The Order: 1886 Review

The Order: 1886 is a game that has had so much hype surrounding it since the trailer debut at E3 2013. The Order marks developer Ready at Dawn's first Playstation 4 exclusive game. The Order: 1886 is a good game. Visually it's one of the best looking games I have ever seen. The way that it seamlessly blends gameplay and cutscenes is awesome. And sadly, The Order's greatest strengths are also it's weaknesses.

The Order takes place from mid October to the end of December during the year, 1886. It's an alternate history that allows the gamer to experience new technologies thanks to people like Nikola Tesla, who acts as the gadget person for the Order's members. Speaking of which, the Order is the current time period's incarnation of the Knights of the Round Table, started by King Arthur. Each Knight is granted near immortality thanks to the Blackwater, an almost sinister substance that heals wounds and prolongs life. You take on the role of Sir Galahad, an honorable Knight. The Order is seeking to quell a rebellion while also fighting their ancient enemy, the Lycans. That is the basis of the story without giving too much away. The storyline kept me interested with it's various twists and turns but lost me a little bit towards the end. It's only around 7 hours long, which for this game ends up being plenty. If it had been any more I would've wanted it to end already. Everything ends with an obvious sequel set up, which makes it rather disappointing. There is one really great twist that I won't spoil for you, and it definitely held my interest, but they didn't really explore it any further and that left me disappointed as well.

The Order: 1886 is essentially a template of a third-person shooter. If you've played Gears of War, Uncharted, or any third-person cover based shooter then The Order will be very familiar to you. It's not something I necessarily have a problem with, it's just nothing new, and there is nothing that makes it stand out from its predecessors in terms of the shooting mechanics. It runs smoothly, though. Almost everything about the gameplay feels good. It's smooth, it runs nicely, and there was only one time during Chapter 3 where I encountered a pretty bad glitch that had me running through walls and through the air, I just rebooted the game and didn't have a problem after that.

Wow.

When it comes to graphics and presentation, The Order: 1886 shines. The visuals are easily the most appealing aspect of this game and truly show off the power of the PS4. Multiple times during my journey I would just stop and admire my surroundings whether I was looking at a nice vista(shown above), or just examining a room. The character models are great looking right down to the cloth physics on their clothes and the wind running through their hair. Ready at Dawn has created an awesome atmosphere with this game. It really feels like you're in this version of London and it's totally believable. The cutscenes are beautiful, but they're just too long and too frequent. The Order has awful pacing issues. At times you are just walking down a street or through a building for ten minutes or so and then all of the sudden there's a giant firefight. It just doesn't make sense most of the time. The voice acting in the game is really great and the characters become very fleshed out over the course of your journey. In the beginning I thought Galahad was quite boring but I grew to like him and almost everyone else in the game.

Do you like quick time events? Because this game is full of them. Multiple times there was a cutscene going on and apparently I was supposed to interact with it. I would've preferred it if the cutscene had just played out instead of me moving my character or pressing triangle or something. Even the big boss battles with the Lycans are just a giant quick time event fight. It's rather disappointing.

Galahad and Isi.

The Order: 1886 is a good game, don't get me wrong. It is worth playing through, once, but after you've beaten it there is no replay value unless you are going back to get trophies which are easily attainable in a single playthrough. The graphics and visuals of this game are amazing. But that just isn't enough. Gameplay is worth something in this industry and the gameplay of The Order is simply too bland for my taste. The story is good, but ends in an awkward place. All in all this game is worth playing one time. And after that, there just isn't much need to return.

Here is some gameplay from my YouTube channel you can check out:

This is the bad glitch I mentioned from Chapter 3:

7

+Visually incredible

+Storyline isn't TOO bad

+Great cutscenes...

-...but they last too long

-Pacing issues

-Too many quick time events

Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition Review

What if Superman became a dictator? That is the driving idea behind Injustice: Gods Among Us. Now most people know that this game came out in 2013 and the PS4 and Xbox One editions came out later. Well I just now picked it up this past weekend for fun and started playing. In about three hours I was already 64% through the Single-Player portion and was having a blast with it. I'm not that into fighting games but if you combine Mortal Kombat style gameplay and my favorite superheroes with an actually interesting storyline then I am much more inclined to play.

The storyline is that the Joker drugged Superman and made him kill his wife Lois and their unborn child, while simultaneously setting off a nuclear bomb destroying Metropolis. Overcome with grief, Superman kills the Joker and becomes the "High Councilor" of Earth creating the new One Earth Government. Many of the DC heroes choose to join Superman's new regime, and those who go against him are killed. Batman is the one hero leading the Insurgency against Superman. It's a really cool and fairly well written story and it inspired me to read the prequel comic that came out alongside the game.

The graphics are the least standout piece of the game. The cutscenes are cool and everything but they look a little muddled and are hardly an update from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. The in-game fighting graphics actually make the game look better in my opinion. The environments are well produced and diverse enough that nothing ever really feels the same. Interactive environmental objects really spice up the gameplay and make things more interesting.

The controls are easy to use in the beginning but take a long time to master. Trying to learn every character's Special Moves can take a long time and mostly it just comes down to button-mashing. Don't get me wrong, the game is still a ton of fun. This game really is fairly self-explanatory so this doesn't need to be a long review, but the besides the Story mode there are different challenge games to play and practice arenas and online modes.

The Ultimate Edition comes with all of the DLC including new missions, character skins, and six new playable characters. Injustice is a really fun game perfect for casual gamers. The story is interesting, the gameplay is really fun, but the graphics could be better.

Be sure to check out my new YouTube channel here!

Here is some gameplay:

8.5

+Gameplay

+Story mode

-Graphics

My Most Anticipated Games of 2015

1. Batman: Arkham Knight
There are plenty of reasons for why this is my most anticipated game of 2015. Arkham Knight was supposed to come out on October 14th, 2014. Then it got pushed and was rumored to release in February 2015 alongside The Witcher 3. And after that it was confirmed for June 2nd, 2015. There is lots of anticipation building up to this release. When Arkham Asylum released back in 2009 the reviews were incredible. Someone actually made a good Batman video game! And not just good, it was amazing. Arkham City expanded on Asylum with a new story, open world locale, and more of the fantastic combat. I don't really consider Arkham Origins as part of the Arkham storyline since it wasn't developed by Rocksteady(and it wasn't that good, aside from Troy Baker's Joker.) And now we come to Arkham Knight. This is the finale of the Batman Arkham trilogy and it's more expansive than ever. The entirety of Gotham City is open to you, the rogues gallery is waging war on Batman, you get to drive and utilize the Batmobile, and then there is the mysterious Arkham Knight villain. Rocksteady is staying fairly tight-lipped concerning the story, I think all we know is the general theme of all out war against Batman. If Rocksteady only wrote a new story with the exact same combat and gameplay mechanics as Arkham City then I would be perfectly happy playing that game. With that said, I can't wait to play Arkham Knight.

2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Uncharted 4 is slated to release in 2015(most likely in the fall), but if Naughty Dog were to delay it to 2016 in order to iron out some issues I'm totally fine with that because I want this game to be as polished and clean as possible. The title itself almost implies that this is the finale for Nathan Drake. And that makes me quite sad, because Drake is one of the most interesting and fantastic protagonists in the gaming world. Naughty Dog is the greatest developer in the industry right now(argue with me on that I dare you) and Uncharted 4 has easily been one of the most anticipated games ever since Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception was released. The graphics are ramped up to get the full potential out of the PS4, and Naughty Dog was being incredibly smart and sneaky by developing The Last of Us Remastered in order to learn the technology of the PS4 and figure out how to best utilize the hardware in creating Uncharted 4. I'm fully on board with Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann heading up this project. Some people were worried that after TLOU, Uncharted 4 would be extremely dark and not the light-hearted adventure we've been familiar with in the first three games. But both Straley and Druckmann have assured us that Uncharted 4 will stay true to the themes that this franchise has built and established. The environments are supposed to be more sandbox like, still linear, but with a greater sense of exploration, similar to what was in The Last of Us. The story sounds great: Drake has been happily out of the treasure hunting business for the last three years living with his wife Elena. Drake's brother shows up out of nowhere and enlists his help to find a long lost pirate treasure, and once again Nathan Drake goes once more into the fray. I'm excited because up until now we didn't know much about Drake's past, and I think this story will shed some light on our protagonist who does have a bit of a mysterious past. Mysterious only because we just don't know much about it. Needless to say, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, will no doubt be one of the best games of 2015, and maybe Game of the Year.

3. Halo 5: Guardians

For now Halo 5 doesn't have a confirmed release date but it's supposed to come out in 2015. Not much is known about the storyline for Halo 5. Halo 4 left us in a strange place. Master Chief feels alienated in the society. He lost Cortana, and now he is alone. From the brief teaser we caught at E3 2013, we saw Chief walking through a desert and then what we can assume was a giant Promethean rise up out of the sand and fly away. Exactly a year later we got another short trailer at E3 2014: The trailer showed the scene from Halo 2 when Master Chief blows up the Covenant ship in the beginning of the game by riding the bomb through space. The voice of the Arbiter was narrating the trailer. He was talking to Agent Locke who has been revealed as a Spartan hunting down Master Chief throughout Halo 5. We can assume that John-117 has probably gone rogue, but knowing Master Chief, I'm sure he has his reasons. We learned that Locke is in fact a playable character and you can learn more about him by watching the Halo: Nightfall miniseries that was packaged with the Halo: MCC and is also available on the Halo Channel on Xbox One. But rest assured, because Master Chief is definitely the main protagonist. After playing through all four Halo games back to back over the holidays after I got an Xbox One, my faith in Halo is restored, and I can't wait to see where the Chief is going next. 

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

RPGs are my favorite genre of video games. I love fantasy stories. The Witcher games are some of the most expansive RPGs ever made. The lore is rich and filled with so much amazing history and I just adore this universe. The gameplay in The Witcher 2 is beautifully executed. The story is intriguing and full of political strife. The Witcher 3 is taking all of that and expanding upon it. If you've watched any gameplay of The Witcher 3 then you know how polished the combat looks, how amazingly detailed and gorgeous the visuals are, and the massive environments that are in store for this game. I think I read somewhere that this installment is actually three times bigger than Witcher 2, which is astounding to say the least. When this game got pushed from February to May I was a little upset. But then I realized that I want CD Projekt RED to release the best possible and clean version of this game as they can. Developments like this need lots of time and care in order for them to come off as a success, and I think Witcher 3 is going to be hands down one of my favorite RPGs ever. It should come as no surprise that I've had this game pre-ordered for the last year and a half. Enough said. 

5. Bloodborne

Bloodborne looks legit. I love Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. They are easily the most challenging yet rewarding games I've ever played and many other gamers can attest to that. Bloodborne, also developed by From Software, is taking that familiar Souls gameplay and spicing it up by making it more action oriented and fast-paced. The setting instantly looks like something you could see in a Souls game. Except this is a sort of Victorian England kind of vibe. I honestly don't know much about this game in terms of story. I'm not sure if anyone does. If you've played the Souls games then you know that the storyline for those is mostly played out by discovering environments and talking to NPCs. Maybe Bloodborne will have more of that thing going on. Keep in mind this is a PS4 exclusive so if you're itching to get your hands on it, then you better have a PS4. I think this is going to be a wonderful game and I look forward to playing it on March 24th, 2015. 

Honorable Mention

Dying Light - January 27

Evolve - February 10

The Order: 1886 - February 20

Dark Souls: II Scholar of the First Sin Edition - April 7
The Division - TBA
Star Wars: Battlefront - TBA
Elder Scrolls Online (PS4, Xbox One) - TBA
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - TBA
No Man's Sky - TBA

Why We Need To Stop Pre-Ordering Games

No, GameStop, we would not like to pre-order. And here's why: until gamers stop pre-ordering, developers will continue to release unfinished games. 2014 was supposed to be a fantastic year with TONS of massive blockbuster video games. The year was going to be filled with games such as Assassin's Creed Unity, that were supposed to be amazing and new and revolutionary(see what I did there?). But instead, ACU was broken from the start. Horribly broken. Maybe you're wondering, "Hey Connor, why didn't you write a review on Unity?." Well, reader, I didn't waste my time writing a review on it because it was so glitchy, fragmented, and just plain broken that I didn't even finish it! Same thing happened with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. I didn't get Halo at launch because I didn't own an Xbox One until Christmas, but I read all about how the multiplayer didn't work for days!

Developers are now working under the assumption that because so many consumers have pre-ordered a copy of whatever game they are developing, they can release it when they want to, then upload day one patches to fix the bugs and continue to release patches until the game is rightfully "finished." There used to be a time where you would go out and buy a new game on day 1 of release, pop it in the console of your choice, and play it with minimal bugs. Retail companies like GameStop are partnering with the developers to give special "pre-order exclusives" to entice gamers to reserve a copy in advance of the release. A couple years ago, pre-ordering a game made plenty of sense because if you didn't, then there was a chance you may not get a copy on day 1. Now, distributors make sure that retail companies have plenty of copies for day 1 of release. Who cares if you get that bonus weapons pack or not by pre-ordering? Chances are the developer will release that weapons pack in DLC a few months later, or those items are already available later in the game.

Look at those next-gen graphics!

Game developers can make educated guesses on how many copies they will sell because they can tell how many people have reserved that game. And hey, I'm guilty of this too. I pre-ordered 14 games last year. And almost every single one had a day one patch because the developer didn't finish the game before releasing it to the public. We need to unite together to stop pre-ordering games and gradually, gaming companies will realize that they have to finish their games before releasing them. There were a lot of games that were supposed to come out either holiday season 2014, or early 2015, and they have been delayed. But guess what? I'd rather wait to play a game that the developer has taken their time making and perfecting then play something that comes out 6 months before it should be released. Take The Last of Us for instance: Naught Dog set a release date for it. And when it came down to crunch time they delayed it because it just wasn't where it needed to be yet. And you can ask anyone in the gaming journalism community and they will probably tell you that those last couple of months of development time meant the difference between TLOU being a great game, and a near perfect game. So please, I'm begging you, don't pre-order any games this year. Wait a day or two to see if that game is broken or not. Read the reviews, listen to the critics, then decide if that $60 is worth it. Let's reverse the tide.

Thoughts on the Xbox One

For Christmas this year I asked my parents for an Xbox One. Considering I already owned an Xbox 360, a PS3, and a PS4 I thought they wouldn't get it for me. But alas they did! I got it set up on Christmas morning and thats exactly when the problems started... Granted I know that Xbox Live and PSN were both down because of the hacks. So I couldn't set up the Xbox for awhile since it could not connect to Xbox Live. However once I did get it all set up I immediately started playing Halo: The Master Chief Collection, I'll write the review on that later, for now I just want to talk about the Xbox itself. Please note this isn't a review of the console, I just want to talk a little bit about it.

I like it. I love it. And I apologize for this in advance but it is hard for me to not continuously compare the console to my Playstation 4. The Xbox One really is great. Not being able to immediately start playing it was a major drawback for me though. The console required an update from Xbox Live right out of the box, but Live was down. Eventually it worked out and I downloaded the update and it brought me to the home screen. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Xbox's User Interface. I think it's a little confusing to navigate and it took me a few minutes just to find the Settings app. I'm getting used to it, but I've still had a few issues. The controller is awesome. It's very similar to the Xbox 360 controller, but a little bit bigger and the triggers feel better. The games I've played are Halo: MCC, Shadow of Mordor, and Forza Horizon 2. All of them have functioned well. I had played Mordor on my PS4 and I can't really tell a difference between the two consoles. I love Forza Horizon 2, I think it's a great game and I'll definitely be writing the review on that later, I just got it Saturday the 10th. But yeah overall I'm really loving the Xbox.

The main reason I wanted an Xbox One was for Halo. Halo is the definitive Xbox game, no question. Xbox One sales soared during the month of November when the Halo: MCC was released. Xbox also had to lower it's price temporarily to $349, presumably to compete with the PS4 which had been outselling the Xbox for the last year. Call me a hypocrite but yes I got one. I enjoy having both consoles and I've turned my PS4 on only twice since I got the Xbox. Now I can expand my blog reviews to include Xbox exclusive games which is really exciting for me as the writer and hopefully you as the reader.

2015 is shaping up to be a great year for gaming. There are lots of games coming out this year and I'm hoping for many more announcements to be made(Fallout 4, anyone?). I'll try to be better about writing more, but with school and theatre commitments sometimes its hard(along with all the time I spend gaming). Anyways, it's going to be a great year. Stay tuned to CDRGames!

-Connor

Dragon Age: Inquisition Review

*Reviewed for the PS4

Dragon Age: Inquisition is the most expansive RPG I've played in years and it's become my personal favorite out of the trilogy. BioWare has outdone themselves in filling Thedas with things to do. I clocked in 14 hours in the first two days that I owned the game and if it weren't for school I would've kept going. Inquisition takes things from both Origins and Dragon Age II and perfects them in terms of gameplay, graphics, storyline, quests, and expansiveness. All the Dragon Age lore is here, but the nice thing is that Inquisition does a good job of filling you in on what you missed if you didn't play the first two games or have very limited knowledge of the world. It's a fantastic RPG, so lets break it down.

The storyline is simple, kinda. There's been a Breach from the Fade in Ferelden and your character is tasked with forming the Inquisition, gaining support, and closing the Breach. In the beginning you are left with a mark on your left hand from the Breach capable of closing rifts throughout the world. The Breach is unleashing demonic forces from the Fade all over the country and the Templars blame the Mages and the Mages blame the Templars. It's weird, it sounds confusing but once you start playing it's rather simple. Dragon Age is ripe with political strife in it's stories and the choices you make/the people you support impact the outcome. As per each Dragon Age came you have to travel about the country gaining support for your team, in this case the Inquisition, and collecting followers. It's an interesting story with a scary antagonist, classic fantasy elements are in play but they all work together. It's a good story, not altogether amazing, but good. Ancient enemy intent on world domination, sound familiar?

The war table

Dragon Age's character creation is very in depth. There are four races: Human, Elf, Qunari, and Dwarf. You get to pick from three classes: Warrior, Mage and Rogue. After picking one of each, the game gives you a small background story based on your choices and then lets you start modeling your character's face and voice. Literally anything you can think of that you might want to edit or create for your character is here in the customization. It's the most in depth character creation screen I have ever encountered. Each class has four different trees to choose abilities from. I picked a Warrior on this first playthrough. The abilities allow you customize how they perform in combat like what special moves they have or if you're a mage what spells you can cast. At around level 10 in the story you get to undertake a quest to choose a specialization. Warrior's can choose from Templar, Champion, or Reaver. What class specialization you pick determines how you perform in combat. Templar boots the entire party defense/damage. Champion boosts your own defense essentially making you a full tank, and Reaver allows you to do massive amounts of damage as your health decreases. I love the customization of this game. No complaints here.

Gameplay and specifically combat is awesome. I will say that this style of RPG combat doesn't appeal to everyone. This is not a fighting game. This is not The Elder Scrolls. Dragon Age is more tactical. Dragon Age: Inquisition's combat is a mix between Origins and Dragon Age: II. It has the tactical auto-attack side of Origins mixed with the "button smashing" of Dragon Age: II. It's fast paced and fun. Using your party to combine devastating attacks between melee characters(warrior, rouge) and your mages is extremely rewarding. The game presents you with four difficulty levels at the start and playing on Normal presents a steady challenge throughout the entirety of the game. There are certain areas of the game that will be a higher level than you, requiring you to grind for a bit and then return. The difficulty can be changed at any time however. I find that the process of leveling up takes a bit longer than it should. Too much XP is required to get to the next level which frustrated me, but it makes it that much more rewarding when you do finally level up. One thing that is required for most story missions is Power. A resource you gain by completing side quests, managing the Inquisition war table, closing fade rifts, and other stuff. Certain missions require Power points of up to 20 whereas some only require 1. It's a unique system that relates everything you do back to the main questline.

I always felt like everything I did in the game held a purpose, nothing was meaningless. Even quests that seemed like a "fetch quest" or a kill order usually related to the main story somehow. The quests are rewarding and they lead you to new areas to explore like hidden ruins or temples. One of my favorite things is how Inquisition still calls back the things you did in the previous games. There are consistent references to the Hero of Ferelden and the Champion of Kirkwall. If you have an Origin account and have played the first two games you can upload that data so that the world starts out how you molded it in Dragon Age 1 and 2. A cool feature for avid players of the series, but it's not an issue if you don't have that. But I highly recommend reading up on Dragon Age lore and the events that happened in the first few games. IGN did a Dragon Age in 5 minutes video which you can see here.

The Loot system in this game works quite well along with crafting armor and weapons. To craft weapons and armor you have to find schematics throughout the world, usually found on dead enemies or loot chests. BioWare has really outdone themselves with things to do in this world they've been creating since Dragon Age Origins. I spent a good six hours exploring the first open sandbox that your character reaches. And unlike Origins or Dragon Age: II, these areas are massive. there isn't any main path you follow like in Fable or anything, it's more similar to Elder Scrolls where if you see a mountain in the distance, you can probably go climb that mountain. Animals are also running around everywhere and hunting has become an important part of the game, if you wish to modify or upgrade your weapons and armor with the leather that animal hides give you. There are so many side quests in each area that at times it can almost be overwhelming. When I started to feel that way I just abandoned all my quests and went exploring to see what I could find, usually I found more side quests. It's hard to pack in everything in one review. In the IGN review of Inquisition, author Vince Ingenito said, "Ninety hours. Thats how long it took me to roll the credits on Dragon Age: Inquisition." Ninety hours is an impressive feat. I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for another RPG that I could play for that long.

This is an actual screenshot. You can go explore that...

As you can see above, Dragon Age: Inquisition is beautiful. On PS4 it runs at 1080p and 900p for Xbox One. Dragon Age is probably the prettiest on a high powered PC but I don't own one. Nevertheless, it's still gorgeous on consoles. The foliage is extremely detailed and the weather effects are incredibly realistic. My one complaint here would be the character faces during cutscenes. They are really solid but occasionally the animations just don't match up with the words coming out of their mouths. It's small but noticeable. The game has its share of bugs. Sometimes the sounds cuts out in the heat of battle and theres an occasional lag when lots of things are happening onscreen. A day one patch fixed some of this but every now and then you'll notice it. Did I mention the game has an amazing soundtrack? The music, composed by Trevor Morris, is incredible. It sets the mood and tone in every area that you're in and just works perfectly with the game. I'm listening to it right now as I'm writing this I mean it's brilliant.

All in all, Dragon Age: Inquisition is an incredible mark for fantasy RPGs. The story isn't terrible, the combat is fast and solid, the graphics and locations are sublimely beautiful, and theres an abundance of things to do in this game. Yes it has it's faults. It isn't perfect. Few games are. But I highly recommend you go pick this up for your PS4, Xbox One, or PC. You won't regret it. Just be prepared to lose the next 100 hours of your life because you will lose yourself in Dragon Age.

8.9

+Storyline is fair

+Tons of things to do

+Graphics are mind blowing

+Combat is a blast

-Occasional bugs and frame rate dips

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Review

"Power Changes Everything"

*Reviewed for the PS4

I had mixed feelings about the latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise when it was first announced. Lets face it, Ghosts was not a good game. There were hardly any new changes in multiplayer, the maps were too big for 12 man teams, the campaign's storyline was awful although gameplay was fun. But when it was announced that a new studio, Sledgehammer Games, was developing this game I can say that I was still excited, hoping for something fresh. And Kevin Spacey. Kevin Spacey is an iconic actor and to bring him into a video game franchise like Call of Duty is very ambitious and fun. So I picked up the game on Day Zero, Monday November 3rd, and immediately jumped into multiplayer mode since it was double XP for the launch.

Right off the bat you can tell that Advanced Warfare is different and fresh from its predecessors. We'll be breaking down this review into four categories: multiplayer customization and modes, campaign, overall gameplay, and graphics.

Advanced Warfare is set in the year 2054. You play as a United States Marine who later gets recruited by the Private Military Company, Atlas, led by the ruthless Jonathan Irons. The story dives into relevant themes in our society today such as the role of PMCs in warfare, drones, and biological weaponry. It's been a long time since I actually cared about a Call of Duty campaign. The Modern Warfare storyline has been the only one that ever meant anything to me. But I can honestly say that even though Advanced Warfare's story has its shortcomings, I actually cared about the characters and what was happening to them. The real star of the game is Kevin Spacey who provides the voice and motion capture for Irons. His character is almost identical to his House of Cards character, Frank Underwood, minus the southern accent. They both have that internal drive for power and nobody will stand in their way. The voice acting by both Spacey and Troy Baker is really awesome and the motion capture is gorgeous. The missions provide a lot of variety and the campaign clocks in at around six hours which is longer than the past couple in the franchise.

Irons alongside Mitchell and Gideon

Why do people continue playing Call of Duty after all these years? Because of it's award winning multiplayer. Unlike some multiplayer FPS games, Call of Duty is very fast paced. Advanced Warfare makes it even faster. With the introduction of the Exo suits, you are able to dodge, strafe, and double jump to yours hearts content. In previous iterations, if you walked into the middle of a giant firefight and needed to get away, you really couldn't. You would try to kill as many as you can and then accept your fate and die. In Advanced Warfare, you can run into a firefight, shoot off a few rounds, then boost jump and strafe to safety. Everything is so much more mobile. The basics of multiplayer haven't changed, the game is familiar but fresh at the same time. Advanced Warfare takes Black Ops II's Pick 10 system for your loadout and expands on it making it Pick 13. You can use wildcards that work in the same way as Perks do with options like "Overkill" which allows you to carry 2 primary weapons, or "Primary Gunfighter" which lets you equip 3 attachments for your primary. Customization is one of the main things driving this game, the game lets you play your way. With the Exo suit you can choose different abilities like Overclock which temporarily boosts your speed or Hover. Taking a piece from Ghosts, Advanced Warfare lets you customize your playable character with face models, different types of gear, and Exo suits. It's nothing but eye candy, but still a cool feature to flip through and look at what different people have chosen in your lobby.

A typical loadout screen

An issue that the multiplayer has is the lack of guns. There just aren't enough of them for me to feel like I am getting a good variety. Advanced Warfare tries to fix this using Supply Drops, these come as little care packages you receive as rewards during multiplayer and they have new gear for your character and sometimes a customized version of a gun with its own unique name and stats. But it still doesn't work for me. All your favorite game modes are back like Team Deathmatch, Domination, Capture the Flag, etc. Along with a few other ones like Uplink, which is essentially Quidditch with guns and it is a lot of fun. The goal is to score points by throwing a small satellite drone into your opposing team's goal while still killing the opposing team's players.

The graphics on the PS4 are absolutely stunning. No Call of Duty before has looked this good. The cutscenes in the campaign work very well with the story that Slegdehammer has set up. I have no complaints concerning the look of this game. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is one of the best in this blockbuster franchise. Gameplay is quick and fun, the story is meaningful albeit sometimes cheesy, multiplayer is great and the maps provide good variety in size, and it's easily the best looking Call of Duty game ever made.

9.0

+Solid campaign

+Beautiful graphics

+Fast and fun multiplayer

+Acting performances

-Gun variety

-Cheesy story moments