For several years now, Call of Duty has been moving further and further into the world of hardcore science fiction. Whether it be the giant mechs of Black Ops 3 or the introduction of the boost jumps in Advanced Warfare, it was only a matter of time before the series was launched into outer space. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare succeeds in bringing the bombastic, over-the-top action the series is known for into space, but has some key flaws when it comes to its story direction.
Campaign
Players take the role of Captain Reyes, a top tier fighter pilot tasked with helming the Retribution, one of the few remaining ship’s in Earth’s arsenal. Reyes’ mission is to take the fight back against the Settlement Defense Front, an army of secessionists led by Kit Harrington’s Admiral Koch. Throughout the campaign, players jump planet-to-planet, moon-to-moon, with the hopes of taking down the SDF once and for all. And rest assured, all of the big set pieces and explosions Call of Duty is known for is entirely present, with an emphasis on character development and story progression.
However, I felt that Infinite Warfare’s campaign was exemplary in it’s gameplay, and muddled and confused in it’s story and character development. For starters, the entirety of the campaign takes place within a single day. And in that day, a lot of action, explosions, and an invasion or two occur. While players are told that the war between the United Nations Space Alliance (UNSA) and the SDF has been going on for years, I never truly felt like this war had been taking place longer than when the game initially started. Considering that, and the fact that the entire campaign takes place within a day, the entire story felt a bit rushed. I wished the campaign was spread out a bit more, with some breathing space between some missions to give me a chance to stop and think about what had just occurred. Instead, I felt rushed through the story, with little emotional investment in what was occurring between missions.
The decision to have the story take place within a single day also negatively impacted the way I felt towards various characters I met. “Care clouds judgement” is a theme that is prevalent throughout the campaign, and I found it odd that the story never really gives players a chance to get to know and understand the various characters throughout. Kit Harrington’s Admiral Koch is a shrewd and ruthless leader of the SDF, but his performance was very monotone and uncharismatic. I never really felt threatened by Koch, which may be due to his lack of screen time or meaningful dialogue. So, upon the player’s final confrontation with the game’s main enemy, the payoff feels lost and unfulfilling as the outcome feels almost meaningless. The same can be said for many of the team members that are allied with Reyes, many of whom I felt had a forced emotional connection with Reyes.
Fortunately, while much of the character development is lost, the performances of Reyes’ allies are absolutely wonderful. Ethan, who is surely to become one of Call of Duty’s greatest side-characters, is a funny and enthusiastic robot who goes against many of the tropes robots undergo in traditional sci-fi. Just his sarcastic quips during missions gave the story an overall levity it desperately needed. Nora Salter (Jamie Gray Hyder), Reye’s closest partner, and Omar (David Harewood), a hard-nosed British soldier, are also characters that are played exceptionally well. I just wished they were given a bit more time and development to dive deeper into their connections with Reyes.
The gameplay throughout the campaign is superb, and perhaps the highlight of this section of Infinite Warfare. The entire campaign has zero (or if there are, they are very cleverly hidden) loading screens throughout, which allows the story to flow more smoothly and allows it to feel like an continuous event. Gun play is fantastic, allowing players to select their own unique load out in the armory of the Retribution before heading out on their next mission. Having firefights floating in space was initially disorienting, but eventually felt natural and fun. Just the sound design itself between shooting a gun in space (very muted) versus shooting one in a space station (very er, not muted) was fantastic and really immersive. However, with all of the gun play and floating aimlessly in space, one specific part of the gameplay grabbed me more than I ever thought it would: the Jackal missions.
Jackal missions are missions in which players take direct control of their space-fighter jet in a frantic and all-out ship-on-ship space battle. Never have I felt more excited when dogfighting an enemy SDF Jackal, tailing him through heaps of empty space shrapnel and blowing him up with a well placed missile launch. These missions are never “on-tracks” and allow for free movement (both vertical and horizontal) throughout the missions combat zone, allowing for players to flank various enemy ships at any angle they desire. What’s even better is that these missions aren’t always locked into space battles; sometimes Jackal missions take place in low-orbit above a planet or around a ground-station. Just like with weapon loadouts before missions, players will be able to unlock and equip various Jackal equipment before heading out into space. Personally, I found the 20mm Dragonfly machine gun, GAMP .385 Anvil and the Hull upgrade to work best for my play style, which was more on-the-move up-close fighting. If there was only one disappointing feature about these Jackal missions it would be that most of them are locked or hidden away as side-missions throughout the campaign. Some of these missions are the best, and most memorable missions throughout the entire campaign, and it’s disappointing that some people may miss them or write them off simply because they are side missions. But I’ll put it this way: I would play a full Call of Duty game based solely on these Jackal missions. They were that good.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer with Call of Duty titles have been popular for a reason: fun, fast-paced competitive gameplay. Infinite Warfare delivers in every aspect on the multiplayer front, including some new additions that round out the multiplayer experience. Now, players will be able to pick their “Combat Rig”, which allow for various timed special abilities or weapons that reminded me as a sort of bonus kill-streak. Players will be able to pick between the Warfighter, Synaptic, Merc, FTL, Stryker and Phantom. In my limited play time in multiplayer, I found that the Warfighter and FTL were the two combat rigs that worked for a more fast-paced playstyle. The Warfighter combat rig, at least in the initial levels, gains an ability to call up a weapon that is able to put a slew of bullets on target as fast as possible, which was used to easily rack up kills quickly. The FTL (which stands for Faster Than Light) is a combat rig that is unlocked a few levels into playing multiplayer, and allow the player to gain either a “blink” like dodge-move that moves players forward instantaneously, or they gain a weapon that is able to vaporize an enemy (a weapon that I primarily used while using this combat rig).
Players are also able to pick between several “Mission Teams”, which reward players for completing various challenges within multiplayer games. The rewards vary from special team-specific gear to various cosmetic items. I found these to be a nice side-component to multiplayer, giving me motivation to progress through each of the mission teams to complete the various objectives. These objectives will surely bring me, and many other people, back time and time again to multiplayer. Along with mission teams, players will have the opportunity to “craft” and upgrade weapons that will eventually unlock “prototype weapons”. These “prototype weapons” often have various perks that are above the standard weapons unlocked via leveling up traditionally. Unfortunately, I found that the highest tier of a prototype weapon was often not as useful or powerful as an earlier modification or upgrade of that same weapon. Some of the gun perks are not really useful unless you know the type of player you are playing against. For example, being able to momentarily deafen an enemy using a shotgun isn’t as effective if that player isn’t using high-end headphones. With that being said, some of the gun perks are definitely worth looking into if you put in the time and patience to unlock the “Salvage” needed to buy the upgrades.
All in all, Infinite Warfare succeeds with it’s multiplayer. Fans of the previous multiplayer entries of Call of Duty will feel right at home here. All of the maps are well designed and have no obvious “camping” spots, and many of the game modes are as fun and kinetic as they have been.
Zombies
Zombies, or Zombies in Spaceland, was my favorite section in all of Infinite Warfare. It’s kind of amazing how far Zombies has come in Call of Duty’s history, and Zombies in Spaceland may be the finest addition yet. In this year’s Zombies, players are thrust back into the 1980s as one of four very “80s” stereotypes: the Jock, the Preppy Girl, the Hip-Hop lover and the Geek. The humor and overall gameplay from this year’s zombies is spectacular. Nothing was better than hearing the dreaded, “here comes the clowns” from a teammate or being absolutely demolished by a giant-sized Zombie dressed as an alien. Also taking place in an amusement park that has tons of 80s references, and a soundtrack with many of the biggest hits from the 80s (which, of course, is being DJ’d by David Hasselhoff), there is plenty to be seen and enjoyed in the Zombies mode.
