Video Game Review: Call of Duty – Infinite Warfare – Infinite Increments

Developer Infinity Ward
Publisher Activision
Distributor Megarom Games
Where we got our copy Megarom Games
Genre FPS
Game modes Single Player, Multiplayer, Co-op
Reviewed on Xbox One

Available on PC, Playstation 4

Uberutang

Published November 11, 2016

Battlefield 1 is a completely different game in all ways but one to Infinite Warfare and Titanfall 2, so leaving that one out of the mix is actually doable.

IW and TF2 has some large overlaps that I will highlight where applicable, but this will not be a head to head comparison as they even these two ‘future shooters’ will have a slightly different audience that plays them for different reasons.

Having broken the Call of Duty franchise into three distinct studios means that Activision can publish a fresh call of duty game each year with (hopefully) some fresh ideas making their way into this franchise.

To refresh some memories we had the World War 2 storyline from Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 3. We then had the one that changed console shooter in ways that are still being explored with Modern Warfare, followed by Modern Warfare 2 and 3. We also have the Black Ops series that now spans Call of Duty World at War, Black Ops, Black Ops2 and Black Ops3.

And finally, the more stand-alone series of games namely: Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare.

Call of Duty Infinite Warfare is the 13th release in the ‘major’ branches of the franchise,

The setting for this outing is the future. Spaceships, space battles, power suits and somewhat recognisable yet futuristic weapons is the tools that you will use to defeat the enemies of earth and more importantly your friends and other MP users online.

Weapon design is from the familiar AR15/M4 to some exotic beam weapons and my current favourite and Assault rifle that breaks in two to form a dual wielding auto pistol weapon!

Like Advanced Warfare and Black Ops3 the player gets access to a ‘rig’ that allows him to double jump, power slide and wall run.This is where the first comparison to Titanfall 2 comes in. To be brutally honest TF2 does the environmental traversal better. You move faster, the controls are tighter yet easier to get used to and the environments were planned with multi-approach traversal in mind. It is by no means terrible in any way, it is simply not up to the unexpected high standard that Titanfall2 has set.

The single player campaign has you fight off what essentially boils down to militant Martians. Former earthling that now adhere to strict military culture and doctrine. (so basically a mix of Klingons and Earth vs Mars from the Expanse). They are mad at Earth for reasons not explained and their leader “space John Snow” will show you what a bad ass he is at every opportunity.

The campaign will take you all over the solar system to some incredibly exotic locations that will take your breath away (pun intended) The first and least impressive mission in on earth, but once you complete that the game opens up and you get to choose where to engage the enemy, be it in space combat with space jets (awesome, they need to spin this off into a full game), space or zero gee infantry action, ship boarding action and land based infantry action.

Strangely the most memorable parts of the single player campaign is the where the game goes off script (for COD) and lets you fly space ships, choose your own paths and by having really memorable and likeable NPC’s to hold your hand while you blast enemies in zero G.

Two of the NPC’s need special mention, with one (E3N) being the absolutely best Call of Duty character ever.

E3N (call me Ethan) is where the game again goes directly up against Titanfall 2’s “BT”. E3N is a robotic soldier with a fantastic personality, ripped straight from Interstellar’s “TARS”. He is witty, fun and has more heart than any of the “human” characters in the game. I think this is where IW beats TF2. E3N is simply more ‘fun’ and ‘human’ than BT.

The other stand out character is David Harewood’s Sgt Omar. He is the stereotypical gruff, tough but with a heart of gold Marine Sergeant, but his performance is exceptional and the ‘relationship’ he builds with E3N is fantastic.

The usual wait to press X, have NPC do Y and move forward slaughtering everything that turns you crosshairs red is in play and it offers no real surprises when it comes to boots on the ground combat, other than some of those previously mentioned exotic locations. Space Infantry combat is great fun and doing ‘zip’ line takedowns in space is brutal and satisfying

The way that you can choose where to strike is a refreshing change of pace for the usual ‘corridor’ shooter aspect that goes with most FPS game and the Space Jet combat missions are really fun.

You can naturally pick your load outs and mod you jet etc as is now expected of every shooter game these days.

The visuals are top notch (as can be expected), the sound effects are on point.

If you like Michael Bay movies then you will love the Single Player campaign in Infinite Warfare.

The Zombie COOP is more colourful and better than ever with some awesome playable ‘cameos’ (no spoilers) and it will work that corporation bond between you and your mates to breaking point. The 80’s setting space amusement park is fun and a really great environment to fight off the undead in and hopefully the next few maps they release can keep this up.

Multiplayer is the probably the reason why you bought this game and if you liked Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 you will love this. The wall running, double jumping power sliding moves are all back and a little more tweaked and polished than last year.

Always run is gone and the pace is slower than in Black Ops3, and that might put some fans off, but for older gamers like me it is a welcome change of pace (hur hur hur) The pick 10 system is back (10 slots can be filled with weapons, attachments, equipment and perks) Your rig and score streak layouts do not count towards the 10 points per load out you spend so there is a fair degree of freedom to build the ideal soldier for every engagement. Rigs have different core attributes (like speed vs power) that you can pair with different payloads (more damage, quicker escapes, etc.)

So far all matchmaking seem to happen over P2P… so unless you peer with local players the LAG will get you. If you play during the evenings where most people in your region will be playing then you will find a lobby fast (provided it is a popular playlist like team deathmatch), however early morning before work, or playing at ‘non-regional’ hours simply dumps you in lobbies that are to empty to start the game. Really unfortunate as games like Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 now runs on dedicated servers, meaning you can always find a lobby at any time of day or night.

The spawn system is also not quite what it should be, you can often be spawned directly in font of an enemy player. For a ‘casual’ Call of Duty player like myself, some of the maps feel a little familiar to Black Ops3 (smaller and less vertical though) and Advanced Warfare, but that should not be a surprise to any seasoned Call of Duty player.

Overall it is a nice MP packages that I would love to love, but the peering and spawn issues are a concern.

The pace and action is also very familiar to anybody that has played COD over the last 5 years. If however you are a fan of the more classic Call of Duty from the Modern Warfare days then you might not love this…however if you bought the Legacy edition then you are in for a treat.

Modern Warfare remastered is included in the Legacy edition (not sold separately ) and it is the ‘best’ version of the now classic game available on consoles (PC gamers have had it in some form or another via MODS, to hard to argue best there, but this one does have improved textures…)

It ships with some fan favourite multiplayer maps and it is sure to pull hard on those nostalgia strings. For many this was the first taste of online multiplayer and truth be told it still puts a smile on my face to run through very familiar maps and react purely on muscle memory to situations that are intimately familiar to any gamer from the 360-era.

The graphical enhancements are great, but sadly some of the ‘older’ issues with games from that era are now very jarring. Your AI teammates have no idea where you are and will often bump you out of cover, going about their scripted ways. Getting stuck into doorways or stairs is a common enough thing to be noticeable also.

Modern Warfare Remastered holds up well and is as fun as ever and you can never go wrong with a zombie horde mode in a game it seems.

My initial plan was to review this game in isolation, with no mention of either Battlefield 1 or Titanfall 2, but I realise that would be foolish as at least two of these titles are competing for a large portion of the same market. Battlefield 1 is a completely different game in all ways but one to Infinite Warfare and Titanfall 2, so leaving that one out of the mix is actually doable. IW and TF2 has some large overlaps that I will highlight where applicable, but this will not be a head to head comparison as they even these two ‘future shooters’ will have a slightly different audience that plays them for different reasons. Having broken the Call of Duty franchise into three distinct studios means that Activision can publish a fresh call of duty game each year with (hopefully) some fresh ideas making their way into this franchise. To refresh some memories we had the World War 2 storyline from Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 3. We then had the one that changed console shooter in ways that are still being explored with Modern Warfare, followed by Modern Warfare 2 and 3. We also have the Black Ops series that now spans Call of Duty World at War, Black Ops, Black Ops2 and Black Ops3. And finally, the more stand-alone series of games namely: Ghosts, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare. Call of Duty Infinite Warfare is the 13th release in the ‘major’ branches of the franchise, The setting for this outing is the future. Spaceships, space battles, power suits and somewhat recognisable yet futuristic weapons is the tools that you will use to defeat the enemies of earth and more importantly your friends and other MP users online. Weapon design is from the familiar AR15/M4 to some exotic beam weapons and my current favourite and Assault rifle that breaks in two to form a dual wielding auto pistol weapon! Like Advanced Warfare and Black Ops3 the player gets access to a ‘rig’ that allows him to double jump, power slide and wall run.This is where the first comparison to Titanfall 2 comes in. To be brutally honest TF2 does the environmental traversal better. You move faster, the controls are tighter yet easier to get used to and the environments were planned with multi-approach traversal in mind. It is by no means terrible in any way, it is simply not up to the unexpected high standard that Titanfall2 has set. The single player campaign has you fight off what essentially boils down to militant Martians. Former earthling that now adhere to strict military culture and doctrine. (so basically a mix of Klingons and Earth vs Mars from the Expanse). They are mad at Earth for reasons not explained and their leader “space John Snow” will show you what a bad ass he is at every opportunity. The campaign will take you all over the solar system to some incredibly exotic locations that will…

Video Game Review: Call of Duty – Infinite Warfare – Infinite Increments

2016-11-11

Uberutang

Total - 7

70 7

So is this the Call of Duty game for you? If you are into competitive play (the game supports LAN play on all platforms) then this is an easy choice. It ticks all the Call of Duty boxes, it is more polished than the previous release from Infinity Ward and it has a better than expected Single Player campaign. The matchmaking and spawn system needs work, so keep that in mind. Fair warning to new players : the online community is as hardcore as ever and you will die often. Some gamers can slip into a new Call of Duty on day 1 and just dominate. I’m not one of those, unfortunately (I can happily blame my age now).

User Rating: Be the first one !

PSA to our Windows (PC) gamers: The Windows 10 Store version of the game and the Steam Store for Windows of the game is not compatible for Multiplayer (and COOP) matchmaking.

It uses XBOX Live for Windows services on Windows 10 store and Steam works for Windows for the steam version. Currently, there is no plan by Infinity Ward or Activision to create their own matchmaking solution or to enable cross-platform play between the two versions.

We recommend you get the game on Steam since the user pool there will be significantly larger.

The following two tabs change content below. - Bio

Latest Posts

Uberutang

Gaming / Tech Author at Geek Node

When I asked my mom where I was from she said they caught a wild ape and shaved it… she weren’t joking.

This primate has an unhealthy obsession with all things tech and pc gaming and when not in front of his Battlestation he can be found roaming the Cape wildlands with his motorcycle.