There’s only one day left until Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare goes on sale. Showing up on 4 November, Activision’s latest title is a far cry from previous games, jumping in a futuristic new direction for the series. With it going proper sci-fi with space combat, interstellar travel and laser guns, what is it that makes this year’s Call of Duty so special?
After experiencing a sizeable chunk of what the game has to offer at a special launch event earlier this week, I’m incredibly impressed with what 2016’s Call of Duty is all about, and you can read my brief thoughts about all aspects of the game below.
That being said, here’s absolutely everything you need to know about Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare , from its multiplayer, campaign, zombies mode and Modern Warfare Remastered too.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Campaign
The game puts you in the shoes of Captain Reyes, a spec ops pilot who mans one of Earth's last remaining warships. In typical Call of Duty fare, opposing enemy forces look to ruin your day, so you'll have to stop them with all those sci-fi weapons at your disposal.
Taking control of Reyes in an early section of the game, I’m thrust into an on-going attack in Geneva and I’m still yet to uphold the Captain rank. It’s all-out war, with infantry fighting in the streets and some epic set-pieces going on all around, with cruisers and spacecraft battling it out just over my head.
It’s your usual boots on the ground Call of Duty experience here, with on-foot combat taking out enemy humans and robots alike, making good use of interesting new gadgets such as the crab-like seeker grenade which attaches itself to enemies, Facehugger style. The weapons themselves didn’t seem too far-fetched and felt pretty grounded in reality, which is a testament to Infinity Ward’s own research.
After awesome set-pieces like a hulking great space cruiser falling out of the sky and crashing into the bay, drenching your character in water, you’re off to take the fight to the skies. It’s now time to board your Jackal space fighter and head off into space.
After a lengthy space-entering scene filled with blindingly bright flashes of light and excessive screen shakes, you link up with the rest of your fleet and engage the enemy cruisers and attack ships. While simplistic, and by no means matching the complexities of say, Star Citizen , the space combat is incredibly enjoyable, dodging and weaving between both friendly and enemy ships, making full use of the weapons at your disposal.
After the battle, which you undeniably lost, you board the Retribution, a hulking great battle cruiser, to find the Commanding Officer dead and most of the crew in tatters. As the highest ranking officer, you’re next in line and it’s up to you to command what’s left of the 1,000-strong fleet, setting up the events of the rest of the game.
Infinite Warfare’s campaign is an interesting one, and really sets the game apart from the rest in the franchise. With plenty of robots, it seems Activision are pulling out all the stops with their sci-fi shooter going head-to-head with EA’s Titanfall 2 , which released just last week.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Multiplayer
While the single-player campaign does look interesting, it’s pretty likely you’ll be spending most of your time with Infinite Warfare’s multiplayer. Just like in past games, you’ll be able to tailor your character to how you play, be it stealthy assassin or all guns a blazin’ badass.
Because it’s set in the future, Activision has gone all out with the range of weaponry and gadgets at your disposal - from combat mech rigs and laser guns. The Black Ops III fluid movement sees a return too, so you won't just be killing your enemies, you’ll be doing it with style.
I spent a brief bit of time with the game’s Capture the Flag gamemode in a 4 v 4 setup, and while I ashamedly died far too many times to count, I had the most amount of fun I’ve had in a Call of Duty game in recent years.
Combat was action-packed, and filled with some pretty tense objective-based moments. While the futuristic movement system jumping around with booster packs and such took a bit of getting used to, I felt it added a whole lot to the game, making your individual player movements feel even more tactical and cunningly positioned. I can’t wait to really get stuck in with the multiplayer when the game launches tomorrow.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Zombies
An annual Call of Duty game wouldn’t be complete without the undead making an appearance. Ever since World of War’s bonus mode, pretty much every Call of Duty game under the sun has seen the zombies treatment, and Infinite Warfare is no exception.
Infinite Warfare gets ‘Zombies in Spaceland’, with a proper storyline and a host of ‘80’s characters battling the undead in a space-themed amusement park. Even though I played a couple of rounds by myself, you can play through the round-based horde mode with up to three other friends fighting by your side.
The theme park is the perfect setting for Infinity Ward’s own brand of over-the-top silliness of the zombies mode, with eccentric characters such as David Hasselhoff’s DJ bringing the tunes and offering a brief respite from the ensuing onslaught.
In typical Call of Duty zombies fare, getting kills nets you with cash, which can be used to buy new weapons and gadgets, or open up new areas to play around in. With rollercoasters and the like offering up some more unique ways to take out the horde, there was never a dull moment either. The zombies mode is a far cry from the grittiness of the campaign, and will likely have long-lasting appeal for years to come.
Call of Duty Infinite Warfare: Modern Warfare Remastered
Featuring the full campaign and 10 multiplayer maps from 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare , Modern Warfare Remastered has all-new next-gen textures, a completely revamped lighting engine and a full multiplayer progression system. Sounds good, right? The thing is, it will only be included in the Legacy, Legacy Pro and Digital Deluxe editions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare , setting you back a minimum of £69.
That means anyone buying the base game version priced at £49 won't get Modern Warfare Remastered . Of course, only time will tell if Activision release the game as a standalone version, as it may well sell the game separately some time after Infinite Warfare comes out, so those on the fence may be better off waiting to see what happens rather than putting down £69 right now on a pre-order.
