This week's Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer reveal introduced players to Sledgehammer Games' vision for the popular online experience. It included exoskeletons, loads of cool tech, and even more explosions. At the same time, the reveal brought up a lot of questions. As with any Call of Duty release, this is just the beginning for Advanced Warfare's multiplayer tour.

At the same time, this is also a major turning point for the franchise, as it tries to bounce back from slower sales and makes the leap into current-gen. It behooves Sledgehammer to get this one right, and in certain circumstances it already sounds like they are on the right track. But even so, we have concerns.

As a gameplay feature, the Atlas exoskeletons look to offer something unique to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's single player campaign. However, as part of the multiplayer it's hard to imagine the exoskeletons keeping things balanced. Not only do the suits make players faster and more agile - potentially making it easier for players to escape, turn around, and kill you - they also include life-saving abilities like a shield and a cloak.

Ultimately, Advanced Warfare's multiplayer will live and die with the exoskeleton. If Sledgehammer can deliver multiplayer that's fast-paced and fun, then they will be treated like geniuses. However, if the exoskeletons throw the gameplay balance off, then they will likely carry all of the blame for the multiplayer's shortcomings.

Call of Duty has always been, first and foremost, a first person shooter franchise. But as developers have sought out ways to keep gameplay fresh, they have also moved away from that. Technology, Scorestreaks, and perks are supposed to be peripheral elements, but in Advanced Warfare it seems like tech is taking a bigger role than the core gunplay. With a game that includes drones, mechs, grenade launchers, and more, we're left wondering what the point of firing a bullet is if there are more useful items at players' disposal?

It's the fundamental problem of any level-based multiplayer: how to balance out the higher-level players with the lower level ones. No player wants to jump into their first experience feeling severely outmatched and outgunned, and for the most part Call of Duty has done a decent job keeping gameplay balanced.

However, with these new, more devastating tools at players' disposal we hope that Sledgehammer Games can keep things fair. The developer has yet to detail how exactly unlocks will work, but the Pick 13 system is a great start, at least as far as balance is concerned. But if higher levels unlock cooler toys, then maybe that Day Zero Edition is worth checking out.

Amidst talk of how Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will set itself apart from past iterations with new tech and customization options, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg kept using the term "familiar Call of Duty feel." Obviously, it's in Sledgehammer's best interest to deliver a game that feels familiar (if it ain't broke, don't fix it), but after playing Titanfall we'd venture to guess players' tastes have changed.

At some point, Call of Duty needs to reinvent itself, and we're not entirely sure whether Advanced Warfare is that reinvention. Rather than chasing itself, we'd like to see the shooter franchise set a new precedent for multiplayer experiences. At the same time...

For as much as we want Advanced Warfare to push the COD franchise into a new era, we're not looking for the game to lose its identity. After the reveal, many players - those who didn't say it looked too familiar - compared the game to everything from the aforementioned Titanfall to Halo to Unreal Championship, and not in a positive way.

The franchise as a whole might be waning, but clearly some gamers don't want Activision to abandon Call of Duty's main selling points. Unfortunately, for Sledgehammer that makes this a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of situation.

Make no mistake — a lot of what we saw during the Advanced Warfare reveal had a lot of potential. Is it Call of Duty? Not necessarily, but as we mention that could be a good thing. There are only two ways to go with the multiplayer: either our fears will wash away or they will become magnified as Sledgehammer pushes further in one direction.

What are your concerns regarding the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer? What about it appeals to you?

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare releases November 4, 2014 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

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