With a follow-up to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer Games should aim to remove the content that did not work in the original title and use those resources to expand upon what fans loved or deliver fresh experiences. For every great feature like killstreak modules, there was something flawed like Exo Zombies, which is something to keep in mind. By remembering and addressing the fan criticism from eight years ago, Sledgehammer has a chance to deliver its best game yet.
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Swapping Exo Zombies for Something Else
Avoiding another version of Exo Zombies would be ideal, as most consider it to be one of the worst takes on Call of Duty Zombies thus far. Enemies like EMP Zombies that would disable exosuits and make the HUD hard to read were frustrating to deal with, while needing to Pack-a-Punch 25 times was tedious. Additionally, some very weak maps like Infection hurt the mode’s already poor reputation, and a forgettable cast outside of Oz made for a story that few followed.
Instead of doubling down and making Exo Zombies once again, Sledgehammer Games should try something else. After all, the concept of hoarding up a train of the undead does not work as well with exosuits in the picture, forcing annoying mechanics like the aforementioned EMP Zombies to be added for balancing. In place of Exo Zombies, Sledgehammer Games should come up with its own co-op mode like Infinity Ward did with Extinction, pitting players against Cyborgs or another futuristic threat. Alternatively, the studio could avoid a third game mode entirely, instead using all its resources to create a larger variety of maps and modes in multiplayer.
Ditching Weapon Variants and Keeping Character Customization
One aspect of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare that was hugely controversial was weapon variants. These alternate versions of guns that were found in Supply Drops, AKA Loot Boxes, were significantly better than the default versions of guns. As such, players would constantly be opening supply drops in the hopes of getting one of the best variants like the AK-12 RIP or the BAL-27 Obsidian Steed - with the latter being a reason the game was dubbed BAL of Duty.
Fortunately, with Call of Duty’s Gunsmith and weapon blueprints being so crucial to the modern formula, it is highly unlikely that variants with better stats will return. Not only will Supply Drops be out of the picture, but weapon blueprints are specifically designed so that they do not provide a competitive advantage. Any time a blueprint is bugged and stronger than the default weapon, the community is quick to point it out and make sure it is fixed. Thanks to this new approach to the series’ guns, there should be no more broken variants to worry about.
However, while the modern approach to Call of Duty’s monetization will save gamers from something like the Obsidian Steed in the rumored sequel, it could be a detriment to character customization. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare offered the best character customization in the series to date, with players able to edit various parts of their soldier’s look, from their headwear to their exosuit. In the recent Call of Duty games, Operators have been key, with players able to buy and unlock skins for their chosen character. Using the Operator system in its current form could mean that players lose the opportunity to edit the various pieces of their soldier’s gear in an Advanced Warfare sequel, so hopefully it is not brought over to the next Sledgehammer Games project. Though there are some stellar Operators skins, being able to change individual pieces of gear helped the original Advanced Warfare stand out.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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