Every year, around this time, Activision begins sharing details about their annual Call of Duty game. The franchise in general is headed for 150 million total copies sold worldwide, and will probably get there this year if they haven’t already. Last year’s Call of Duty Ghosts had a lot of fans, but just as many detractors. Some fans just didn’t like that the game strayed a bit from its annual cycle, and tried to switch things up when from a formula that was working so well before. This year, the stakes are raised, and Activision is calling on Sledgehammer Games for a strong first output.
This fall, Power Changes Everything.
Release Date: November 4th 2014
Consoles: PC, XBox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, XBox One.
Rating: Rating Pending (Assumedly M for Mature)
Note: A Banner featuring all of the listed consoles above and the WiiU logo was found through a backdoor leak on the Advanced Warfare website. However, there has been no confirmation of a WiiU version yet.
Welcome to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, a visually and mentally jarring envisioning of war in the future. The Weapons are more intrusive, and farther reaching. The explosions are bigger. The consequences are more traumatic. The rules have changed.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare takes place in a carefully crafted world of the future, where military exists in private sectors available for the highest bidder. At the center of the largest organization is Jonathan Irons (Kevin Spacey) who has outfitted all of his troops with Powerful Exoskeletons that give them the ability to achieve the impossible. Cloaking techniques power with humanly impossible strength, agility and stamina to create the most imposing war machines imaginable. Fortunately, you get to play as these superhuman beings and share in the fun.
The weapons will be just as fun. Drones, energy strikes and new classes of vehicles will also be included, making this arguably the most comprehensive weapon set yet. Can you imagine camping out in the bushes somewhere and getting taken out by a drone where you thought you were the sniper instead of the sniped? One thing’s for sure: Get ready for Call of Duty like you’ve never experienced it before. This could be one for the ages.
Advanced Warfare admittedly wasn’t Sledgehammer’s first idea. Originally, this was going to be (assumedly) a Modern Warfare or spinoff title that took place during the Vietnam War. Given their previous ties to the Dead Space series, the game was going to be extremely dark with some fairly horrific moments. I guess picture a combination between Dead Space and the Rambo films. I gather it probably would have been just like the last Rambo film, only in Vietnam rather than Burma.
Instead, we get what will be an intriguing, albeit terrifying look at what we could be doing to our world as technology advances in years to come. Never before have I been interested in us striving for world peace thinking our world could plausibly become Sledgehammer’s picture of the future, and I’ve only seen the trailer.
This is Advanced Warfare. This is Call of Duty for 2014.
The game will be available for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3, but given that this game has been a nearly 36 month journey from start to finish, and had the next gen consoles in mind, I’ve got to say it’s worth giving the XBox One and Playstation 4 versions some serious consideration. There’s no time like the present to consider picking up one of the new consoles, because between this new CoD, and some of the other great games on the horizon, it’s going to be a banner year for gaming.
We can expect to see many more details emerge at E3 next month, but for now, enjoy the official Reveal Trailer, which should set you up with what you can expect off the bat. It probably goes without saying that the game will be rated M for Mature. It’s Call of Duty. It wouldn’t be any other way.
See you on November 4th.
Best Buy has a great selection of games and game consoles to choose from.
