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“From a new engine and hardware
cycle, new time period, new studio,
and new ways to play,
AdvancedWarfare
is a different Call of Duty game.”
Most of the story was penned in-house
with the benefit of being able to consult (afforded
by the popularity of the franchise) external
advisors such as Delta Force and Navy SEAL
Team 6 military operators, top technologists and
futurists, and even Hollywood writers like Mark
Boal, who wrote the screenplay for
The Hurt
Locker
and
Zero Dark Thirty.
The internal writers
took a lot of inspiration from film and
long-formTV, and Condrey says there
was an emphasis to deliver a compelling
story in the campaign mode; something
that was absent in
Ghosts.
“We wanted to tell an
extremely rich story – one that
could be compared with the best
of the best in entertainment,
so we looked at shows like
Game of Thrones
, with scenes
like the RedWedding that tear at
your emotions, and thought about how to bring
powerful moments like that into video games,”
he claims. “With the addition of Kevin Spacey
as our leading actor, we think the story mode is
going to thrill fans, old and new.
“A lot of the team worked on Dead
Space before we established Sledgehammer
Games; that was a single player only,
a narrative-driven experience that left its
impression on a lot of fans. We’re taking
those learnings on a rich narrative in the
campaign for
AdvancedWarfare
.
In terms of narrative, there has always been
a problem with the Call of Duty formula and
how it tells its story. Extensive cutscenes serve
to convey the plot in a dynamic and visually
impressive fashion. However, once the player
is immersed back
into the thick of the
action, these elaborate
cutscenes are soon
forgotten. The player
becomes disengaged
and the objective
becomes simply a
compass point on
the map – and all the
effort to communicate
the mission brief is
lost. Condrey says the
“One of the first challenges we had to
tackle with
Advanced Warfare
was
defining a believable and relatable near
future world. We were extraordinarily
sensitive to being science, not science
fiction. Everything in our game is put
through the filter: Could this happen in 40
years? We feel that the difference, and
what sets us apart from others, is the
extreme lengths we’re willing to go to
research our subject matter. Everything
you see in
Advanced Warfare
is not only
plausible, but we can point to the real
world technology – in Research and
Development or available now – that is
the basis for our game’s technology. The
research we’ve done and the access
we’ve been given to R&D … let’s just say
this stuff is a lot closer than you think.”
studio recognised this quandary and has
taken measures to improve the focus
on integrating an engaging narrative within
the gameplay itself.
“We are making a huge effort to immerse
you in
AdvancedWarfare
’s story. First off,
you’re following the story of a singular
protagonist – private Jack Mitchell – who you’ll
stay with throughout the ten-year journey from
beginning to end. We want players to become
emotionally attached to his journey, and the
events that unfold along the way were crafted
to really push that attachment.”
Condrey continues: “We also recognised
an opportunity to use the cinematic
moments to drive the narrative,
rather than just deliver mission
objectives, so we introduced
a new real-time information
system, through the Advanced
Soldier’s augment reality interface,
to not only teach you what you’re doing,
but why you’re doing it. Together, these
steps have created a truly immersive and
seamless experience for the player.”
Call of Duty:
Advanced
Warfare
is out November 4
We ask
Michael Condrey
how plausible is the
tech used in
Call of Duty:
Advanced Warfare
?