Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Genre: Action | FPS
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Introduction
Talk about underrated...
This game man... Alright so, this is one of the few games i actually tried (and failed) to 100% because of how nice it was to me, even despite the fact i was playing on an XBOX ONE and not on a device which could comfortably run it without stutters.
I did play the campaign and finished it, i also played the mode after you finish the campaign but i didn't finish that; also, another important part of this: the zombies mode of course.
Note that i did not play online multiplayer, HOWEVER, i did play local with bots so much that i think it is worth talking about the "multiplayer" game mode, at least the local one.
Story
Ok so, while the story is still one of those "allies VS baddies" type of stories, it has enough character and flair to it to be enjoyable and kinda it's own thing.
The story takes place mostly on solid ground and has you running through your own city (and others as well) clearing out a military asset that has "invaded" your territory.
Going through the city while people were panicking trying to hide and get to safety while at the same time having to fight these guys shooting at you was pretty cool and i dare say cinematic, even.
From the very first mission, you get put into this sorta cinematic universe, giant space ships crashing down to earth, tsunamis, cool weather etcetera.
Now, i won't go into depth with the campaign because then i'd have to mark half of what i write as spoiler; just know that this campaign is quite different compared to other campaigns from previous Call Of Duty games, and while yes, some of the previous games allowed you to change your loadout before a campaign mission (you can do that in Infinite Warfare too) not many of the previous games allowed you to drive around space in a space ship with mounted miniguns, flares and rockets (which funnily enough, was the part of the game i liked the least)
Basic gameplay mechanics
The campaign is linear for the most part but you can choose what to do in some cases, and, i am unsure if i can count it as having different endings based on what you do, but i do not remember it having different endings despite my choices.
You kinda run through the level, clear enemies while using your "jetpack" and boosters and whatnot; every now and then, the level throws some new equipment (tactical shields, hacking equipment, etc) at you which, most of the times you are kinda required to use, otherwise the level would go by at an incredibly slow pace.
Gameplay
Multiplayer (at least local one with bots) really felt like old multiplayer from previous titles such as Modern Warfare 2 but with the movement of Black Ops 3, and the time to kill of Black Ops 1.
It felt very balanced and each weapon had it's time to shine, though i am aware that on the PC Online version, there are things such as weapon variants which offer a clear advantage over the normal versions of the weapons.
The AI of the enemy bots felt pretty "smart", they weren't just running around aimlessly (though sometimes they were predictable) they would instead sometimes lay down with a sniper, crouch in a corner and hold an angle or backtrack to catch you off guard.
I spent a considerable amount of time on the local multiplayer mode alone; infection and gun game were my favorite game modes, though the AI in infection isn't really the smartest, as you can kinda just get on top of a minivan and farm nukes there, though this only happened because i removed the Biospikes (Tomahawks) from their inventories because i have a thing called skill issue and i got bummed out of them always landing the spikes on me from a far.
The zombies mode here was great, though i only played Zombies In Spaceland, i haven't gotten ay of the DLCs, though i might get this game on PC when it goes on sale there, so this review could change later on.
Despite only having one map to work with, i had so much fun with it; i have not beat the easter egg though as some steps were too hard for me to do on console, though i got pretty far, i got obliterated by the boss but, i will count that as a win.
The map is 80s themed and you can tell; there's 80s music playing in the background, not from your UI or in game audio, but from the speakers placed around the map, which i think is so cool, and makes music less invasive.
This game has a 3 hit down system, which means after you get hit 3 times, you go down and it's GG, and THESE ZOMBIES ARE AGGRESSIVE, MAN.
Sometimes, i'd game over on round 2 or 3 because sometimes zombies do a neat little attack which basically slaps you twice in quick succession, so if you had gotten hit by another one before that, it's GGs.
The map oozes with presonality and it's full of easter eggs and cool little things; everything feels like it works well together with other things, like the arcade with the tickets system, or the traps with the arcane core upgrades, etcetera.
Thoguh i gotta say, i would have never guessed how to do the easter egg on this map without a guide because one or two of the steps are kinda obscure but that's mostly a skill issue on my side, as there are some hints around the map which can guide you through it, though you would only notice it after playing the map quite a few times (there's even David Hasselhoff on this map and if you talk to him, he mentions he needs all the pieces before you can talk to him and get something from him, i somehow missed that in my first playthrough).
It felt like the devs had fun making this map, throwing zombie clowns at you, a big dude in an alien suit that shoots a laser at you, colorful rides and zombies, USABLE rollercoaster, arcade store where you can play arcade games and a bunch of other things you can play with, a freeze ray, freeze grenades, rewind grenades, plasma grenades, gas grenades, arcane cores, double pack-a-punch, and so on.
Graphics
Graphics are really nice, especially for an older game like this one, and even when there's corners being cut, it's done well and not in a jarring way.
Overall pretty good and realistic enough.
Sound Design
The sound design is pretty good on this one; bullet weapons sound pretty good and most of them are distinct and recognizable while energy weapons feel very punchy/bassy, kinda heavy even, though most of them sound similar
Music's pretty good for a Call Of Duty game but, the most points are scored by the ambient noises' sound design, sitting next to a blackhole and being able to hear it while also hearing your station being torn apart by it is in my opinion, pretty cool.
Enemies
The enemies are your average military guys but with space equipment, though the game does throw at you some big robots and smaller robots here and there.
As for the Zombies game mode (as far as Zombies In Spaceland has), there's just the zombies, the Brute and the space clowns (and well, the alien boss), i am not including the ghosts from that skull arcade machine thingy because that's an Easter Egg.
Weapons
The weapons are cool and unique.
While some of them might seem standard (like the Volk straight up just being a laser AK-47) they look and sound different from their standard counterparts enough to be their own thing.
One thing that bothers me is how many people do not know that many of the weapons have a secondary mode, which turns the weapon into something else, for example, the EBR goes from a sniper rifle to an assault rifle, the Type-2 goes from a rifle to dual SMGS, or an even more obscure one is the R-VN going from a 2 burst rifle to an electric meat tenderizer, like WHAT?
There's also a bunch of different grenades which all do different things, they're pretty fun to play around with, especially in the zombies game mode.
Conclusion
This game is unfortunately underappreciated due to it's release being right after Black Ops 3, and also due to the fact that people were tired of futuristic games being released (BO2 and BO3 were futuristic games); pair that with the not so good launch of the game and general drama that seems to persist on every Call Of Duty game ever released and you get a badly received game.
I'd say that this is a good game which can be enjoyed even without the paid DLCs and the online part of it; i would recommend people to buy it once it is on sale for like 20 bucks with the DLCs, possibly.
- You're my brother, Ethan