Tonight at midnight the Day Zero edition of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare finds its way onto store shelves, a full 24-hours prior to the “official” launch. Although technically nobody is supposed to be able to play until tonight, tens of thousands of people have already found their way into the game by grabbing a copy early.
Since people are already playing, and Activision doesn’t seem to mind them streaming on Twitch, we’ve been able to observe a lot about this year’s Call of Duty by watching others. Below you’ll find 20 things we’ve learned so far:
1. Gameplay is very fast-paced thanks to the Exoskeleton.
2. It’s even more frantic than Titanfall. Some streams say it can be exhausting to play. I’ve heard a lot of deep breaths and sighs at the end of matches.
3. Campers aren’t as effective as previous Call of Duty games.
4. Veteraned Call of Duty players are taking some time to get used to the game. It’s definitely a change of pace.
5. There’s a zombie mode.
6. Shotguns aren’t very effective. Very few people are using them.
7. Grenades are also not very effective since players move so fast and can fly through the air using the Exoskeleton.
8. Scorestreaks (a.k.a Killstreaks) seem to be toned down. It’s less common to see a player dominate a match by earning a high-level Scorestreak.
9. Some players are asking for there to be a classic mode that disables the Exoskeleton. While fun, it’s overwhelming a few players.
10. Single-player is apparently about 7-8 hours in length.
11. The audio is top-notch, from music to sound effects.
12. There are 13 maps in total. More will be added in DLC.
13. More than one streamer says the multiplayer maps have the best design since Modern Warfare 2.
14. The console versions are already much more popular than the PC version. The Xbox One version is currently more commonly streamed than the PS4 version by a considerable margin.
15. Weapon variety is solid, with three different ammunition types to mix things up.
16. Knifing doesn’t do much damage. Most players are learning to just stick to weapons even when in melee range.
17. The single-player is “dense with action and epic”, said one streamer.
18. Spawns seem to be a problem as in previous games.
19. Leveling is faster than in Ghosts.
20. Voice chat is set in the middle of the screen, which some players are saying is distracting.
If you’re wondering how the game looks, here’s 10 minutes of single-player footage from the PC version on High settings.:
Related: 15 Things You Need to Know About Advanced Warfare
If you would like to watch some people play Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, head over to Twitch. In the meantime, we’ll be playing the game and plan to post a review this week. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for our Official Xbox One Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Bundle Giveaway. We’ll be giving away an Xbox One later this week.
