Ghosts received a lot of flak for its, to be polite, unoriginal single-player offering. It was nothing more than a collection of the coolest set-pieces from the series re-skinned with a slightly different plot (albeit one you probably won't remember). Advanced Warfare's single-player, though still subject to many of the flaws that affect every game in the series, is a significant improvement, and absolutely worth playing through, even if you tend to skip this portion of the game. For starters, the game is a massive step-up from Ghosts visually (though sadly this doesn't carry over to the multiplayer), with a great deal of attention paid to particle and lighting details, while facial expressions (particularly Kevin Spacey's) look more realistic and believable than ever. After so many people complained that Ghosts just didn't look next-gen, at least the single-player portion of this game measures up to the standard set by last year's similarly futuristic Killzone: Shadow Fall. Another frequent issue with the campaign modes in this series is that they're all woefully short. AW doesn't break the mold hugely in this area, but it's nowhere near the embarrassingly short 4-hour blast-a-thon that was Ghosts' campaign. AW's story mode will take most players 6-ish hours on regular difficulty, while on harder modes, it can easily take up to 7-8 hours. Though the plot is still politically immature, there's plenty of creaky dialogue and a number of familiar missions, it's nevertheless a massive improvement over Ghosts' rather pathetic attempt at a campaign.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
