Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Preorder Bonuses

With a near-future take on military combat, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the latest in the long-running COD shooter franchise. This year's entry is in development by Sledgehammer games, and to get you in on the game early, the company has put together a wide range of pre-order incentives.

Eschewing the normal trend of retailer-specific offers, the bulk of the game's exclusive content will be available to everyone:

• Advanced Arsenal -- This pre-order pack consists of two cosmetic items: items the Bullet-Brass exoskeleton and the Bullet-Brass EM1 Quantum
• Day Zero Edition -- Everyone who pre-orders the game gets the Day Zero edition which includes: Access to the game 24 hours early on November 3, Two bonus weapons (AK-12G Assault Rifle and the Crossbow-B2), and double XP on November 3

But that doesn't mean that some stores aren't also trying to entice you in. Here are the current store-specific pre-order bonuses:

• Best Buy: $10 in Best Buy Reward Certificates
• GameStop (Game in the UK | EB Games in AU): Ghosts and Black Ops II personalization pack. This includes a new weapon camo, reticule, playercard, patch, and background for the PlayStation and Xbox version of Ghosts and Black Ops II. Codes must be redeemed before November 3.
• EXPIRED -- If you pre-ordered Advanced Warfare last month from GameStop, you could have grabbed a level 20 "Legendary" Blacksmith Armor Shader for the recently released Destiny.

Outside of the pre-order bonuses, there's also:

• The $120 Atlas Pro Edition, which comes with a steelbook case "featuring premium in-game artwork" (no, we're not sure what that means either), season pass, soundtrack, and other in-game items.
• The $80 Atlas Limited Edition; same as the above, but with a regular steelbook case and no season pass.
• An Advanced Warfare-themed $500 1TB Xbox One, which comes with the prevoiusly mentioned Day Zero Edition

And you don't want to forget that the game also has an ongoing cross-buy promotion. Until March 31, if you buy Advanced Warfare digitally on Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, you'll be able to get a copy of of the next-gen version for free. Multiplayer stats and gear, as well as downloadable content you've purchased, including the season pass, will carry over.

The final point to think about if you're considering purchasing Advanced Warfare is how quickly you want access to the game's downloadable content. As has been the case since Black Ops in 2010, Xbox owners will have first crack at Advanced Warfare's DLC, but it will still make its way to other platforms.