Kevin Spacey makes me want to actually play Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s campaign

Call of Duty is multiplayer. Yet for some reason, Activision, year-in and year-out, pushes the single player campaign on us. Despite the pleas for a multiplayer-only version of the game, which many thought would be possible now that games like Titanfall have broken the mold, Activision is sticking to its guns. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will have a campaign and based on the actor starring in it — House of Cards’ Kevin Spacey — there’s no doubt in my mind that they’ve spent a pretty penny developing it. The big question is will people actually play it?

If history is any indication, then probably not. Sure, I’ll play it; but, I’m usually forced to for a review. The overall public on the other hand will, by and large, skip right over the campaign and head straight into the addictive world of Call of Duty multiplayer.

Based on some quick numbers I found on Raptr (investigative journalism, anyone?), a whopping 75 percent of players completed the first mission in Call of Duty: Ghosts’ campaign. Just 9 percent completed the campaign (on Veteran difficulty or higher). Unless a large amount of players are completing the campaign on the easiest difficulty, then that is a massive drop off.

So why such a big drop? Is it that the campaign is too long? Estimates on the popular site “how long to beat” put Call of Duty: Ghosts’ main story at around five to seven hours in length. Personally, I think that’s a little too long given the repetitive nature of first-person shooters, especially one in which most players buy for the multiplayer.

Or maybe the story just isn’t captivating enough to hold players’ attention for that long. How many times can we play what’s essentially the same plot? With Ghosts, Activision emphasized a story driven campaign with characters you’ll form an emotional attachment with. The publisher even sought out Academy Award-winning writer Stephen Gaghan (Traffic) to pen the script. The result was pretty much more of the same.

So why am I to believe that anything will be different this time around? Because Kevin Spacey is an asshole — and I mean that in the best of ways. He’s just what this franchise needs to encourage players to finally delve into the story. We’ve only seen about two minutes of campaign gameplay footage and I already hate Spacey’s character. His monologue in this first trailer — the lines in which he so eloquently delivers — is enough to make me want to finish the campaign. I want to bring down this seemingly evil tyrant hungry for power. Kevin Spacey has got the talent to really bring a character to life, and I think that’s what Call of Duty has been missing in these past few games.

Hopefully, Sledgehammer Games doesn't fall into the trap of most Call of Duty games. Go beyond the big explosions, redundant action sequences, and easily predictable plot twists. Let Kevin Spacey carry this story.