Game review: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare– fun and fast, but a wasted opportunity
The latest CoD is a case of same-old, same-old: heavily directed combat in long corridors of choreographed and sometimes silly action – even if that action is slick and spectacular
Infinity Ward
3.5/5 stars
In the moments that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) has the courage of its convictions, when its various systems synchronise sufficiently, we get a tantalising taste of its true potential.
These moments usually come when the protagonist, Nick Reyes, leaves terra firma and zips about in zero gravity, using boosters to fly and engaging enemy soldiers against the backdrop of gargantuan spaceships smashing into one another. In between precision shots from his Ghostbusters-like energy weapon, he grapples on to a grunt and pulls the pin on his grenade before kicking him towards two buddies, who look on helplessly as he greets them with an explosion. That taken care of, Reyes grapples to his waiting Jackal space fighter and boosts off to begin dogfighting with enemy craft.
Call of Duty’s production values ensure such episodes look spectacular. They may not be perfect in execution – rotation can become disorientating and enemy AI remains erratic – but they at least attempt to jolt this long-running series off its sometimes derided rails.