These things need to happen during the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare E3 reveal
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's E3 2014 showing is getting hyped more than presents on Christmas, but fearful of another familiar on-rails showcase, our resident CoD fan Dave Cook has run down a list of things he wants to see from the reveal.
”Hirshberg is always there like the ghost at the feast, coming on stage to remind us that Call of Duty is the only shooter guaranteed to run at 60FPS.”
You know how this works by now. Jet-lagged members of the games press and industry shuffle into the Galen Centre in Los Angeles on the Monday before E3 kicks off. They're tired, bewildered and still not sure of where they actually are. The coffee hasn't kicked in yet, but there's an undeniable buzz in the air.
Cue the lights. Flashes of green interspersed with dubstep assault the onlookers, snapping them out of semi-consciousness like the toll of a thousand ringing bells. VIDEOGAMES! E3 MOTHERF**KER! Some suited and booted gentleman enters stage left and promises one heck of a show and then, like clockwork, the first gameplay footage for the next Call of Duty game rolls on that impossibly large screen.
I've been in that crowd. I've seen how this plays out, now here's what I absolutely do not want to happen this year.
Enough of the 60FPS boasting please Hirshberg
Look at him there, getting ready to reiterate Activision's commitment to 60 frames-per-second for another year. See, as a Call of Duty fan, I've been to many of these reveals and behind-closed-doors events in my time, and Hirshberg is always there like the ghost at the feast, coming on stage to remind us that Call of Duty is the only shooter guaranteed to run at 60FPS.
”I still like those silly solo campaigns, the big dumb meat-headed lugs that they are, but I feel I’m in the minority here. Why not, then, have a big multiplayer stage session to reveal Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare?”
That's not such a big deal any more mate. Do you need to go to Specsavers? Because the focus is all wrong here. No, what I really want to know this year is that the stalwarts at Sledgehammer Games - as much as I respect the members of that team for their work on the first Dead Space - have brought something new and innovative to the table.
If Call of Duty can't offer more than 60FPS and DLC first on Xbox formats as a stage boast, then that's surely cause for concern. Ditch the hyperbole Eric; give the people a reason to believe that Advanced Warfare makes up for the stumble that was Ghosts and help get those defectors back on board. Don't let it get all Guitar Hero on us. Cheers lad.
Lead with multiplayer
Remember the hype levels that came with the multiplayer - but admittedly scripted - Titanfall Angel City trailer at gamescom last year? I personally hadn't seen hype levels for a reveal that colossal since Ubisoft snuck Watch Dogs at the end of its E3 2012 showcase. It's also no secret that Respawn's shooter is a multiplayer-only affair, and that's because the scales have tipped in favour of those who can't be arsed with Call of Duty campaigns.
”Remember when the sight of virtual men rappelling down the side of some building while explosions go off around them used to make your blood run hot? Those Michael Bay rope fantasies were cool in 2008, but we’ve moved on.”
I still like those silly solo campaigns, the big dumb meat-headed lugs that they are, but I feel I'm in the minority here. Why not, then, have a big multiplayer stage session to reveal Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare? Hurl in plenty of new mechanics and gadgets, exo-suited men battering the shite out of one another, and lots of that shiny new-gen flair. People would literally p**s themselves with excitement while watching the live feeds at home.
The point is, a raw multiplayer experience with little in the way of scripting makes a better case for why we should be excited about this new Call of Duty game. The static corridors are becoming harder to care about, and while on-rails set pieces are still worth a chuckle, this is the generation of dynamic play. Activision; give us something in true real-time that we can get excited for, and watch as people hurl coins at their monitor. It'd work, seriously.
Give us all the new stuff please
Remember when the sight of virtual men rappelling down the side of some building while explosions go off around them used to make your blood run hot? Those Michael Bay rope fantasies were cool in 2008, but we've moved on from that, and so it falls on Sledgehammer to give us things we've never seen in this series before.
”Activision should fill our ears with poly counts, resolution stats and reveal exactly what makes this a new-gen release. I personally could give a sock-covered toss about those numbers, but a lot of people do.”
The exo-suit is a step in the right direction as it allows for super-human strength, high jumping and hovering in mid-flight. I want to see lots of it in front of my eyes during E3 2014. In all seriousness, this mechanic could drastically shake-up how Advanced Warfare's multiplayer handles from base control, right up to traversal. We've needed a powder keg like that for some time now, but I don't want to imagine or read about it; I want to witness it running unscripted.
New control changes, the exo-suit progression system, how the new gadgets change player methodology, and anything with Kevin Spacey are just a few things I want to see in June. There's only so many times you can polish a new type of gun or movie trope until it gets dull after all, and as the new kids in town, Sledgehammer has a golden opportunity to make a grand statement of intend. Show us that the last three years have been worth it please.
What's it running on?
Nice face there Kevin, but what's lying behind those eerie, virtual eyes? This is the one I hear folk complaining about every year - the engine. You'd figure that after three years of development focussed on the new machines and PC, that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare runs on new tech, not just another modified version of the old tools. I've never had an issue with the mechanics of it all, but this would be a cool announcement.
Activision should fill our ears with poly counts, resolution stats and reveal exactly what makes this a new-gen release. I personally could give a sock-covered toss about those numbers, but a lot of people do. It's a barometer of progress in the eyes of many; confirmation that advancements have been made, and it also helps justify paying out for yet another annual Call of Duty.
Will it feel different to control? How has the pace changed? What does this new tech mean for multiplayer and dynamic features like destruction, sound and lighting? These may feel like redundant questions to some, although there's certainly a growing feeling that Activision has been lazy with the last few Call of Duty games. Now that it's claiming to have re-written the playbook, I want proof.
No dogs
Sorry Riley.