The Call of Duty series has taken us from the beaches of Normandy to the jungles of Vietnam. There have been many games released in this series ranging from black ops to advanced warfare. The latest game in the series is Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and gamers had hated the initial trailer. Does the game rate for you to spend your hard earned money on, or should you go with another game that is coming out in the next few weeks?
The campaign takes place in the future where the United Nation Space Alliance was formed to branch out into the galaxy. They had created colonies on other worlds so that Earth could thrive and flourish throughout the galaxy. During fleet week in Geneva, as a celebration of the UNSA and their ships, the defense cannons start to come online targeting friendly ships. Amongst the chaos the forces of the Settlement Defense Front start killing civilians and military personnel alike. This new enemy wants to see Earth punished for its actions. The single player campaign is great as there are a lot of great moments as you will choose where to strike next. This sets it apart from most of the other Call of Duty games where you had to go from one mission to the next in a linear fashion. Also, you will take control of the UNSA Retribution, a warship that will serve as your base of operations. You will be able to customize your loadouts and obtain new technology as you make your way through the campaign. The campaign, however, is VERY short and if you love the single player experience, while there are a lot of great moments, you will be done with it rather quickly. This campaign can be done in around 5 hours (with around 7-8 on a harder difficulty). However, this has been the norm with the Call of Duty games as of late as they are focusing on a multiplayer experience.
The multiplayer in the game is on par with the other games in the series with a few changes. The specialists that were introduced in Black Ops 3 are back, but in the form of Rigs. These combat Rigs have different abilities as you gain kills in combat. A meter fills and when it is filled you can use that ability. There are three Rigs that you start out with and they are the Merc (with steel dragon a beam weapon that can hit multiple targets), Warfighter (that has a claw weapon that can shoot in a wide spread) and Synaptic (a robot that has twin machine pistols). There are a total of six Rigs in the game and while it doesn’t sound like a lot they can be customized with various payloads to fit your playstyle. However, there are some problems with the multiplayer as well and the first has to be the matchmaking. I had gotten the game during the week and tried to find a lobby. I spent nearly a half hour looking before I had given up. My other problem is that the multiplayer maps do not flow as well as the ones in Black Ops 3. In Black Ops 3 there was plenty of room to move around and some of the maps in this game feel claustrophobic. There are certain choke points you can just camp in and rack up a bunch of kills.
Zombies has to be the saving grace of Infinite Warfare as everything about this mode is perfect! You are called to a creepy movie theater to audition in a part for Willard Wyler’s new horror movie. After being a recluse for years he has come out of retirement and has chosen you to be in his new film. As you take your seat in the theater, however, a portal opens up through the screen and sucks you into the movie. The movie is called Zombies in Spaceland and takes place at an amusement park called Spaceland. You can choose to play as the nerd (Poindexter), the jock (A.J.), the rapper (Andre) or the valley girl (Sally). What is great about this new zombie’s mode is that it takes place in the 80’s and everything reflects it. From the decor in the park, to the zombies themselves and there is even a DJ spinning tunes while you play. And the DJ is played by none other than David Hasselhoff! This for me is the best part of Infinite Warfare and I hope they come out with more content for this mode (perhaps branching out into more of Wyler’s other films?) Only time will tell.
But that’s not all folks. If you buy the Legacy edition of the game you will also get a copy of Modern Warfare remastered. Yes, you heard right as you can play the game that started the warfare franchise both online and in the campaign mode. I have to say that I have been playing the campaign and when Charlie Don’t Surf loaded up I was blown away with the new slick looking visuals. This is a great game that needs to be played both online and off, but the only drawback is that it currently cannot be purchased separately. You need to plunk down $80 for all the content and Modern Warfare remastered. If you really want to play this game I would suggest waiting as Activision will release a solo pack containing this game.
While this game has a lackluster campaign and a multiplayer mode rife with problems zombies in Spaceland is the saving grace of Call of Duty Infinite Warfare. Hopefully Activision will correct some of these problems and release some great content for this game in the months to come. For more information on this game head over to https://www.callofduty.com/infinitewarfare and get ready to reach for the stars.
