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For several iterations now, the Call of Duty franchise has flirted with the idea of the near future. But while series entries like Black Ops 2 and Ghosts got close, they, in this writer's opinion, never fully immersed players in that idea, or gave them the type of future tech they hoped to see.
With Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, however, it appears new developer Sledgehammer Games is ready to outfit players with some truly futuristic toys. In the latest behind the scenes video for Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer co-founders Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey highlight just a few of those new weapons.
Many of the weapons and gadgets seen in the above video were previously highlighted at Microsoft's E3 2014 Press Conference, where Activision gave fans their first look at a Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare mission. The sequence took players from a careening helicopter to the city streets, as they fought against both soldiers and machines.
Some of those new weapons featured in the demo include the 'Threat Detection Grenade' — a new explosive type that sends out a pulse for detecting nearby enemies through obstacles, the 'Mobile Barricade' - a movable form of cover that fully protects the player while in motion and retracts a top window when they're aiming down the sights, and the hover vehicles that we saw in a behind closed doors demo of the game. They might seem like evolutions or riffs on weapons from other games, but these new gadgets in particular will significantly change how players approach combat encounters.
Perhaps the biggest change for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, however, is the exosuit. With it, players can run faster, jump higher, and even rip the doors of cars for yet another form of movable cover. For all intents and purposes, the exosuit is the major showpiece of the game, and will likely be a major factor in gameplay encounters throughout the entire story.
And while that all sounds cool, Sledgehammer has yet to fully explain how the exosuits work. We know that they offer a wealth of different abilities, like a jump boost and a dash move, but whether or not those abilities will be available at all times is unclear.
That being said, something that we had yet to see from the exosuit that's in the video is the Exo abilities. Condrey only highlights the time-altering 'Overdrive' ability, but it sounds like players will have access to some new moves, all thanks to their trusty exosuit.
Although it's hard to vet the believability and relatability of Advanced Warfare's future tech, there's no denying the weapons and gadgets look cool in action. They also appear to put a unique spin on combat, giving players new ways to approach firefights beyond your typical shooting gallery. As to whether that approach will extend to multiplayer? Well, we will have to wait and see on that one.
What do you think of Advanced Warfare's future tech? Which weapons are you most interested in trying out?
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare releases November 4, 2014 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
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Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina