I'd like to start off with mentioning I have played and loved every Call of Duty title that came out, but this is the one I'm most disappointed in. Call Of Duty now exists for Multiplayer gameplay, where most of the players I come across totally skip the campaign and go straight into the online battles. In Advanced Warfare it feels like Sledgehammer games has done the complete opposite.
The Campaign
Overall
One word... Fantastic. The graphics are sensational during cutscenes and create a movie like rendition of this massive franchise. It's a bonus for me (who graduated in Game Design and Computer Animation) to see such perfect character models. Their movements are so real it fascinates me. Granted that a lot of the mouth movements and speech don't fully match to the extent I expected from the face mapping, but this is a minor, minor, minor....(etc.) blip in an otherwise hugely entertaining campaign.
The Story
Call of Duty titles have been growing increasingly absurd in their storytelling and the futuristic setting gives them the freedom to be as creative as they want to be, this year it feels different. It genuinely feels real. Where there are still explosions every 10/15 (exaggeration of course) seconds the story isn't so far gone that it moves away from the "realistic shooter" a lot of fans expect. However every sniper in the game should go back to boot camp because they can not shoot for s***. On a serious note, a huge amount of the campaign is as predictable as every other call of duty, which is a real shame. ****SPOILER ALERT*****>>>>> For Example: Good guy helps you, good guy goes with the bad guys, good guy arrests you, good guy helps you break out <<<<<****SPOILER ALERT*****
The Gameplay
Overall I'd give this a 7/10 for gameplay. The Exo-Suit is a welcome addition to a game that was growing increasingly stale and repetitive. It's hugely entertaining to work your way through levels with lots of new stuff! Smart grenades that search for a target, Tactical Threat grenades that allow you to see enemies through walls for around 15 seconds or so. It's very fun to play. However the downside is that yet again you are never fully in control. The gameplay is extremely linear, the levels are linear and the objectives are set out in a specific way where you are forced to stand on a certain thin patch of ice you just know you're going to fall through. The lack of control is further emphasised in that every mission you go on, there is always some one shouting "NOW, MITCHELL" "PLANT THE BOMB, MITCHELL", "GIVE ME YOUR HAND MITCHELL", "TAKE DOWN THAT SOLDIER, MITCHELL", "USE YOUR EMP, MITCHELL". I'm far from impressed with the lack of control that players have had for a number of CoD titles and it's easy to see why most skip the campaign... However this is still worth the money regardless of its downfalls.
Campaign - 8/10
Multiplayer
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!!!!!!! The customization is cool, but thats literally about it. I mean come on guys this is supposed to be the next generation. Such a big deal was made about the NEXT GEN CONSOLES with NEXT GEN GAMES with an ALL NEW EXPERIENCE FOR PLAYERS!!!!!
No. There are 26 designated primary weapons in the game. 6 Assaults, 6 Submachine Guns, 4 Snipers, 3 Shotguns, 2 Specials and 5 Heavy weapons. To put this into perspective, Battlefield currently has 19 Assault rifles with a massive amount of generic unlocks aswell as some specific to certain guns. It just feels like a complete lack of effort to the multiplayer, and while I agree with Quality over Quantity... this is no Quality or Quantity from me.
The maps are tiny. There is literally no getting away with this on a next gen title. Fair enough if the game was a moshpit mode where carnage is always the name of the game... but while I'm technically in Team D, or S&D... it just feels like one big moshpit to me.
Camping isnt as bad as it used to be (Woohoo!) but this is down to the fact that players now like to jet about the map using booster packs, theres nothing more infuriating in this game than trying to play with at least an element of tactics, for someone to land 2 feet infront of you and drop you before you can react.
Theres still lag and there really isn't anywhere near enough good points in multiplayer... if any, really... to warrant a good rating for this multiplayer.
It feels lazy and the content is nowhere near what I expect for my £60. Bearing in mind I bought this for £36 from eBay as I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it, I'm still disappointed.
Multiplayer - 3/10
Overall
Should you buy this game? I'd say yes but wait for the price to come down a bit. The story is amazing to play, but the multiplayer isn't worth getting excited about. I would say that this game warrants above a fair rating, but for the amount of money they bring in to this franchise I expected a lot more to be put back into this game.
Overall - 6.5/10