E3 2016: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Impressions
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare appears to be one of the most hated games in a long time. Maybe people are finally burnt out on the yearly iterations? Maybe the story has finally gotten stale? Maybe people are upset that this game is standing between them and Modern Warfare Remastered? Whatever the case may be, the short demo I got to see this past Sunday has me looking past all the internet hate, and taking notice.
The planet is running out of resources to support the human race. We know this today, and Infinite Warfare looks to the future where that is a reality. The human race has ventured into space, and is mining for resources on other planets, asteroids, and moons. This has resulted in a very tense situation between the UNSA, the Earthly alliance, and the Settlement Defense Force, which looks to disrupt the supply chains, and ultimately control the human race. You'll play a Captain Reyes, a field promoted officer that now has the distinct honor of USS Redemption, and is now responsible for all the lives aboard his craft, one of the last few standing as the Settlement Defense Force has chosen to launch a sneak attack during the UNSA's Fleet Week.
A look at the early stages of the game took us through a fight in the middle of the UNSA's celebration, as Reyes and his squad need to make a quick jump to space to fight off the SetDef after a seamless transition from ground combat to space. He'll be joined by his crew, the members of the Special Combat Air Recon (S.C.A.R.) squad, as they must hold the line against SetDef, and take the fight to them, through your standard story missions, and some non-linear side missions that help your ship and crew put up a stronger fight.
Combat on solid ground and out in space is fast and frantic, just from what was shown in the demo, and during the skirmishes, it's possible to scuttle enemy ships, or board them and destroy them from within. Hopping out into the middle of space from Reyes' ship, he's able to get around using a tether line that grapples him from point to point. Space combat dogfights are full of missiles, decoy flares, and plenty of space debris to navigate around. The health regen system that the game normally employs is also used to dictate your ship health, so as to keep the gameplay familiar to the rest of the game.
The story this time around seems to have been simplified a bit compared to Black Ops 3, where Reyes must make the choice between keeping his crew safe, and completing the mission and is inspired by movies like Black Hawk Down, and Saving Private Ryan. Hopefully the guys at Infinity Ward can avoid another disappointment like Call of Duty: Ghosts, but with the short bit I've seen, I'm cautiously optimistic.
