Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Returns Series To Thematic Roots, Argues Series Retrospective

A fan has made an entertaining and informative Call of Duty retrospective that posits that Call of Duty Advanced Warfare is a return to form to the series’ original roots.

The retrospective focuses on Call of Duty games released on PC, and is a critique of the story modes of those games. So, Call of Duty 3 is deliberately passed over, and so are the smaller games on platforms like DS, PSP, mobile, etc.

We won’t go through all the details for each game, but it is worth discussing how the video covers the first two Call of Duty games. In contrast to similar World War 2 shooters released at the time, Call of Duty 1 and 2 eschewed glorifying the exploits of the individual super soldier. Instead, you are one of many ordinary men drafted into the war.

Your squad mates have their names, and are each in their own right. Instead of glorifying the war and the violence, the campaigns in the first two games glorify the common soldier of the time, who don’t see themselves as heroes. These are ordinary men, some unsuited for a soldier’s life, who fight to survive and hope to live to see the end of the war. As you switch between US, British, and Russian troops, you will find this as the unifying theme between them.

While Call of Duty Advanced Warfare is not about a historical war, Sledgehammer’s initial entry in the series returns to these antiwar themes in its own way. Even though you acquire enhanced powers and abilities as an employee of a PMC, the story forces you to confront the events of the game as Jack Mitchell.

 At his core, Jack isn’t an overpowered cyborg, but a decent guy, who would have wanted to live a normal life. Jack also isn’t a lone wolf, as he is surrounded by other soldiers who are also decent people, and act to end the game’s conflict for the right reasons.

We recommend you watch the retrospective to get the full story, but of course, spoilers abound all throughout. This retrospective comes to us courtesy of Youtuber Noah Caldwell-Gervais, whom you can subscribe to here.