Games
Advanced Warfare takes aim at the future
New developer, new setting. Can CoD stay on top? We chat with Sledgehammer Games to find out.
By Damien McFerran
10 min readPublished on
Advanced Warfare takes aim at the future
Advanced Warfare takes aim at the future© Activision
Video gaming's biggest franchise is no stranger to taking part in a spot of time travel; Call of Duty's birth was accompanied by the bloodcurdling cries of dying Nazi soldiers in World War II, while the more recent Call of Duty: Ghosts dared to step into a grim future where the United States has been humbled by its South American neighbours following a catastropic nuclear war. However, the 11th entry in the franchise is pushing the envelope even further, placing the action in the year 2054 and introducing military tech which is both fantastical yet still grounded in plausible reality.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is a massive stride for a series which has sold in excess of 100 million copies globally, but its theme isn't the only change worthy of note, it's being overseen by the relatively young Sledgehammer Games, as opposed to franchise stalwarts Infinity Ward and Treyarch.
Although Sledgehammer is no stranger to the series – it co-developed Modern Warfare 3 alongside Infinity Ward – this is the first time the company has been entrusted with guiding the entire project. Given the enormity of the brand and the expectation which surrounds each new instalment, you could forgive Sledgehammer's staff for experiencing a crisis of confidence, but you'll find little doubt in the mind of multi-player lead designer Greg Reisdorf.
"Finding that area where we could exist that wasn't too far into the future so that players found it not believeable was a challenge," replies Reisdorf, when quizzed by Red Bull about the task of introducing future warfare to a generation of players accustomed to reasonably established, if not realistic, first-person shooter combat.
"Ultimately we found a place where we could push it and keep it grounded in a lot of ways around the exoskeleton and all the new technology that we have within the game. We were really looking towards what aspects of gameplay these new items affected – this was ultimately the biggest challenge out of all the ones that we faced."
Exoskeleton technology is very much at the heart of Advanced Warfare, and offers some of the biggest changes in gameplay. Players are no longer restrained by the limitations of the fragile human frame; bolstered by powered suits, combatants are now capable of higher leaps, crushing punches and faster movement.
While it's tempting to dismiss such tech as pure science fiction, modern military forces are already experimenting with exo-suits, and films such as the Tom Cruise action epic Edge of Tomorrow hint at armies of soldiers whose power and agility is enhanced by combat armour. You only have to look at the terrifying robots comings out of DARPA and Google’s Boston Dynamics lab (This sprinting mechanoid cheetah is the stuff of nightmares). "We constantly look at everything from every possible aspect of entertainment, or beyond – military research and prototypes, for example – to bring into the game," explains Reisdorf.
However, Sledgehammer isn't merely using the concept of exo-suits to create cool-looking set-pieces; the aim has always been to use such speculative tech to create new and exciting gameplay possibilities. "We've been working on the game for close to three years and Sledgehammer's intent from the beginning was to bring something new to the table," Reisdorf says. "We want to bring new things like enhanced movement to the game. Everything off the controller – from boost jump to boost slide, dash to slam – all of those aspects are there for every player to use and then enhance with exo-abilities powered by a battery that you can activate throughout."
That's not to say that Sledgehammer has disregarded all that has gone before and torn up the rulebook – far from it. The studio has carefully considered the best elements of previous Call of Duty titles and ensured that those same components are present and correct in Advanced Warfare. "It builds on everything from the past," Reisdorf comments. "We looked at all the other previous games to figure out what fits our vision and what works within that. But we're very focused on our vision of what we want to create so we've been looking to how we want to innovate. We've been on it for so long that's just a constant process of iteration, it's always evolving."
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare© Activision
Part of that inevitable evolution has occurred in the guts of the game engine, which is a totally fresh effort that has only the slightest of connections with the tech which powered previous instalments. Reisdorf reveals that the need for a wholly new engine was driven by the arrival of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
"There is no way we could have built the game for the next generation platforms without all of our new technology within the engine," he asserts. "All of the rendering technology that we have is brand new and there are tons of facets of the game that make it look awesome in a lot of ways. We wouldn't have been able to get it moving at 60fps without the advances in the tech that we've been able to push forward and really embrace as we go into the next generation of consoles."
Last gen systems haven't been abandoned, however: Transformers: Fall of Cybertron developer High Moon Studios is handling those editions, and according to Reisdorf, players who haven't yet upgraded from their Xbox 360 or PS3 won't be disappointed. "It's the same version of the game," he says. "We see builds constantly from them and it's looking great right now." Sadly for Nintendo fans, Advanced Warfare won't be rolling out on the Wii U, a bitter blow when you consider that both Black Ops II and Ghosts made their way to the console.
Advanced Warfare's single-player campaign is packed with thrilling set-pieces which show off the new tech, both in terms of the game engine, and the fanciful weapons brandished by the characters themselves, but it's in the multi-player portion of the game that most players will spend their time. Sledgehammer is clearly aware that online is a massive part of Call of Duty's appeal, and has wisely expended a lot of effort to ensure it's up to scratch. "We talked a lot to the eSports community to help us balance the game and find exploits," explains Reisdorf. "We're also very tuned into creating that fun competitive experience. If a game's not competitive, it's not balanced and therefore it's not fun. We're focused and aware that we have to make the game a competitive and fun experience."
When it comes to gamer enjoyment online, map design plays a massive role. Reisdorf assures us that with Advanced Warfare, he and his team are aiming to create spaces which look amazing and have the depth to keep people coming back for more. "It's a very careful procedure and a lot of it starts with the goals of the map," he says, when asked about the process of stage design. "Ultimately we have the same goals across all of the maps, which is to encourage head-on-head combat. We want to get players to engage and know where the opposition is and to be able to attack, and we aim to understand how that flows throughout the map."
As with the solo experience, the future tech which lies at the core of Advanced Warfare's storyline will make its presence felt online, radically changing the pace of matches and the offensive options available to players. "With the added effect of exo-movement it allows us to use a lot more tools that we didn't have before," Reisdorf explains. "We have tools of verticality that we can add into those areas that we're focusing and funnelling the combat to. Ultimately players can now use this movement in a lot of new and interesting ways in and outside of combat – boost jumps, slam slides, dodges – and this will really emphasise tactical combat."
Sledgehammer is also aware that to maintain the interest of players Advanced Warfare needs robust customisation options, and no stone has been left unturned in this regard. "We have a huge character creation portion and character gear that's delivered in supply drops which are given at random intervals as you play the game online," Reisdorf says. "You can actually see this gear in the virtual lobby and the virtual firing range, and other players within the lobby can check out your cool gear and figure out how your received or earned it." These moments of downtime inbetween matches are likely to result in many instances of friendly rivalry, as players scope out their allies, and enemies, to see what advantage they might receive from their custom loadout.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare© Activision
Advanced Warfare has clearly benefited from a slightly longer development cycle than previous Call of Duty games, but Reisdorf admits there are elements which have been sacrificed to ensure the vision remains focused, and that includes the previously mooted and incredibly cool-sounding teleporting grenade. "There's always tons of stuff on the cutting room floor," explains Reisdorf, when asked about the expunged weapon.
"It's like an extended edition or a raw cut of a movie: you watch the extended edition and you think, 'that seems kinda weird, why is that there?' And it's because it doesn't fit the movie and they cut it out for a reason. There's a lot of stuff like that in Advanced Warfare and we've pulled it at the end of the day because we want a nice streamlined edited version of the game that works well and doesn't have any random or weird pieces in there."
As launch day approaches, Reisdorf and the rest of the staff at Sledgehammer are working to ensure that when all of those fans load up their copies the experience is free from headaches and issues. With modern games becoming increasingly reliant on net connectivity to deliver their entertainment, ensuring that things go smoothly is more important than ever.
"The biggest thing for us is that the game is balanced," Reisdorf comments. "But it's also about balancing before it gets out the door and making sure that our 350 weapons and all of our progression is nicely balanced and that the game is fun and competitive. We also look at the underlying systems to make sure those are built in a way that help us to balance the game, from either Pick 13 to the custom score streaks, and we look not only at how they change the game, but also how they inherently balance themselves. We have the best instrumentation for all of this, and using that information – and having our dedicated guys who are just balancing the game ready for launch – means we can know if there's any issue and be able to attack it."
It's very nearly time for the world to get its hands on what is shaping up to be the biggest entry in the Call of Duty franchise to date. While there's a lot riding on this instalment – especially with EA's Battlefield series breathing down its neck – from what we've seen of Advanced Warfare it marks not only a sterling debut for Sledgehammer, but also a brave new step in a bloody and conflict-ridden narrative that has enthralled and entertained millions of players worldwide.
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