In 2014, Sledgehammer Games decided to blow up the "boots on the ground" formula that had defined the most successful shooter franchise in history. It wasn't a subtle change. When the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit was first revealed, it felt like a total identity crisis for some players, while others saw it as a long-overdue adrenaline shot. Suddenly, the slow, methodical lane-pushing of Black Ops II or Ghosts was replaced by verticality that reached the rooftops in half a second.
It was frantic. It was loud. Honestly, it was kind of exhausting.
If you weren't there for the launch, it’s hard to describe the sheer mechanical shift. We went from sprinting and sliding to "Exo Jumping," "Exo Dodging," and "Exo Slamming." This wasn't just a new movement set; it changed the very geometry of how maps were designed. Sledgehammer had to build levels like Detroit and Solar with massive vertical lanes because, for the first time, the "high ground" wasn't just a window—it was the entire sky.
The Mechanical DNA of the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Exo Suit
The suit functioned on a battery system that governed your abilities. This is something people often forget when they compare it to the later "thruster packs" in Black Ops III or Infinite Warfare. In those later games, the movement felt floaty and curved. In Advanced Warfare, it was violent. It was a sharp, jerky dash that could instantly change your trajectory in mid-air.
You had your basic movement—the double jump and the air dash—but then you had the "Exo Abilities." These were optional pick-ups in your "Pick 13" loadout system.
- Exo Shield: A deployable wrist-shield that saved your life during a heavy firefight.
- Exo Overclock: Increased your base movement speed, making you a blur on the map.
- Exo Stim: Temporary health regeneration that felt almost mandatory in high-level competitive play.
- Exo Cloak: A brief invisibility window that, frankly, drove snipers crazy.
- Exo Hover: This allowed you to stay suspended in the air, turning you into a literal turret.
- Exo Trophy: A portable system to shoot down incoming grenades.
The skill gap widened overnight. If you couldn't master the "claw" grip or didn't have a Scuf controller with paddles, you were basically fodder for the kids who could jump-strafe while maintaining perfect aim on an ASM1 Speakeasy. It was a brutal learning curve.
Why the "Skill Gap" Argument Actually Matters
Look, the Call of Duty community is notoriously difficult to please. For years, the complaint was that the game was "the same thing every year." Sledgehammer gave us the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit to fix that, and half the community immediately begged to go back to the old ways.
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Why? Because the "Exo" movement destroyed the concept of "map flow."
In traditional CoD, you knew where the enemies were coming from. You watched the lanes. In Advanced Warfare, an enemy could be behind you, above you, or slamming down on your head from a height you didn't even know was accessible. It turned the game into a twitch-shooter on steroids. Professional players like Seth "Scump" Abner and Matthew "Nadeshot" Haag had to completely reinvent their playstyles to keep up with the verticality. It wasn't just about who had the better aim anymore; it was about who used their battery most efficiently.
The suit also introduced "Exo Slam." This was a move where you could descend rapidly from the air to crush an opponent. It sounded cool on paper. In practice, it was mostly used to get back to the ground quickly to avoid being "shot out of the sky" (a term that became very common in 2014).
The Campaign and Kevin Spacey’s "Atlas"
The narrative actually did a decent job of explaining why this technology existed. Set in the 2050s, the world is dominated by Private Military Corporations (PMCs), specifically Atlas. Your character, Jack Mitchell, loses an arm and gets recruited by Jonathan Irons. The suit is presented as a prosthetic extension of the human body.
In the campaign, the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit felt even more powerful than in multiplayer. You had "Mag Grips" for climbing walls and "Sonics" to disorient enemies. Sledgehammer used the suit to create these "on-rails" cinematic moments that felt like a Michael Bay movie. It worked well for a six-hour story, but it created a bit of a disconnect when you jumped into the multiplayer and realized you couldn't actually climb walls like Spider-Man.
Did it Break the Game?
Let's talk about the loot boxes. This is where the suit's legacy gets messy.
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Advanced Warfare introduced "Supply Drops." This was the beginning of the "Advanced Supply Drop" era where you could get "Elite" variants of weapons like the BAL-27 Obsidian Steed. Because the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit made movement so fast, certain weapon variants became objectively broken. If you had the mobility of an Exo suit combined with a gun that killed in two frames, you were untouchable.
This created a "pay-to-win" vibe that many fans still resent. The suit wasn't the problem, but it exacerbated the power of the gear you were carrying.
Comparative Evolution: Exo vs. Thrusters
A lot of people lump Advanced Warfare, Black Ops III, and Infinite Warfare into one "jetpack" category. That’s a mistake. The Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit was the only one that felt grounded in weight. When you dashed, there was a mechanical thud. In Black Ops III, Treyarch smoothed it out into "Chain-Based Movement." You could wall-run and slide-hop.
Advanced Warfare didn't have wall-running. It was all about the "snap." You snapped left, you snapped right. It was jarring, and it required a different kind of muscle memory. Many purists actually prefer the Sledgehammer version because it felt more deliberate and less "floaty" than the later iterations.
The Technical Reality of 2014
From a developer standpoint, implementing the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit was a nightmare for the engine. Call of Duty engines are famously optimized for 60 frames per second on consoles. When you suddenly double the speed at which a player can move across a map, you run into "pop-in" issues and networking lag. "Lag compensation" became a huge talking point during this era. If a player "Exo-Dashed" around a corner, the server sometimes struggled to keep up with their hitboxes.
Is the Exo Suit Coming Back?
Every year, there are rumors. "Sledgehammer is making Advanced Warfare 2!" "The Exo suits are returning!"
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So far, it hasn't happened. Activision seems to have settled on a middle ground with the "Omnimovement" system seen in Black Ops 6 (2024), which allows for 360-degree diving and sliding without the verticality of a jetpack. It seems they realized that while the Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit was an incredible innovation, it might have been too much of a departure for the core audience.
But honestly? There is a vocal minority that misses it. They miss the speed. They miss the "Exo Survival" co-op mode where you fought waves of enemies while upgrading your suit's armor and weapon power. There was a sense of progression in that mode that felt genuinely rewarding.
What You Should Know If You Play It Today
If you go back and play Advanced Warfare on PC or older consoles now, you’ll notice a few things immediately.
- The "Exo Mute" is your friend. In a world of verticality, sound cues are everything.
- Learn to "Bumper Jumper." If you don't have a pro controller, change your button layout to Bumper Jumper. This lets you jump with the shoulder button so you never have to take your thumb off the aiming stick.
- Verticality is a death trap. Just because you can jump 20 feet in the air doesn't mean you should. You are a massive target when you’re in the sky with no cover.
- The ASM1 and BAL-27 are still king. Don't bother with the other stuff if you're trying to sweat.
The Call of Duty Advanced Warfare exo suit remains a fascinating experiment. It was a moment in time when a massive corporation took a genuine risk on a billion-dollar IP. Whether you loved it or hated it, you have to admit: CoD has never been that fast since.
To get the most out of the "Advanced" era movement today, focus on "Blast Suppressor." It was a mandatory perk that kept you off the mini-map when you used your exo-movements. Without it, every time you double-jump, you’re basically screaming your location to the entire enemy team. Practice the "side-dash" into a slide—it’s the fastest way to traverse the map without staying airborne for too long. If you're looking for a modern equivalent, keep an eye on how current Warzone movement mechanics are slowly incorporating faster lateral speeds, though we likely won't see the full return of the vertical exo-jump anytime soon.