As always COD games have a good or shitty enemy system, depending on your experience, where this is realistic, but hate it when enemies keep circling around and come and shoot me in the back as i can't see them jumping between covers, but that is not a mechanic of this game in particular as all COD games have that issue, but that is what happens in a real fight, so appreciate the realism.

I played on the Veteran Difficulty and the game didn't feel that bad or tough, as long as i understood how to counter the enemies.
The Emi or emr gun which shoots lazer is not clear on how to use so just ditched it for a enemies gun always.

Really Liked the Final AST machine where we break out of a prison with the Mech suit and keep shooting enemies that felt like a good fight, had a lot of fun. Giving 1 star for this.

Sound and Music:

Didn't really gave a huge impact on any sound or music as it didn't have any scenes that can be enhanced by BGM. Mostly metal or drums i think.

Performance

On my current pc with 4060 and 7700x cpu the game ran smooth with around 240fps but kept stuttering between 160 and 240 so capped with RTSS at 120fps and didn't have any issue from then.

Replayability:

No won't need to replay this as it is not that great of a story to replay again. Unless iam doing another binge playing of all COD games in row.

Story:

Finally lets come to the elephant, the story started simple, two friends with mech tech fighting in a battle, and loosing one. Ok i guess.

Friends dad helps the main character, Ok.
Goes on some missions but nuclear facility breaks down in one of them. Ok. then 4 years past and the friends dad tries to kill the side villain and then is revealed to the main villain? why? i kept asking this same question till the climax?

Hear me out, if irons wanted to take over the world why can't that be said straight up to the audience, no rather than that, he takes seat on UN, controls all the world and then attacks on US.
Then at the end spouts some shit about saving the world from itself by stopping all wars because if the world is controlled by him no wars would be happening.
Then i understood he is just crazy like hitler or some maniac.
if he is that kind of maniac it would help audience if we get a small hit here and there or better.
They could have shown a clip like after his son died because of US mission he wanted to take over the entire world and take revenge on US. that would have made sense too.

But i get it he is just a maniac villain and heros keep trying to kill him and fail till the end.

Ok, nothing fun or great or twist in this story. didn't really connect with the villain so didn't really feel scared or concerned about hero characters.

Ok story i guess 1 star.

the beginning moment where we "PRESS F TO PAY RESPECTS" didn't know this game is the reason entire internet gives "F" in the chat of streamers or youtube comments..
1 star for that.

I won't change my previous rating, but won't remember this after couple of months either, as the villain is not having a good arc or connection.

Thanks for reading this till now, have a good day.

The campaign proved difficult at times, but for the most part, it was the easiest "Hardened" campaign that I've done in the series.

The graphics were AMAZING. I have never seen cut-scenes look so lifelike. Kevin Spacey LOOKS like Kevin Spacey, right down to every last forehead wrinkle. The in-game graphics were top-notch as well, and the game provides a very realistic feel to it.

The game play was typical of Call of Duty -- although it felt a bit more fast paced than other titles in the series at times.

Your soldier will be equipped with a number of different styles of "Exo-suits" that give him different abilities (boost jump and a collapsible riot shield type thing are the two that come to mind, though this varies from mission to mission.) There are also all sorts of new gadgets and things for you to try out, from piloting drones to smart, enemy-tracking grenades, even to active stealth camouflage -- that's right, you can go stealth mode, straight up Predator style.

Overall, even though I haven't played a single round of multiplayer yet, this a fresh new Call of Duty that I would say is worth picking up for a cheaper price at this point.

Imagina los poderosos campos de batalla del futuro, donde la tecnología y la táctica han evolucionado para marcar el comienzo de una nueva era de combate para la franquicia. Entregando un desempeño impresionante, estrellas como el actor ganador del Oscar Kevin Spacey (como Jonathan Irons, uno de los hombres más poderosos del mundo) que configuran esta escalofriante visión del futuro de la guerra.

Advanced Warfare is not a game you play for the story or to inspire deep thoughts, but it delivers what it promises – a slick, fast-paced, first-person shooter with outstanding setpieces. The amount of hand-holding the game gives starts getting tedious around 2/3 of the way through but the campaign ends at the right time, before this gets too annoying. Overall an enjoyable single-player experience, with good multiplayer content that will stretch out the game time as long as you want it to.

Full review here: http://www.cannotbetamed.com/2014/11/17/call-of-duty-advanced-warfare-review/