Top 5 BEST Things You'll Love About Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS3)

No food allusions here, we find out if Activision's newest offering flounders.

With new Call of Duty titles ridiculously similar to their prequels, we haven't reviewed a new Call of Duty video game in quite some time on Plus Minus Infinity. More truthfully, money just doesn't grow on goddamned trees and our flea market Bintendo BoneStation doesn't see many AAA title releases.

*Note: Share the link to this review on Facebook if you too own a BoneStation.

But in a motion as shocking as my crushing student loan debt, we have the pleasure of bringing you the newest in a long line of FPS games: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Is this title any different from the tried and true, rage inducing formula that many have come to know as their first addiction? Does yet another Call of Duty game deserve your hard earned 60 USD?  We played Advanced Warfare for 30 consecutive hours to find out just for you.

This review focuses on ten aspects of Advanced Warfare that we feel truly defines it. In this part, we'll cover five reasons you may love this game and in the next part, we'll cover the exact opposite.

If you are new to the COD franchise, you can read PMI's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review to get an idea of how these sorts of games play.


5. LASERS

Surprisingly, one of the least talked about features of this game is it's inclusion of AWESOME laser and energy weapons. You have access to a total of five laser and energy based weapons to use in all gameplay modes available including competitive multiplayer. Two are classified as "heavy" weapons, dealing damage slowly but consistently over a long range. The others include a sniper rifle, a pistol, and my personal favorite, a shotgun.

The inclusion of these laser weapons introduce something to the series that I haven't experience in a while: different ways to win instead of yet another machine gun. The last time I've felt such tickling pleasure when roasting an opponent to death in a COD game was with Call of Duty: World at War's flamethrower. The laser weapon choices most similar to that flamethrower don't feel as powerful as the flamethrower felt, but they are just as satisfying to get a smoking kill with.

4. DOUBLE JUMP AND BOOST DODGING CAN BE AWESOME 

In the previous Call of Duty: Ghosts, you didn't have many options for dodging enemy fire outside of running away. You could duck for cover, but that game featured wildly inconsistent cover penetration, something that is not at all what you are thinking about right now.

The fact that I use Bing is 
what's most offensive to you, isn't it?

In most COD games, bullets can deal damage through walls of concrete and steel, yet trees are as impenetrable as clam shell packaging, only no where near as deadly.

The amount of blood thirst in this photo is unreal.

Thankfully you can double jump and boost dodge in Advanced Warfare. You already know what double jumping is (If not, you do not belong on my site you uncultured swine*). The real excitement is with boost dodging, a performance of quick strafing movements on foot or in the air. Combining the two allows you, and I say this with 100% honesty, to pull off some of the most badass kills and counter kills you will in any shooter. It doesn't always happen, as most times double jumping and boost dodging will make you a much easier target, but if there's any shooter that can you make you feel like a badass, ultimate weapon, this is it.

*Note: Everyone is welcomed here at Plus Minus Infinity.

3. PUNCHING YOUR ENEMIES TO DEATH IS A SATISFYING MEANS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Just... yes! Look at this! You can punch people and send their bodies flying like rag-dolls. Schweeeeeet. You can still knife your enemies as is COD tradition, but why would you when you can punch them to death? Word of warning, the music in the following video is akin to something you'd hear in a nightclub where clubbers are suckling pacifiers, so you might want to turn down the volume before watching. Unless you are one of those kind of clubbers, to which I must ask, "Why? Why do you do that in a world full of better things to suckle?"

Right, so when you use that melee attack with the double jumping/boost dodging mentioned earlier, you have more ways to physically take down an opponent than the number times a week I've seen the overtly judgmental "Are you still watching Xena: Warrior Princess?" screen on Netflix. Which is... a lot times. I watch Xena a lot of times per week, I admit.

Anyway, also neat is that crouching after jumping will conduct a boost slam; a downward, knee-first rush that can knock out an opponent in one hit. Pretend for a moment that an enemy is after your with a sniper rifle, which shouldn't be too hard because this is Call of Duty after all and you can't spawn without an enemy inside you ass-deep installing cable, so you act quickly. First, you double jump straight up and boost dodge backwards. Now behind your bamboozled enemy, you finish the poor sap off like the an entire 6 seasons of Xena in one sitting by boost slamming. I've done exactly that before and, I know I'm sounding like a broken, uh, WAV file, but it feels so fuckin' awesome. Boost slamming isn't as awesome as Xena but it ranks as a strong second.

2. LOOT OFFERS CUSTOMIZATION AT NO EXTRA COST

Here's yet another feature COD has borrowed from other popular franchises that is much appreciated: loot drops. Legend has it that these random boxes of items and other power ups are rewarded to the player for completing certain challenges, but in my experience, they are rewarded after I die repeatedly, like the game is trying to soften the blow of how hard I suck.

All the same, these loot drops contain weapon variations like laser guns with higher rates of fire, or a rail gun with higher damage output  but lower mobility, of which there are 450 variations. Loot drops can also contain one-time use multiplayer power ups, or even swag for your in-game avatar.

Have you ever seen civilian boots that pimpin'?

Its clear that Activision wants gamers playing Advanced Warfare for as long as possible, seeing as you can only carry so many loot collectibles at once before having to exchange them for experience points. Plus, and this is the best part, all of this extra customization won't cost you extra money. I mean, let's be real, of all companies, you'd wager Activision's hand would be all up in that sticky microtransaction booty, especially with a franchise as large Call of Duty. But that's not the case here, and I'm sure many gamers are glad for that.

1. QUICK SCOPING IS MORE DIFFICULT TO ACCOMPLISH AND THE GAME IS BETTER BECAUSE OF THIS

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was notorious for a class of weapons called sniper rifles that allowed the player to achieve one hit kills quickly by aiming and immediately squeezing the trigger. This is called quick scoping. Once learning the highly predictable spawn system of that game, getting ridiculous kills on a spawning player before he or she was even aware that they have spawned was easy. To say that this feature made the sniper weapon class in that game unfairly powered is an understatement.

The spawn system remains frustratingly predictable in Advanced Warfare, but with boost dodging and double jump, snipers have a much harder time landing shots. On top of this, power ups and weapon attachments that facilitate easier and faster weapon aiming are absent in the sniper rifle category. The COD formula doesn't change here as quick scoping is still possible, but the changes that double jumping/boost dodging bring to the game will make gamers who were fans of the series prior to the quick scoping craze actually enjoy Advanced Warfare.

Besides, after roughly 15 hours of online gameplay, I've yet to run into a single match where the winner has won solely by quick scoping. This is one of the better balanced COD titles since Call of Duty: World at War, no bullshit bro. ...Well, actually this section of the review may have been a lie. Sorry.

And that sums up the best parts about Advanced Warfare. To find the answer to whether or not this game is worth lusting over, continue reading the Top 5 Worst Things You'll Hate About Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. That part of the review will continue our honest, no B.S. look at this franchise, including a profound word from our sponsor that you do not want to miss.