Level Design Analysis Series #1: Call of Duty Advanced Warfare

 

Level Design Analysis Series #1: Call of Duty Advanced Warfare

There was a series of videos from a person by the name of Jared Russo who did a series called "Level Design Hall of Fame". He also did a Hall of Shame but the point is that he made a level design analysis video series on various games including God of War, Sly Cooper and Halo and I will admit, those videos were not very good but I do think the idea is interesting and sound, and I want to make my own spin on the concept, so I will be doing my first in a possible series of level design analysis write ups on various games that has level design that stands out to me.

First up, I will be doing one on Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, and this will be a write up that will be more critical of the level design than me praising it.

I wrote a blog years back on talking about Call of Duty's shooting mechanics and this might be a follow up of sorts. I always felt the Sci Fi CoD games had potential to be something interesting but the fact that the series refuses to genuinely innovate is a big part of what held it back.

Before I get to the level design itself, I will bring up why Call of Duty was made and what made the campaigns scripted to begin with. When Medal of Honour Allied Assault came out, the creators were tired of the whole "one man army" approach that the MoH games and fps games in general were known for, so the devs decided to make a game where the player was a lone solider working alongside other soldiers during various WW2 battles to make it feel like they were all playing a part in the battle rather than one solider doing everything. In classic MoH games, every objective was done by the player, the battle and what drove the outcome was driven entirely by the player, it never felt like the other characters were helping you and it felt like everything revolved around the player. In CoD, you were a solider that worked alongside the infantry to help change the outcome of battle. You would follow them, they would distract enemies, they give the player "barks" that can help them on what do during  situation and the player felt like the ones who helped turned the tide of battle during "impossible odds". The player was also the one to deliver the finishing blow and do all of the major set pieces to help keep the feeling of empowerment. It was essentially another way of having the "illusion" of war but this time it felt like your fellow combat in arms were actually playing a part. The name "Call of Duty" came from this.

And while it worked for the first few CoD games, after World at War, this whole method of scripting and approach to design started to clash with the dumb over the top action movie tone of Modern Warfare 2 and onwards. In the latter, you were trying to be a badass action movie hero like John Rambo and John Matrix, and the game would often chastise you for running ahead and shooting everything in sight. It was getting more and more obvious that these campaigns felt like scripted roller coaster rides then  playing actual levels in a shooter. While there is a charm to that approach, it did lead to an identity crisis when CoD was steering more towards the one man army approach that was against the idea why the series was made to begin with. 

And now this finally leads me to Advanced Warfare. That one man army approach that I mentioned would've actually have helped this game then detract because I feel the scripted nature plus the way CoD arenas are designed really hold back what could've been a good fps campaign. In CoD AW, you get various Exo Suit abilities that can help you in battle, but here is the thing, a lot of these abilities you will never need to use because CoD's traditional shooting gameplay will get you by almost if not every enemy encounter. In the opening level, you get the ability to Double Jump and Slow Down your landing, but the problem is, the level design never actually supports it. A lot of the combat arenas lack any verticality or uneven terrain to make you want to jump around. The arena design is often just flat slopes with lots of cover, you don't gain any benefits from jumping around and then attacking the enemies since there are lots of cover and there is only one or two areas you can double jump too. The enemies don't double jump or actively move around either which can lead you to doing more of what I mentioned.

This is just one example, later you get the ability to perform Bullet Time, but you are never given any actual reason to use it because the enemies go down in a couple of hits and acting flashy with the Bullet Time in any way will lead to your death, and you can only use it a few times and that's it, the ability isn't even on a cool down. The same can be said for the Riot Shield too. Using that is more risky than beneficial since you need to be up close and enemies can gun you down very quickly plus it's easier to hide behind cover and wait for the health to regen because the level design gives you lots cover, and it's easier to do that because rushing in with the Riot Shield will make it harder for your health to regen due to the fact groups of enemies are shooting at you.

You also get a climbing gloves as well, but they are only ever used during scripted sequences, so it might as well be not even be in your loadout since you won't be actively using them.

There is a Stim but at the same time, the levels are most just a linear line with lots of cover, if this was a limited health system it could encourage the player to use it but since there is lots of cover, you will just rely on regen health.

You get a lot of different grenade types but once again, a reoccurring theme with this game is that level and enemy design does not support the use of them because it's easier just to do the traditional ADS shooting, wait for health to regen then shoot.

Then there is the scripted sequences which is another big factor that I think really holds the game back. On top of the levels being design like your typical CoD shooting galleries, there is an over abundance of scripted sequences. The game gives me all this fancy sci fi abilities and the characters act cool during cutscenes. So the level design in the actual shootouts don't support much reason to do to use the mechanics but the scripted sequences rob players of interesting scenarios they could be doing themselves. Two examples is when the player and an npc has to infiltrate a base and use an invisibility cloak but the during this entire sequence, you are following an npc and only using the cloak when the game tells you to, it's also jarring considering the game has a decent stealth section before that which I will mention later. The second example is where the player is chasing someone through traffic and the player has to jump on a series of cars to catch up to the enemy but instead this is done through some very jarring QTEs instead of the player having to actually watch out and time their jumps through traffic.

To avoid being a Negative Nancy, I do feel there are times where the mechanics and level design do come together. The mission "Sentinel" has the player sneak into a party and avoid killing civilians and getting caught. This is a much loathed scripted stealth section, but it's actually not bad here because the player is given a decent array of tools to complete it. You have a grappling hook which is utilized really well here. There's lots of verticality in the level and you can also perform takedowns with the grappling hook, the AI is forgiving enough for the stealth not to be frustrating. There's lots of cover to sneak past enemies and the best part is, this isn't designed like the rest of the levels which is either a traditional CoD shooting gallery with fancy abilities and a scripted sequence. There is some degree of decision making here. Do you go on the lower floors and risk guards and civilians or do you take the high ground and risk the drones looking for you. I really feel if the game was designed like this, then there could've been a very good game here. Unfortunately this only lasts about 15 minutes and it's back to the traditional gameplay but it does get a little better. Some of the later levels do use the grappling hook decently enough like when you have to take down 3 armoured enemies and you are given a decent sized arena to take them out in, it's nothing special but it does give you more to work with that typical shootouts. The level on the boat does let you Double Jump more now that there is some degree verticality even if the game goes back to traditional shooting galleries later.

So how can I improve this game? I would take the MoH Allied Assault and Crysis approach with the level design. I would have open areas where the player can use their Exo Abilities and complete various objectives in those levels, the player can use stealth in a way that is designed in the Sentinel mission or can go guns blazing or can combine the 2 with the various abilities. I would bring back the One Man Army approach since I feel it would fit the game more. Then I would contrast them with linear missions where the player has setpieces where they would have more agency and decision making during the setpieces. Like using Double Jump to dodge debris, use the Grapple Hook while platforms are falling and or use the Bullet Time to shoot grenades to blow up a wall.

Part of me wonders if this will be an ongoing series but only time will tell.