Everything you need to know about Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer

The multiplayer maps

During our tour of Advanced Warfare’s multiplayer, we tore through a small slice of the new maps that will be available at launch. As you might expect, the four currently announced maps all emphasize verticality to a greater degree than ever before, accommodating the mobility your exo brings into battle. Most maps on display also feature some sort of dynamic element that takes place in a specific area or adds obtainable functionality for players based on the map’s theme.

Ascend

A classic take on the traditional three-lane design, Ascend is set in a futuristic space elevator terminal that emits an airport vibe, its walls covered with glowing informational signs. Tiered platforms and catwalks add a ton of verticality and open space, providing long lines of sight across the entire map. A central hallway that runs down the middle allows for vision toward both spawn points, making it the perfect place to set up shop with a sniper rifle.

We ran a match of Capture the Flag on Ascend — with good reason. The distinct clean lanes and opposite spawning areas lend themselves quite well to flag defense and route running. Yet the verticality that’s on display in Advanced Warfare enables you to boost over walls and partitions from one lane to another for creative routes and shortcuts to try to stay out of the open. Ascend also features a dynamic turret system that can be activated with a map-based killstreak.

Riot

Another take on the three-lane approach, Riot takes place in a concrete prison after the eponymous uprising shattered large portions of the structure. The two outdoor spawning areas meet on both sides of the building, while the central route takes you into the prison itself where teams collide in the large, rectangular, two-story cellblock. The entire prison is also rigged with a map-based killstreak reward that follows player movements — the Inmate Tracking System.

Hallways and catwalks snake in and out of the main prison while secondary buildings dot the compound. The outdoor openness and massive interior cellblock promote long lines of sight for medium to long-ranged engagements throughout the majority of the map, but blind corners and the smaller structures around the prison add plenty of opportunity for close-quarters combat and capture points in area-based objective game modes.

Defender

Set on the coast near San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge, Defender is a mostly open hilly map that features a number of graffiti-covered broken concrete bunkers. Though long lines encourage distance engagements, the majority of the map is a maze of tiered platforms well-suited to run-and-gun tactics. Zipping in and out of buildings and boosting from one level to another and across gaps make for frantic medium-ranged encounters. The marquee feature is a tsunami that pounds into the seaside of the map, flooding the beach and low-elevation areas and sending a booming spray into the air.

Biolab

A collection of buildings housing vats full of suspended people, Biolab primarily supports close-quarter engagements in its many small to medium-sized rooms. Though there’s an ample outdoor area in the snowy compound, most of the action gravitates toward the center of the map in the tight hallways and buildings. The added verticality enables you to boost up to second-level rooftops and catwalks for quick flanking maneuvers.

The multiplayer game modes

Sledgehammer Games’ has confirmed Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare has 12 game modes. Among the list are many old favorites and series staples: Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Search & Destroy, Kill Confirmed, and Domination. Advanced Warfare also marks the return of Hardpoint, the capture-and-defend community favorite which plays just as competitively as ever with the added mobility to approach an objective from unique angles.

Two new modes were also unveiled, which will be brand new to the series in Advanced Warfare:

Uplink

Uplink is an objective-based team mode where a neutral satellite drone is dropped onto the map. Both teams fight for control of the drone and attempt to get it into the opponent’s uplink — a floating sphere of light that hangs above each team’s spawn area. The catch is that when you’re holding the drone, you can’t use weaponry, which makes you somewhat helpless and reliant on your team for support.

Fortunately, you can pass the drone at any time or even throw it for greater distances. Passing the drone to an enemy player is a great tactic as they automatically grab onto it, rendering them helpless as you quickly gun them down and pick it back up. When you reach the opponent’s uplink, you can throw it in for one point, or jump it through for two.

Momentum

Momentum is the spiritual successor to War, in which two teams attempt to control multiple territories on the map. The game mode was abandoned in previous Call of Duty titles, but Momentum will bring the experience back to the series with similar rules. Only one of the five control points that dot the map will be active at any given time, and either side fights for it during this period. The more points you capture and kills you secure, the faster you’re able to capture the next point, and on and on — building momentum. However, should the opposing team capture a point, your momentum meter will be reset and you’re back to square one.

Though some incarnation of Deathmatch or free-for-fall was missing from the list of supported modes, it’s a safe bet that’ll be in here. As for the other few modes that will complete the even dozen, we’ll have to wait and see.