Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare takes place in the distant future where body suits allow you to jump from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. The new trailer also showcases advanced tech that you’ve seen in a myriad sci-fi flicks, shows, and games. Drop pods, space marines, jet packs, little fighter planes that remind me of the snow speeder thing from Empire Strikes Back. There are other clichés like Kevin Spacey in a suit talking all arrogant.
That’s okay, I guess. It is what it is. I’m not one of those purist types that says one thing’s gotta be one thing only. CoD didn’t always have to be WW2. It could roll out a new “vision” (as they call it), and use the branding to sell copies. This Advanced Warfare seems like a different game, almost to the point of ridiculousness. Do I really need to jump a hundred yards and then fly around in a jet pack blowing things up with a minigun strapped to my waist that has no recoil whatsoever? I’ll play Titanfall, instead. But change is not bad, as long as it’s not change just to change.
I don’t like being fooled, though. Like with Ghost Recon back in the day. Ghost Recon One and Island Thunder were awesome. I bought Ghost Recon Two thinking more of the same awesome but turned out they changed the gameplay all out. That sucked. I had the same concern with CoD: Ghosts but that game turned out all right, though I could do without rifles with names like Honey Badger.
The biggest issue I have with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is that it’s about mercenaries. Fighting for your country is a Duty. Fighting for money is not. Risking my life charging the Nazi trenches and blowing up Panzers to save the free world from oppression is a Call of Duty. Fighting the Russian separatists or even those annoying South Americans is a Call of Duty. Giving my life to make some C-suite executive rich is NOT a Call of Duty. It’s very much American these days, but not really a Call of Duty. Is that why this game is out on Election Day? It’s a day when Americans do their “duty” only to make wealthy Americans even wealthier.
Maybe there’s some noble thing that comes out in the Advanced Warfare story. I’m sure the twist is that the Kevin Spacey character is actually the bad dude and we end up fighting our old employer. That’s very American going back to the Revolutionary War. I hope that’s what it is, as cliché as it may be.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is out on Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on November 4, 2014.