Thoughts so far on AW (read: mostly multiplayer)

I've been playing this game on the PS4 (PSN: Conkererer) for the last 3 days and there a few things that are noticeable to me:

The melee range on your fist of death I feel has been reduced from previous games to the point of being almost totally useless. I liked what they did in Ghosts with the melee, but in this game I wish it had more range on it. The number of times I'd try to punch a dude where it should one hundred percent connect the melee would miss and its just frustrating,

Hitmarkers need some work I think. Plenty of missed or delayed hitmarkers.

Speed reload, whilst nice in theory, appears to be almost broken for me, with my character speed reloading no matter what I do like 70% of the time. I miss sleight of hand.

I love love love the exo movement stuff in this game.

Where is dead silence?????

The maps (with the exception of Ascend, ugh) are fantastic.

The campaign was.....boring.

Anyone experiencing similar issues? Overall I'm having tons of fun with this game despite a few shortcomings. Here's hoping zombie mode isnt exclusive to DLC!

I'm loving the mp. Titanfall and destiny both came up with ways to add verticality and change up movement in shooters, but had shortcomings that affected my enjoyment of mp. But the new cod nails it. They've kept the parts of cod that I like, but refreshed the movement. I don't care much about the single player, but Kevin Spacey is cool.

Edit: I agree with you about the melee range being too short, but it does make it so people can't just run around the map knifing people.

I hate ascend as well, am enjoying the single player, and think this is the best Call of Duty in a long long time.

I like how you can't be perfectly like without having to sacrifice a lot in this game. Camping has been more or less negated because you can literally get the jump on people and the map design is largely excellent. The melee range has been a point of contention but after the ridiculous warping melee attack that broke Destiny's Crucible I think I prefer it when games make you work to get a punch in. I actually think the "loot" system is great for giving your character a unique look (currently have a sharp looking Ilona sporting a red/white look). Of the maps currently in there I think Villa is my least favourite. It feels like a map from a previous Call of Duty game in that it's exceptionally cramped and there aren't that many floors/levels of play. I don't really mind Ascend.

@impartialgecko: Im also really into the variations you get on different weapons in those supply drops! Really adds a nice tactical coating to the overall experience.

Although I REALLY do not like the forced dual wielding on a couple of weapons in the game. Dunno why but it just really bothers me!

@conker: I think they do that to avoid having to re-balance each gun once you have two of them in your hands. MW2 was rotten with people exploiting the amount of firepower you could put out with two of the same weapon. I alternate between the gutsy assault rifles and the SMGs so it doesn't bother me too much.

Way less people quick-scoping in this game also. I think the rate-of-fire on the sniper rifles they currently have makes them zero fun but it does mean I'm not getting one-shotted from across the map.

@impartialgecko: I believe they actually removed aim assist from the sniper rifles completely. Although I hear the MORS with just iron sights is a beast. 40 headshots is a bitch to get though

@conker: It's not my kind of gun but I have seen it being used heavily on larger maps. Right now I've been doing pretty well with the standard assault rifle with iron sights and a suppressor. I've gotten good enough at the movement that I can get in close and dump rounds into people. I really think that if you're good enough at the movement, the gun you're using doesn't really matter.

Currently sitting at level 47. I'm pretty shocked at how dramatically the movement changes how the game is played (for the better). This feels like a great evolution for the series.

I skipped Ghosts, so the last CoD game I was really into was Black Ops 2. Outside of the jump boosting and dashing, it doesn't feel nearly as... deep? I'm pretty disappointed at the selection of weapons and kill streaks; I seem to remember Black Ops 2 (and previous games) having way more. I think some of the weapons are just totally not fun to use, which narrows the selection for me down even more. Still, the way you can move around the map is enough to make this one of the most exciting entries in the series. I can't wait to see Treyarch's next game (assuming it uses the movement, which it absolutely must).

I agree, the game is a bit lacking in the weapon department. Admittedly they are mostly fun to use and are actually useful. Except for that em1 laser. Fuck that gun .

The single player is the best it has been since 4 (mind you 4 is still the high water mark for me) the multiplayer... Well it's still call of duty. Biggest gripe so far, it's 2014 and cod is still using p2p for its multiplayer. What the fuck? I thought they said this one would run on deticated servers?

1. I feel like since BLOPS2 the melee in COD has become more and more useless. I hate being right on someone and the melee doesn't work. You can have the melee be effective without dicking over entirely, which they have done.

2. For a game they said that was "removing quick scoping" on sniper rifles its comically the easiest game in the series to do it.

3. LAG. I'm on PS4 and 3/4 of the matches clearly have lag going full blast. Like @jackel2072 said, they are still using F2P and it sucks. I can tell a difference in how well I do in a game that has lag and doesn't, whether or not its readily noticeable. I have 100 mbps internet and its frustrating to play a game that lags.

4. Objective based modes last way too long.

5. The "better movement" that has been added in the series would be welcomed if the maps didn't implement it in the least way possible. I hate seeing a roof I should theoretically be able to get on only to have it say, "NAW, BRUH."

6. I feel the changes are the smallest possible. Yes, Exo movement is cool when it works but that's it. The rest is standard COD affair.

7. People take way too many bullets to kill.

8. There are 0 advantages to Prestiging this time around. I probably will not prestige once, ever.

9. Spawning is still terrible. I never used to have a problem with spawning until around BLOPS2. Since then I think they've collectively lost their shit.

10. Overall I think the single player is better than the multiplayer. Honestly, I think I like Battlefield 4 more than COD:AW in every regard.

11. I wish there were score streaks and kill streaks separated like in MW3, which was the last great COD (multiplayer) in my opinion. Now you simply edit stuff and it takes like 700 points to get a UAV that stays past dying.

I won't be getting the season pass for maps until I see they are going to bother addressing the glaring mechanical issues with AW. If they don't even have a decent patch by this time next month I might not even keep the game. I'd rather just keep playing BF4.

Even more obnoxious is how Sledgehammer Games Twitter account doesn't respond to anyone's questions. Makes me honestly think COD really is doomed to die.

I'm digging the multiplayer a lot. I may keep with it. I find that there is still a ton of camping, but now I have more solutions to deal with it.

The being able to modify the supply drops was brilliant.

@l4wd0g: I'm feeling the same way. There's something inherently satisfying about dashing around to circumvent a camper. The game is at its most exciting when people are taking full advantage of the movement options.

I disagree about the melee. I still find it fun (and effective) to run around with just a knife. The lunge isn't there, but the boosting, sliding, and dashing make up for it. Honestly, I think it's still a little too powerful. Even in previous CoD games, if you knew your way around the maps, the tac knife was absolutely ridiculous and way more effective than any of the guns. At least in AW you can fire shotguns while sprinting, making at least a little more useful than the knife.

I'm no CoD expert... played 2, MW, MW2...and maybe one other. But this doesn't feel nearly as snappy as I remember. Everything feels sluggish and deliberate which I generally like but it's not what I expected. Or am I just completely making this up? Definitely compared to Titanfall which feels like everything happens instantly. And when I say that I'm referring to running speed, aiming down your gun... stuff like that.

All I want for Christmas is to be able to make my dude look like Kevin Spacey. I will also accept looking like Troy Baker.

@conker: I don't have the game but I've seen a lot of streamed gameplay so I think Dead Silence was turned into a brief exo suit ability similar to the stealth camo ability where you activate it and it runs for a brief amount of time. Also I think in order for the melee to be somewhat effective if you want to deliberate use it is to use it with boost so now there is some inherent amount of effort if you really want to melee someone and trying to close-in on them while their back is still turned on you.

Personally I think Black Ops 2 is still my favourite overall but as far as newer games go I think AW is way better than MW3 and Ghosts. The thing with Black Ops 2 is that I could go into a match using just about any of the primary weapons and not feel like a different gun choice would have made a huge impact on my performance. In AW there are some guns that just aren't practical if you want to do well. Also the headshots seem off to me. I had absolutely no problem getting headshots in Black Ops 2 or even in the small amount of Ghosts that I played, yet for whatever reason it just feels like my headshots are not registering properly more often than not.

Overall I think it's a great game and I'm having a ton of fun with it so far.

It's definitely a solid entry, mostly due to the Exos, but the ever prevent issues in COD are still here, things like poor net code, constantly getting shot from blind spots, ARs and SMGs ruling over every kind of weapon, quick scoping, etc

Don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying it, I even managed to muster up a positive K/D, but it's too bad Sledge lets these problems will happen this late in the franchise. Despite the bland color palette, the maps are great, the weapon sounds are the best in the series, laser weapons are way more useful than I thought they'd be, and the sense of speed and mobility is a great step up for Ghosts

On a side note, Exo Survival is straight up garbage. Say what you want about Ghosts MP, but Extinction was loads of fun.

@mustainium: Which is funny because of the pre-launch interviews with them saying they wanted this entry to be the one to eliminate quick scoping. Easiest COD to quick scope in since Modern Warfare 2.

@gaspower I will disagree. I've been a level 50 (refuse to prestige) for about 12 hours worth of online play right now and I will say the boosting has nothing to do with the effectiveness of melee. You can't even boost forward unless you jump first and even then its a mediocre downwards lunge. I've been as physically close to a character as possible and the melee has failed 3/5 of the time. The melee in COD games has been broken since BLOPS2, probably because of people who whined so much about it.

This is the most fun I have had in CoD multiplayer since the first Black Ops. The boost jumping and dodging make the game move incredibly fast, which is great for me since I like to run and gun.

I was a little disappointed because I thought Momentum was gonna be more like War in WaW, but after putting in some more time I realized that it wouldn't have worked in this game because the maps aren't big enough.

So they patched the multiplayer today and fixed a lot of the issues I was having. They lowered the requirements to unlock camo on guns, for example at one point there was a camo that required 500 headshots on certain guns, it now requires 80, however they increased the number of kills without perks/attachments needed to get the carbon fiber/gold camos. They also fixed the camo challenges resetting once you prestige. Most importantly to me they fixed the speed reload, before it was speed reloading 99% of the time you attempted to do a non-speed reload. So now tapping square/X once does a slower reload, but only takes enough ammo from your reserve to fill your clip, whereas double tapping the reload button drops the magazine and takes a full load of bullets from your reserve no matter how many shots are left in the mag, as it was intended originally.

Oh and they moved the speech icons for online chat to beside the mini map and shrunk them down a bit so they aren't so overwhelmingly big and invasive.

Been having a good time with this game. I love the exo suit stuff and I like how now there are not 8 different assault rifles or sub machine guns that all do the same thing. Each gun has some sort of weird quirk to it now or different rate of fire. I feel like the exo suit add a much needed change to the series and adds a new element to the whole CoD formula. With the option to dodge and double jump around maps I find the combat to be much more hectic and satisfying. Character customization is actually pretty cool unlike how gimmicky it felt in Ghosts. Plus that melee punch is so much more satisfying to pull off now than getting knife kills... love seeing people just fly back.

Pretty much everything that I can think of with Advanced Warfare is done right this time... My only complaint, which has always been about CoD games since MW2, are how stupid the spawns can be. For whatever reason they still can't nail those down properly. I notice it more in Team Deathmatch that the spawns are just horrible. I'm starting to play domination more because the spawns are just a little bit more fair and predictable, but I still find the occasional enemy spawning behind me after I just spawned.

This is probably my new favorite of the series next to black ops 2 and modern warfare.