Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Cover art
Developer(s)	Sledgehammer Games (PC, PS4 and Xbox One) High Moon Studios (PS3 and Xbox 360) Raven Software (Multiplayer)
Publisher(s)	Activision Square Enix (Japan)
Composer(s)	Harry Gregson-Williams Audiomachine (Paul Dinletir, Kevin Rix)
Series	Call of Duty
Engine	In-house engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One
Release	NA: November 3, 2014 (Day Zero Edition) INT: November 4, 2014 JP: November 13, 2014
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is an upcoming 2014 first-person shooter video game developed by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision. It is the eleventh primary installment in the Call of Duty series and the first developed primarily by Sledgehammer Games after Neversoft was merged into Infinity Ward in May 3, 2014 and was officially made defunct on July 10, 2014. The game is set to be released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on November 4, 2014. Also a Day Zero Edition of Call of Duty Advanced Warfare is set to release in North America a day before the classic game that will give players access to the game 24 hours before the classic game it will feature double xp for the first day and two exclusive guns However, it was announced that Sledgehammer Games will not be developing Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; instead, High Moon Studios will be developing the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions. It is the first game in the series to be created in a three-year development cycle, rather than two years as in previous Call of Duty games. It will be the first main series Call of Duty game to not see a release on Nintendo platforms since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Gameplay

Advanced Warfare, like the other Call of Duty titles, is presented in a first-person shooter perspective. However, the game features several changes; unlike other installments, Advanced Warfare does not use a traditional heads-up display; instead, all information is relayed to the player via holographic projections from the weapon equipped. The general gun-play remains unchanged, apart from new mechanics, for example, certain guns will be able to recharge slowly, allowing the player to take cover and stay there for a certain period of time to gain ammo for the weapon. The player can also switch different types of grenades whilst holding one with the shoulder buttons.

Plot

In 2054, a terrorist organization known as the KVA initiates the first global terrorist attack in history by simultaneously destroying the nuclear reactors of developed countries around the globe, including the United States. Across five continents, many countries' military and government infrastructure including electricity and technology were devastated and incapable of fighting the threat posed by the KVA. As the result, private military corporations (PMCs) have become the dominant armed forces for countless nations and represent the first line of defense against this new enemy. Jack Mitchell (Troy Baker), a former U.S. Marine who lost his left arm during the battle of Seoul, joins Atlas Corporation, the world's most powerful private military company with the most advanced technologies on the planet. Executing clandestine operations across the globe for the highest bidder, Jonathan Irons (Kevin Spacey), the CEO and founder of Atlas, begins his war over the ineffectiveness from the United States as the promoter of democracy all over the world to change the global balance of power.

Development

Before being switched to become the co-developers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Sledgehammer Games was already working on a Call of Duty game called Call of Duty: Fog of War. Fog of War was announced before Modern Warfare 3 and after Black Ops. It was to be set during the events of the Vietnam War. The game was said to be an action-adventure third-person shooter computer/video game. A Call of Duty massively multiplayer online game was also rumored to be in development. Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg later stated that Modern Warfare 3 was not the same title as Sledgehammer Games' action-adventure Call of Duty game. When asked if the action-adventure game was also in development, Hirshberg then stated that the Sledgehammer team was fully focused on Modern Warfare 3 and that their own title had been put on hold.

A new game in the Call of Duty series was announced to be released in November 2014.

In an EDGE magazine interview, Michael Condrey confirmed that the engine has been built from scratch. He stated that although there are lines of the old code left, there is new rendering, animation, physics and audio systems. This is the first Call of Duty since Call of Duty 2 that has used a new engine. Call of Duty: Ghosts was said to have a new engine; however, it turned out to be an upgraded version of the IW engine. It is currently unknown what the name of the new Advanced Warfare engine is.

With the new in-house engine of Advanced Warfare, the audio has been made from scratch. Don Veca, among the many of Sledgehammer Games that has left Visceral Games, is working on Advanced Warfare. "It goes through your body, into your bones, and your skull. You hear it in your ear, and it sounds completely different," Veca says in EDGE magazine, talking in-detail about the aftermath from firing a gun in-game. "No matter where you put the microphones, you're not going to capture that sound, so we've tried to emulate that feeling." Saying that audio doesn't come last as it did in previous titles, Glen Schofield says "We make sure that audio is just as important as anything else and Don's in there from the start with us."

Another objective that Sledgehammer accomplished with Advanced Warfare were the animations (as shown in the Induction gameplay at E3 2014). The facial animating system and set is the same as James Cameron's Avatar 2's, which is a big step and a first for Call of Duty. According to Activision, the new three-year Call of Duty development cycle meant that Advanced Warfare developer Sledgehammer Games was able to create a 'near photorealistic' world unlike any Call of Duty before.

On June 6, 2014, issue of MCVOnline Magazine, it was confirmed that High Moon Studios, the team behind the Deadpool video game and Transformers games, is working on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Advanced Warfare, while Sledgehammer Games is focusing on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the title. Activision has confirmed that there will not be a release on the Wii U.

Michael Condrey confirmed in a tweet that Advanced Warfare will feature female soldiers in Multiplayer, following suit with the previous game Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Marketing and release

Reveal

In May 2014, the official Call of Duty website was updated with a scrambled image that was due to be revealed on May 4, 2014. However, the trailer was leaked ahead of schedule on May 1 and then officially released soon after. The trailer revealed actor Kevin Spacey as portraying a character in the game who resents democracy. The trailer contained a variety of futuristic technologies, including cloaking aircraft, twin-rotor drones, hover bikes, "spider" tanks, specialized weapons, powered exoskeletons, scan-tron grenades and gloves that allow their wearer to climb up walls.

On June 9, 2014, E3 was opened with a new gameplay trailer for Advanced Warfare that showcased features such as swarms of drones resembling birds and infrared enemy identifiers. During the presentation, Xbox head Phil Spencer said that downloadable content for Advanced Warfare will be released first on Xbox Live in the same fashion as the previous games in the series.

On July 29, 2014, Sledgehammer Games released a trailer showing a more in depth look into the main back story of the campaign side of the game. Within the last 5 seconds of the trailer a brief view of the multiplayer was shown. This was the first time multiplayer had been shown. Within it "scorestreaks" were visible which are returning from Black Ops 2. Also shown was the new HUD which usually changes from each title. The trailer also stated that there would be a worldwide full multiplayer reveal on August 11, 2014 during Gamescom 2014.

Pre-order bonuses

A pre-order bonus was announced entitled 'Advanced Arsenal' which consists of a Custom Exoskeleton & EM1 Quantum Weapon usable in multiplayer. An advertisement revealed that the collector's editions will include a bonus multiplayer map, "Atlas Gorge", which is a remake of the map "Pipeline" from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare; an Atlas Digital Content Pack, which include two bonus weapons, a custom character helmet, a player card, five in-game "supply drops", and a single-player upgrade token. Also included is a season pass, granting players access to four post-release map packs. Additionally, all pre-orders will be upgraded to the "Day Zero Edition", which includes early access to the game with double XP, additional weapons and in-game items.

External links

• Official website