User blog comment:Cubuff37/My Official Review Of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare/@comment-1263839-20150131213136/@comment-3967954-20150203091700

You're giving MW's characters way too much credit. AW was pretty poor when it came to characterization, I agree, but no way do I share the opinion that MW was really any better. COAZ is essentially right when he says Makarov was a generic Russian bad guy. Believable perhaps, but not very interesting.

Sledgehammer were trying to make a more interesting antagonist in Jonathan Irons. The execution was perhaps poor, but his motives were at least more original. More characterization would've helped, but KSpace costs money and the more lines they gave him, the more millions they'd have to shell out.

Soap and Price were given the most characterization in the MW series, for sure, but could you tell me anything about any of the other characters? Who were they, anyway?

Honestly, IW isn't great at telling stories; they're more focused around big Hollywood set-pieces. Which is fine, but anyone who thinks MW had a deep narrative in kidding themselves. Leave the storytelling to 3arc - some people give them flack for their narratives, but they do put in a lot of effort. The computer terminal in BO1 is a pretty good example.

Also, although he wasn't a particularly developed character, the description of "a guy who usually takes the moral high ground, but is torn between his job/life and his moral standards" does fit Gideon, even if it does sound a bit dramatic. I mean, I don't see how you can deny that; he does refuse to betray Atlas at first because of his dedication to the job, but then eventually defects on moral grounds.