House of Cards antagonist Kevin Spacey is to turn his hand to another villainous role in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, due for release on November 4, 2014. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare features Spacey as the leader of a powerful para-military corporation bent on the eradication of democratic ideals. ”People don’t want freedom,” he snarls. “They want boundaries, rules, protection from invaders and from themselves…and that’s where I come in.”
All that over a backdrop of chaos and destruction, with freeze frames indicating that some of the action will take place in a near-future version of Nigeria’s bustling coastal megacity, Lagos. Exoskeletons lend soldiers superhuman strength and agility, cloaking devices hide both operatives and air vehicles, while hoverbikes and spider tanks offer a glimpse at future military technology and tactics.
Another shuddering set piece appears to take place on California’s 2.7km-long Golden Gate Bridge. The inclusion of actor-director Spacey continues the association between Call of Duty and big name Hollywood influencers. Last year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts came from Stephen Gaghan of Traffic and Syriana, Call of Duty: Black Ops II was written by The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel writer David S. Goyer, and Crash writer and director Paul Haggis contributed to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
With an early November release date announced for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare on Xbox One — additional PC and console dates presumably delayed as part of a deal with Microsoft — other video game publishers are now better placed to finalize their own retail plans.
For Electronic Arts, which backed March’s Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows PC hit Titanfall, there’s a notable gap on its 2014 slate for an end-of-year entry to the lucrative first-person shooter genre; Battlefield studio DICE is presumably prioritizing work on 2015′s Star Wars: Battlefront. Crytek, the company behind the Crysis series, which features athletic super-soldiers just as Advanced Warfare does, has its UK-based Crysis 3 studio working on Homefront 2 for later this year, likewise expected to play on themes of foreign invasion in a crippled United States.
As for Call of Duty publisher Activision, its other iron in the fire is early September’s Destiny, a sci-fi shooter from the studio behind the first Halo games, while a new, 2014 entry to the Halo franchise itself was announced last year by Microsoft as an Xbox One tent-pole title.
Have a look at the trailer: