Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is the most refined evolution of the series [Review]

Look, it’s difficult to say about the latest Call of Duty game that hasn’t been said about previous Call of Duty games: it looks great, its shooting mechanic is solid, its multiplayer is deep. It sold a fuck-ton upon its release — though obviously dropping last gen support meant a smaller install base — and there are a billion people playing online every second. There’s a very good chance that if you start playing now, you’ll get obliterated and yelled at by your randomized teammates (it happened to me). Hell, it was packaged together with a remake of Modern Warfare, which many feel is the quintessential CoD.

Infinite Warfare is the most “Call of Duty” Call of Duty ever.

But it’s also probably one of the best ones.

Let me backtrack for a bit. Call of Duty has always been an iterative experience. It still very much encapsulates three games (single-player, multiplayer, and Zombies). It survives on a very specific core fanbase that doesn’t like massive change, no matter how vocal it is about it otherwise. The general ethos of the series has always been about getting players acquainted with the game’s shooting mechanic through a short single-player campaign, while the majority of mainstay fans jump right into online modes. And they’re good at online; that’s what they come to the series for. They want to jump into each sequel immediately with as minimal roadblock to the multiplayer they’re familiar with, which means great players on one game are great on the next.

Thereby, the multiplayer experience stays “mostly” the same, with tweaks over giant leaps. The game slows down the pace just a tad over Black Ops III, amounting to what feels like a slight more focus on teamwork and managing other members of our squads. It pulls back the run & gun and lets us pause and aim, and our partners respawn and catch up.

We can personalize our characters much more now, and the Rigs system & load out manipulations give us something to do in between rounds to further make our fighter our own. But customizations aside, multiplayer is still multiplayer, and it’s still good… if we’re good at it. I tend to go headfirst into online whenever I try a new CoD, only to get slaughtered by those I play against. But, playing with and against friends has always been a joy and continues to do so here.

In other words, it’s still Call of Duty multiplayer.

Perhaps that’s why Zombie and campaign modes intrigue me so much in CoD; I can manage my own pace and my own experience at my liking. Infinite Warfare excels at both here, in expanded modes and modifiers that freshen up the play.

Zombies in Spaceland gives a movie-like coat of paint onto the now-traditional mode. Yes, we still need to board up windows, outlast swarms, and survive rounds for as long as possible, but the Eighties design and art direction is very enjoyable and gives the concept new life (no pun intended). The inclusion of usable effects “cards” and a retro, often (happily) cringe-worthy plot can keep me playing for extended periods of time.

But it’s the campaign mode that has undergone the more significant change. It’s not a tunnel, where we’re guided along a plot automatically through blockbuster explosions and plot twists like previous editions. This time around it’s much more of a mission-based system in which we’re asked to take on the SDF (IW’s main protagonist faction) across scenarios that include dogfights in space, extraction of survivors, and raids on bases. These are sprinkled in between a few guided narrative chapters, in which we’re force-fed a space war plot that’s largely forgettable.

It liken it taking in the CoD experience without being stuck to multiplayer to do it; with smaller missions, I still feel like I’m a part of a bigger team, and am being effective instead of the one lagging behind.

There’s repetition in the play, with essentially the same corridor quests to shoot down and the seemingly identical starship battles over and over again, but it’s much more welcome than just being pushed along a conveyor belt. The areas that these missions take place in are much more open, too, requiring us to bounce around a map to accomplish the tasks. The ship battles can be a little difficult — they can be tough to control and it can be difficult to know where we’re getting show from — but it’s a nice diversion from the typical ground game.

It almost makes me want to see the mode expanded, and spread back into more modern times or WWII. The space setting is nice, but Call of Duty has been set in some form of the future for the last 5 or 6 games, and it’s getting a bit tiresome. It’s pretty as all heck, but I’m ready for realism again.

Regardless of the location, Infinite Warfare is the most refined Call of Duty experience yet. It’s not perfect, so squarely aimed at its core audience that it doesn’t push the envelope beyond what they require, but the flashes of new ideas could be a good stepping stone for the series. The multiplayer is the most solid yet, Zombies is in its best iteration, and the changes to the campaign mode could satisfy fans looking for something a little different. Looking back, the series has changed a lot over time, but it’s been the gradual refinement over the past few editions that keep the ship afloat.

It’s a crowded year in gaming, but Call of Duty is (again) a reliable experience.

This review is based on a PS4 retail copy of the game sent to SideQuesting for review.

About the Author: Dali enjoys Call of Duty, but tends to stick to the campaign experience. He’s not very good at online multiplayer, but respects that others are.