We discuss the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare story campaign with narrative director Taylor Kurosaki. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - hasty conclusions
The game has been tested onPlayStation 4
The audience initially greeted the new Call of Duty with hostility—the announcement trailer ended up in second place on the list of videos with the largest number of “dislikes” on YouTube. The developers failed to take the crown from Justin Bieber, but they still got the silver medal in this dubious marathon. Then one of the story missions was shown at E3 2016, and then many wondered if they had rushed to conclusions. As the release showed, they were in a hurry. We were in a big hurry.
⇡ Forward to the futureEvery fall, Activision offers us a new part of the famous series, once dedicated to the events of the Second World War. But in recent years we have seen double jumps, wall running, exoskeletons and other futurism in Call of Duty. That’s why everyone was so happy about the announcement of Battlefield 1: trenches, trenches, horses, shovels, ancient weapons - in a word, DICE’s game of contrast was an excellent success. There was also a problem in the development studio - after the terrible Ghosts, Infinity Ward's credibility was practically exhausted.
As it turned out in the end, there was no point in writing off Infinite Warfare in advance. Infinity Ward took into account the mistakes (both their own and those of their colleagues) and offered one of the best story campaigns among all Call of Duty games in recent years. This is not the incoherent ravings of a madman, which was the story of Black Ops 3, but a simple-as-three-penny plot about how earthlings went to look for resources on other planets, but were eventually attacked by an evil corporation headquartered on Mars. Due to circumstances, the main character is appointed captain, but he does not intend to sit and give orders - he himself goes with his partners on all missions and strives to defeat all the bad guys in the Galaxy.
One of the biggest advantages of this campaign were the characters. We all remember Captain Price and Soap from Modern Warfare, and we will probably not soon forget Ethan and Salter from Infinite Warfare. For once, the Call of Duty developers managed to write the characters in such a way that they don’t look like just another typical warrior - they are interesting people with their own stories, sense of humor and emotions. You worry about them, you are ready to go into battle with them. Compared to them, the main villain played by Kit Harington looks pale - as if he was deliberately made into a caricatured upstart who can only make pretentious speeches. Moreover, the character’s screen time is several times less than that of the anti-hero Kevin Spacey from Advanced Warfare. Instead of the Game of Thrones star, they could have taken any other actor, and nothing would have changed.
The story campaign, which traditionally takes a couple of evenings, produces exciting episodes one after another. Since the war in the game has reached cosmic proportions, the matter is not limited to just skirmishes on the ground (although it would be more correct to write “on Earth”). From time to time, the main character takes the helm of a space fighter and goes on a journey to other planets and their satellites, where new opponents will certainly await him. Captain Reyes is no slouch - he is trained in anti-missile maneuvers, and if necessary, he is always ready to get involved in a zero-gravity firefight.
Controlling the fighter is incredibly simple - the left stick of the gamepad is responsible for movement and acceleration, and the right one works with the camera. One button is for firing a machine gun, another is for releasing missiles, and the third throws out anti-missile traps. By pressing L2, you can focus your attention on a specific enemy ship, so that after a couple of seconds you can turn on automatic aiming and leave him no chance. There are explosions and shooting everywhere, the player dodges asteroids, watches for traps, calls a drone to replenish ammunition and is not bored for a second. If the space battles in No Man's Sky were even a little similar to those here, she would be forgiven for a lot.
Shooting in zero gravity is not much different from fighting in narrow corridors - yes, there is much more space, but the essence remains the same. It’s just that it’s not easy to hide from enemy attacks—it’s impossible to sit in cover when you’re flying in space. Because of this, sniper rifles at high difficulty levels turn out to be a much more appropriate type of weapon than rapid-fire machine guns or pistols. But if the enemy still gets close, you can pull him towards you with a hook and break the suit so that it is discouraging.
In Infinite Warfare, the developers decided to change not only the environment, but also the structure of the campaign. After a couple of story missions, the player can walk around the ship and gain access to a map in the manner of the original Mass Effect. Of course, it didn’t come to the point of having affairs with colleagues, but choosing the next task - side or plot - is allowed. The levels themselves still remain corridors, where there is always one goal, and you cannot turn off the path. But there is nothing stopping you from choosing the next step and deciding whether to board enemy ships or spend time destroying destroyers. This is far from a new word in the genre, but this decision changes the Call of Duty formula for the better. And the side missions are no worse than the main ones - they are varied and sometimes even offer original and unexpected tasks.
⇡ Continuation of the banquetUnfortunately, along with an excellent and memorable story campaign (which I really want to go through again, but at a higher difficulty level), it comes with a very mediocre multiplayer. If in the “single” Infinity Ward was not afraid to offer something new and came up with many impressive episodes, then the online component is almost identical to the multiplayer of Black Ops 3. This is neither good nor bad - it just seems like an attempt not to spoil something that already works well. However, fans of the annual transition to the new Call of Duty will find themselves in a strange position, since they will have to play the same thing as before.
There are still some differences - for example, you can unlock new weapons and exoskeletons (here they replace characters with different skills from Black Ops 3) without using tokens. If previously you had to carefully think through what to spend the token you earned in long battles (and sometimes regret the decision after a couple of matches), here everything immediately becomes available upon reaching certain levels.
Additionally, it now makes sense to finish matches even if defeat is inevitable. In Destiny, for example, there has never been such a problem - even if your team was destroyed in a couple of minutes, everyone can receive legendary rewards. Here the idea is somewhat different - military organizations give the player tasks, the completion of which increases the level of the corresponding faction. And for this, in turn, you can get weapons or other items exclusive to this faction. The conditions are very simple - kill 10 opponents, then take one headshot. As soon as a task is completed, a more complicated version appears, for which completion a small bonus is awarded.
There is also a kind of crafting in multiplayer - by collecting enough parts, you can create an improved version of an existing weapon. Spare parts are obtained by leveling up factions and opening crates, and they are also sometimes given out as a daily bonus when starting the game. There are also microtransactions, which not everyone will like. But what's more annoying is the lag compensation system, which gives players with a poor connection a significant advantage. If in multiplayer you are killed in half a second, and you don’t have time to react with the same weapon, it’s not your fault - it’s just that the network part is designed so that the “lagging” opponent sees you earlier. This controversial decision raises many more questions than micropayments.
But in the zombie mode there are no significant miscalculations - this is exciting entertainment, made in the style of the eighties. Shooting the living dead while listening to “Relax” and “Let It Whip” is fun even with random players, and there are much fewer difficulties than in last year’s Black Ops 3. There, players were literally thrown onto the map without any explanation, but here landmarks constantly appear or hints, as well as useful tips. And death is not at all upsetting, because after death the user finds himself in a game room, where he must play ancient arcade games and earn points, after which the fighter is returned to the amusement park safe and sound.
Many joked about the fact that a re-release of Modern Warfare is coming out this year, and Infinite Warfare is included as a gift. However, the new game turned out to be excellent entertainment, which is why many will not immediately get to the remaster. A spectacular story campaign with memorable characters and many impressive episodes, an exciting zombie mode and good, albeit uninspired multiplayer - a package worthy of attention. It’s a pity that you can’t fly online in space, but this is probably temporary. We'll fly in three years or so.
Set outside of Earth, players find themselves in the middle of a war that spans the entire solar system. The main character of the game, Captain Reyes, unexpectedly takes command of the Retribution, one of the remaining combat spaceships of the Earth's fleet.
We sat down with Taylor Kurosaki, Narrative Director at Infinity Ward, to chat about the epic story and development process of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Let's start from the beginning. How did you get into the game development industry?Taylor Kurosaki: The first game I played was Crash Bandicoot. I was the second employee at Naughty Dog, and most of the game was made by a team of five people, including two of the company's founders. As far as I remember, there were eight of us at the time of release. After working on Crash Bandicoot, I decided to take a little break from video games. I already had experience working in the TV and film industry, so I returned to the world of television. Some time later, at the end of 2003, Naughty Dog called me and asked: “Hey, can you help us with some cutscenes and dialogue?” So I returned to Naughty Dog. By this point, there were already 35 or 40. I worked on Jak 3 and for about ten years on all four parts of the Uncharted series, until I moved to Infinity Ward in 2014.
Tell us about how you literally pulled Jacob Minkoff, your ex-Naughty Dog colleague, out of the jungle to join you on Infinite Warfare?Taylor Kurosaki: Jacob Minkoff and I have been through a lot and worked together at Naughty Dog for many years. But one day he just decided to take a break from business, sold his house and truck, gave his dog to someone, got rid of a bunch of other things and moved in with me before he left for the jungle, waiting for all the deals to be completed.
While he was living in my house, I started talking to Infinity Ward about the possibility of working with them, and Jacob and I started watching old war movies, playing Call of Duty, and exchanging ideas about what we could do for Call of Duty together . I said, “Listen, I would really like to work with you on this project. I don't want you to go into the jungle." And he replied: “Yes, it would be fun, but maybe some other time.”
He flew away, and I continued my communication with Infinity Ward. When they made me an offer, I emailed Jacob and received an auto-reply that he had moved upriver and would be completely unavailable. After about a month, he reached the nearest town and was able to check his mail. I sent him a message and simply wrote, “I would really like you to work with me, but I know it’s not meant to be. I hope when you receive this message in a couple of weeks, you will know that my offer is still valid.”
I received a response from Jacob the very next day. He was still in town and wrote, "Oh, most of the people in my camp are down with malaria, and I don't want that, so I'm in." And he just flew out of the jungle to Infinity Ward, and we soon began working together on Infinite Warfare.
Taylor Kurosaki: The team at Infinity Ward had some really interesting ideas about what they could do in the next Call of Duty. For example, the continuous gameplay approach was ideal for Jacob and me. No loading screens. Just imagine: you pick up a gamepad and nothing else distracts you. We were very inspired by this.
They also had some ideas about being able to select side missions, which again was something new for the Call of Duty series. This was a really interesting challenge since all of our previous games were quite linear in structure.
After watching many films and reading books about the war, we noticed two patterns. There are stories told from the perspective of an ordinary soldier, an infantryman, and there are stories from the perspective of a commander. We thought that since you have a choice of side quests, then of course you are a leader. You decide what to do next.
So we started there and never stopped. We decided to tell the story from the leader's point of view, and as you can see for yourself, the leader's goal is not to fight alongside his friends and bring everyone home. A leader's goal is to complete the task, and the task must come first.
In Saving Private Ryan, Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) learns that the main thing is not to return home to his wife, not to deliver all his subordinates to their relatives, the main thing is to save Private Ryan. We wanted to tell a story that follows these same principles, and so we have Captain Reyes, who in a very short time has to realize that he is no longer just a squad leader who has to bring all his guys home, but a real leader, and most importantly for him - completing the task.
Sacrifice for the sake of a goal is an important part of the Infinite Warfare story. Why is this issue so important to you?Taylor Kurosaki: We wanted to tell a realistic story. If you want to talk about the burdens of leadership, you have to authentically show what it's like to put people in the crosshairs and live with the consequences. And there are always consequences. We don't want to tell stories where you are a member of a superhero squad and all the missions are calm and safe. We want to honor the service of real soldiers and talk about it without embellishment.
Taylor Kurosaki: When we start developing the characters, we don't stick to gender or race. We draw diagrams and discuss. We knew we needed a main character. We knew he would need a best friend and a right-hand man, but we also knew that someone else had to join them. And as a result, this “other” became “completely different.” By car.
So no. Ethan was not originally intended to be a machine, just as Salter was not originally intended to be a woman. The whole point was to reveal their characters, to find the “trick”. We wouldn't have made Ethan a robot if we realized his character wouldn't work that way. From the very beginning, we promised ourselves that we would not make him a robot if we felt that such a hero would not fit into the Call of Duty universe.
There are robot heroes in many games, TV shows, and movies. We said to ourselves, “What's special about our guy? Why does he have to be a robot? – and almost at the same moment we realized that we wanted to create a universal soldier. Such a soldier must not only be the best on the battlefield, but also an ideal support for his squad.
This means that if you look at war from a soldier's perspective, you will see that the main thing for him is to protect his comrade. The main thing is to make sure everyone returns home. Therefore, Ethan's most important goal is to always protect his comrades, and in some cases, Reyes, his commander. This is his way of thinking.
How do soldiers in the midst of combat support each other? In most cases, humor helps them. It's strange, but jokes help you get through all these troubles. In war there is a lot of routine and boredom, there are many extremely dangerous, tense situations, and very few moments between these extremes.
To get through it all, to survive dangerous situations and tense moments, soldiers use humor to distract each other from the fact that death may be just around the corner. Ethan is able to joke - and this part of his personality gives him the opportunity to fit into a squad consisting of living fighters.
He is very different from them. He doesn't look like anyone else. It became extremely important to give him the opportunity to become related to other fighters in battle. With people like Omar. Omar is a true fighter who believes in the power of weapons and face-to-face combat without resorting to technical gadgets - and that is why he is skeptical of Ethan. But Omar is not a fool. He gradually recognizes Ethan as a valuable member of the team and eventually accepts him as one of his own.
Taylor Kurosaki: In terms of war stories, we looked at a huge amount of material - from Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire, which is about the Spartan soldiers at Thermopylae, to Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan.
If we talk about sources of inspiration among science fiction, we can especially mention the industrial design in the films of James Cameron - he always skillfully combined recognizable elements with unfamiliar ones. If you mix them correctly, your fictional universe will become more down-to-earth and more like the real one.
The Call of Duty series is always set in a universe without monsters, aliens, or giant blue humanoids. In Infinite Warfare, we tell a story about conflict between people in a realistic future setting. When we venture into unfamiliar worlds, we take familiar elements with us - just like David Cameron. Glass cockpits on aircraft, heavy valves on the doors, helmets as if straight from the Vietnam War.
We carefully studied the aesthetics of the modern fleet and carefully transferred into the game the elements that make up real warships. We reproduced the colors, materials, aesthetics - and then combined it with the design that NASA follows - because our ships do not ply the seas, but the expanses of space.
By combining all these elements, we created the Retribution, a ship that looks real because it's made up of so many real pieces of Navy and NASA hardware. Many of the players have probably never been on a real warship, but I'm almost 100% sure that none of them have ever been to Titan or Europa, or to the surface of Mars. When you go to fantastic places, you take something familiar with you, a piece of home - this is exactly what we tried to achieve in the design of the game.
The story campaign is full of various game situations - classic shootouts, space horror, fighter duels and much more. It is very difficult to combine all this and make it work within one game. Tell us about the most difficult challenges you faced during development?Taylor Kurosaki: We always ask ourselves, “Does this feel like part of Call of Duty?” – can we add certain elements without fundamentally changing the concept of the game? Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Modern Warfare are games that have had a huge impact on us. Our goal during the creation of the game was to honor the roots of the legendary game series, but at the same time qualitatively develop its components.
Imagine an abandoned mining colony located on a rapidly rotating asteroid near the Sun. What happened here? Where have the miners gone? Secret. The next question is, can we tell this kind of story in Call of Duty? Will it feel like Call of Duty? At some moments we said to ourselves: “Yes, this can really be done!” - and we did it. When we felt we were deviating from the canon, we said, “Stop!” and started working on the next concept.
Taylor Kurosaki: Yes, we were heavily inspired by science fiction, such as Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Of course, we are very familiar with other popular works and their versions of space, planets and moons.
The point is that Europa has a lot of water. This is a place that you will definitely want to appropriate - it is a source of resources, and in war, the possession of resources is a key factor in victory. If this or that resource runs out on Earth, and at the same time it is rarely found in the vastness of the solar system, conflict between those who want it cannot be avoided.
This idea was a great starting point - being fans of science fiction and war stories, we built the narrative around them as inspiration. You can see the fruits of our labor in Infinite Warfare.
Additional information about Call of Duty is available on the official Russian-language Call of Duty Facebook page, as well as in the @CallofDuty accounts and @InfinityWard V
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is officially unveiled. Following the leaked “spy” trailer, the full official version has appeared, and some details of the game have been revealed.
The story campaign, as has been mentioned more than once, is again dedicated to the future. The story will take the player beyond the atmosphere, the entire solar system will become a testing ground. And in the trailer we can see moments of space combat.
According to the plot, the Earth of the future is not in the best situation due to overpopulation and the depletion of its resources. Colonies on other planets and asteroids became a source of minerals. The radical organization The Front seeks control of all this wealth in order to tighten the noose around the neck of the earthly community. We will play as captain of the first rank Reyes, who will be at the forefront of the struggle of coalition forces against a ruthless enemy.
The campaign will feature battles using various combat space vehicles, and the campaign itself will offer a seamless combination of different game moments, when ground moments will smoothly flow into vehicle clashes. The game will feature a large warship, The Retribution, which will serve as a base for the resistance, and the player will have their own personal fighter, the Jackal.
The game will have its own cooperative Zombies mode with a separate plot. Once again, a dynamic, innovative multiplayer with a modified movement system and interaction with the environment is promised.
The new game will also receive a Remastered version of Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which will have improved textures, lighting and other graphical aspects. This will allow new players to experience one of the best games in the Call Of Duty series, and old players to get a new experience from a classic game. In addition to the story campaign, the Remastered version will receive 10 multiplayer maps from Modern Warfare. Screenshots from the new version of Modern Warfare are shown below.
The long-term confrontation between the Call of Duty and Battlefield game series is over. The truce has not been signed, it’s just that EA released two online shooters in 2016 at once and the competitor to the new Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare turned out to be not one that “escaped” into the past, but a daring one, the action of which also takes place in the future. These projects really have a lot in common, let's figure out which one can offer players more.
Call of Duty: Infinite WarfareGenre shooter
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Developers Infinity Ward, Raven Software
Publisher Activision
Websites callofduty.com, Steam
Distant future. Humanity has finally exhausted the resources of its native planet and has begun active exploration of the solar system. The place of the UN was taken by UNSA (United Nation Space Alliance), and instead of NATO it is now SATO (Solar Alliance Treaty Organization). There is growing tension between Earth and Mars, along with the outer colonies, which results in a confrontation between SATO and the SDF (Settlement Defense Front), the armed forces of the extraterrestrial settlements. The Martians manage to create a powerful fleet and, after carrying out sabotage, arrange a new Pearl Harbor for the earthlings in Geneva. Most of the SATO fleet has been destroyed, leaving only two damaged ships at the command's disposal. You will have to control one of them, the cruiser “Retribution”.
The introduction of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is written in broad strokes, but unfortunately, it does not answer many questions and does not allow us to create a holistic picture of the game world. How did the conflict between Earth and the colonies begin? Why do the Martians and their leader Admiral Salen Kotch hate all earthlings so fiercely? Why are they obsessed with conquering and humiliating the Earth? How did Mars manage to build such a powerful fleet? Why, having mastered the entire solar system and received jump (!) engines at its disposal, are the Earth and the colonies still fighting for resources? Who, after all, is the genius who came up with the idea of gathering the entire fleet in one place without leaving at least a minesweeper on combat duty? Alas, you will not find answers to these questions either in the dialogues of the game characters, or in their personal affairs and audio recordings, which can be listened to in the captain’s cabin of the Retribution. As a result, the Martians and the SDF fleet are depicted as conventional space fascists, and SATO and the comrades of Captain Nick Reyes as conventional good guys fighting for democracy. Sorry Activision, but in Titanfall 2, where the conflict between colonies and corporations is described no less sparingly, the world looks more alive and holistic.
Even Actisivion’s favorite technique – inviting famous Hollywood actors to play the main roles – doesn’t help. According to the authors, the star of the film... excuse the games, was supposed to be Keith “You Know Nothing” Harington, but the writers didn’t bother to write his character with any interesting character or lines. All we know about Admiral Kotch is that he hates earthlings and when he ascended to Olympus (the one on Mars), after which he named his flagship. A complete cardboard villain. A slightly more interesting character was Captain Reyes, played by actor Brian Bloom. His hero is not ready for command, he hesitates, has doubts, sending people to their deaths. However, these throwings by Reyes look a little forced.
The secondary characters are written in a little more detail. Staff Sergeant Jozef Omar (played by actor David Harewood), combat robot Ethan and the captain’s partner, Lieutenant Nora “Plague” Salter (model Jamie Gray Hyder), who play an important role in the plot, turned out to be deeper than the main characters. It is especially interesting to watch the development of the relationship between the stern paratrooper commander and the robot with a sense of humor. From complete rejection at the beginning, to real army friendship in the finale. In general, Ethan (E3N) seems to be the most alive character in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. His connection with the captain is somewhat reminiscent of the connection between Private Cooper and Titan BT-7274 in .
Unfortunately, the most touching episode that really touches something in the soul, connected with the members of the Retribution team, was hidden by the developers in the game’s credits. I'm afraid not everyone will see him.
The highlight of the Call of Duty series has always been the exotic locations into which the developers threw us. Well, this time, no longer limited to being tied to one planet, the authors went completely wild. The ice caves of Europa (the one that is a satellite of Jupiter), the orange clouds and methane rains of Titan, the already familiar lifeless landscape of the Moon, the thirty-second day of the asteroid Vesta-3 rushing towards the sun. The only place you will visit on Earth itself is the UNSA capital - Geneva.
The space locations in Infinite Warfare look really cool. Yes, at times the authors sin a little against physics, increasing the brightness of the Sun on Titan by 10 times or increasing the gravity on Vesta by a hundred times, which at such a rotation speed should have been torn apart in a good way. But we will pretend that we did not pay attention to this. Just as they “didn’t notice” the selective work of gravity on spaceships. As soon as you turn on the life support system, the earth’s gravity appears along with oxygen. Or a spatially limited depressurization effect. After all, it's only there to show how enemies are sucked into space, not for realism.
The fight on the International Space Station in zero gravity became the most memorable moment, Infinite Warfare decided to focus on similar gameplay. In some of the story missions and in most additional missions, you are sent as part of a landing party to board enemy ships (we will not say anything about the wisdom of the captain’s participation in such missions). At the same time, the approach to the ship and firefights among the wreckage and on the hull take place in complete weightlessness. Of course, they are far from realistic battles in the absence of gravity, such as in Shattered Horizon from Futuremark, but such gameplay at least looks fresh.
But with the use of jump packs and the ability to run along walls in Infinite Warfare, everything is much worse than in the same or Titanfall 2. The entire campaign can be completed without such acrobatics. In multiplayer, skills related to vertical movements are in greater demand.
In keeping with the setting, all the weapons in Infinite Warfare are futuristic. It’s clear that the energy rifles are based on modern prototypes, but nevertheless the guns look fresh. Especially Transformers. A sniper rifle that turns into an assault rifle; a submachine gun that mutates into a shotgun; machine gun divided into two pistols, etc. The only problem is that by the appearance of the weapon you will never guess what to expect from it in a real battle. However, the ability to pick up an enemy cannon saves the situation. Another problem with weapons in Infinite Warfare is the sound. He's completely unimpressive. And if you can still put up with sniper and assault rifles, then the chatter of submachine guns and the cracker-like sounds of shotguns are frankly upsetting. But for the grenades - special thanks. Spider mines and anti-gravity charges are something.
A big part of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is fighting in space on fighter jets. There are enough such episodes in story missions and many in additional ones. There are even pure space battles, without the ground part. As in previous games in the series, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II served as the main one for the futuristic fighter. This time his keel was cut off. Fighting on “Jackals,” that’s what space fighters are called, is pure arcade action. Here, by and large, you don’t even need to steer. Capture the enemy with a radar and calmly press the trigger, the fighter will be controlled automatically. The destruction of large ships, bombers and destroyers generally turns into some kind of QTE. We calmly shoot from a medium distance, pressing Q from time to time to shoot anti-missiles. The only interesting mission in space is near the Sun, for a while.
In terms of graphics, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is not far from last year's. Yes, it’s beautiful, and quite modern, but overall nothing special. The same Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 are both technologically advanced and more original due to their style. Infinite Warfare is missing some flavor. Of course, the corridors of spaceships and extraterrestrial stations are generally similar, but why make them so boring. Missions on the surface of planets are more interesting, but, unfortunately, you will not spend much time in the open air. There are fewer wow moments in the game that make you watch what’s happening on the screen with bated breath. Even the beating of the fleet over Geneva is not particularly impressive; we have already seen all this in different interpretations in previous Call of Duty series.
Let's summarize. Overall, the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare campaign differs little from the campaigns of previous parts of the game, even despite the radical change in setting. This is still the same virtual shooting gallery with not very smart opponents and a pretentious plot. If you liked the plot parts of the previous episodes, you will probably like this one too. Moreover, space is still something new. But, for many, CoD is primarily multiplayer, let's deal with it.
MultiplayerIt is for the dynamic fast-paced multiplayer of Call of Duty that fans of shooters have been looking forward to November for the ninth year in a row.
True, they went a little overboard with the development - the multiplayer mode itself turned out to be decent, but the game’s dynamism was clearly too much. Infinity Ward took this point into account by making minimal changes to the Black Ops III formula and slightly slowing down the pace.
However, this does not mean that you can go into Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in the evening to relieve tension, like in Overwatch or Battlefield 1. Due to the specifics of the game mechanics, Call of Duty is no longer about casual gaming; success here is guaranteed exclusively by lightning-fast reflexes and perfect knowledge of the map. So if you are not willing to spend hours memorizing enemy movement routes and secluded places that can provide you with a killstreak, this jet spinal pixel hunting is not for you. Otherwise, welcome.
There are seven game modes, they are mostly standard, the developers did not reinvent the wheel. True, as practice has shown, it was possible to limit oneself to Team Deathmatch and Free-for-All; players do not particularly like other modes. In more than forty hours, the author literally managed to play Domination and Frontline a couple of times (ordinary deathmatch with revival exclusively at the bases), partners for capturing and holding a drone in Defender, playing 9 on 9 in Ground Wars or participating in the Gun Game (every man for himself according to special rules) was not found. It’s not that these modes are bad, it’s just that catastrophically few people play Infinite Warfare on PC. A week after release, the peak number of players dropped below ten thousand. To be fair, it’s worth noting that on consoles things are much better.
Multiplayer Infinite Warfare tried to incorporate all the best that was in Call of Duty over the past three years, but it cannot be said that it succeeded to the fullest. From the Black Ops line, the game borrowed a wonderful Pick 10 character customization system - the player is allocated ten points, which he spends at his discretion on perks, weapons and body kit for him. Rewards for the number of points gained, which replaced the rewards for killstreaks, and class traits stand alone; points are not spent on them. There are six classes in the game, but not all of them are available from the start.
Here, too, there were no surprises - combat at long, short and medium distances, light and fast mech, a heavily armored soldier, and so on. Moreover, they are not limited in any way in the choice of equipment; each class has access to absolutely all the weapons available in the game; the differences lie only in the gradually charging ultimate abilities and class traits. Well, in appearance, of course.
Speaking of appearance, the ubiquitous loot chests also feel good in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. They are purchased with keys, which you earn during the game by gaining points and completing tasks for one of the factions. Inside, in addition to camouflage for gun barrels, you can find all kinds of helmets, suits, keychains, gestures, in-game currency and, in fact, various weapon prototypes. The latter is common, rare, legendary and epic. Higher quality weapons are distinguished not only by their unique color and improved performance characteristics, but also by additional features, such as the ability to trigger a nuclear strike by collecting 25 frags in a row or replenishing grenade ammunition after five kills. The chances of dropping a good barrel are, of course, low, but it can be opened for the same in-game currency. It's long, but it's sure.
The design and architecture of the Infinite Warfare maps are most often pleasing - there are a lot of hot spots where skirmishes regularly occur, workarounds and sharp turns due to which a couple of opponents with shotguns at the ready can jump out at the most inopportune moment. Rocket packs and the ability to run along walls add verticality to the action and at the same time allow for surprise flanking attacks, so the game constantly keeps you in suspense. Unfortunately, the maps are relatively small and there are very few open spaces. Add to this the very real chance that the enemy could appear from anywhere and running homing explosives and you will understand why sniper rifles have become practically useless - in conditions where long-range combat risks turning into close combat at any moment, it is better to use an assault rifle with a variable power scope .
But this is not the main problem of Infinite Warfare multiplayer; sniper maps may still see the light of day in one of the upcoming DLCs. What's more frustrating is the strange respawn system. The algorithm by which the game calculates where the player will appear works frankly poorly and you will often be resurrected right in front of a running enemy or directly under bombs falling from the sky. The pleasure is, to put it mildly, below average. In 2016, Infinity Ward also decided to “delight” us with p2p hosting; in this case, one of the players takes on the role of the server. As you might guess, the host has a significant advantage over other players. You shoot the enemy in the head, the game carefully displays two or three hits, and then for some reason he runs on, and you die and go to watch the replay, during which it becomes clear that you only hit once, and only in the shoulder. Add here the periodic inability to establish a connection with the host and the fact that if it crashes, the game, for unknown reasons, categorically refuses to transfer its role to another player, as was implemented before.
Zombie modCall of Duty: Infinite Warfare also has a mandatory zombie mode for four players. This time the undead will have to be shot in an abandoned amusement park from the eighties. We start on a rather modest-sized patch, strengthening windows and doorways with boards and earning money to buy more serious guns and ammunition for them - everything is the same as before. Gradually, passages open deeper into the park, where there are more zombies and more serious guns. You can unlock passages earlier than expected by spending money on it, but going too far with starting weapons is not recommended - it’s dangerous to your health. When you die, by the way, you'll be sent to a room with classic arcade machines and traditional fairground attractions like basketball or a water pistol range, where you can try to win a chance to return to your comrades. It all looks like a budget version of Left 4 Dead, but it plays quite fun, the demonic clowns alone are worth it. But it’s almost impossible to find players in this mode. During the week I managed to try out the zombie mod only twice, and then by some lucky chance. You can search for a gaming session for hours.
Despite the existing problems, the multiplayer of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare leaves a rather positive impression, the futuristic setting suits the game, the dynamics are excellent, and there are no complaints about customizing the equipment and appearance of the character. But due to the unforgivably low number of players on PC, this game is probably worth taking straight to the console.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare RemasteredAlong with the enhanced versions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Digital Legacy Edition, Legacy Pro Edition and Digital Deluxe Edition, players receive one more game as a bonus - a remaster of the classic 2007 shooter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Activision has already been criticized for the fact that the remaster cannot be purchased separately from Infinite Warfare, even if not for $8, as it is now, but for $10-12, but so far the publisher has not announced plans to release this project separately.
But in vain, because Modern Warfare Remastered is a practically perfect remaster, which literally has nothing to criticize. While fully maintaining the plot, dialogue, gameplay, and mood of the original, Raven Software were able to seriously improve the graphics. Textures, models, lighting. Especially the lighting. Modern Warfare Remastered looks only a little worse than Infinite Warfare itself, but it plays just fine. What can I say, look at the video comparing the graphics of the original and updated games.
Favorite characters, familiar levels, everything looks recognizable, but at the same time new. A good reason to replay one of the best games in the series. Yes, the Remastered version has certain optimization problems and a couple of bugs, but the patch that has already been released fixes most of them. Seriously, Activision, consider a standalone edition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.
ConclusionsActivision traditionally included several games with different gameplay in the Call of Duty box. Infinite Warfare offers you an epic campaign, explosive multiplayer, a fun zombie mod, and in the case of the Enhanced Editions, a remake of the classic shooter with improved graphics. The problem is that each of the parts that make up Infinite Warfare has one flaw or another. The campaign is spoiled by a stupid plot, forgettable characters and uninteresting fighter battles. The multiplayer and zombie mod suffer from a lack of players and are designed exclusively for fans of fast, spin-inducing gameplay. There are no complaints about the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare remaster, but it’s still a completely different game, and it’s probably unfair to include it in the Call of Duty: Infinity Warfare assessment.
Cons: Weak plot; poorly developed world; unclear motivation of the characters; unconvincing weapons; uninteresting space battles; problems with respawning in multiplayer games; small number of players on PC
Conclusion: The updated Call of Duty has a lot to offer, but, unfortunately, each of its components has one or another flaw