#Infinite warfare time series#

ItвЂ™s certainly no Mass Effect in this respect вЂ“ and while that comparison is harsh, itвЂ™s conditioned by the developerвЂ™s flagrant desire for you to care about your mission and crew the message about prioritising one over the other crowbarred into every conversation. You can select two types of side-mission вЂ“ ship-infiltration or ship-to-ship combat вЂ“ but the benefit of them is merely upgraded equipment. Much is made of the fact youвЂ™re a captain but you canвЂ™t issue orders in the field and, despite a Mass Effect-like galaxy map to navigate on your shipвЂ™s bridge, you cannot shape the campaignвЂ™s outcome. You shot them just the same as all the others thatвЂ™s all you do in CoD. Occasionally, when you kill an enemy, a playing card will pop up to tell you he was a big cheese (in an imitation of the American ploy towards rogue BaвЂ™athists in 2003), but since you only find this out after killing them it renders the whole scheme somewhat pointless. Opposing fighters are simple to lock on to but the game then wrests control away to track them. The physics lack heft and movement feels erratic. The space craft combat sequences are a mess. Attempts to flank the enemy are thwarted by a curt prompt to return to the вЂњcombat zoneвЂќ or be booted. The third time, you just want to drift away forever like Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey.Д«ut even in space, you lack freedom. The first time youвЂ™re blasted out of an airlock itвЂ™s inarguably impressive and it even feels appropriate that youвЂ™re helpless. The sheer number of times the game strips control away from you remains extraordinary вЂ“ after a while, even the most impressive cinematic moments become a deadening intrusion. The old problem of this gameвЂ™s key narrative delivery technique remains: you have to follow computer-controlled characters who yell orders and exposition at you, but often they move too slow and it gets frustrating вЂ“ like attempting to navigate Oxford Street on a particularly chaotic festive shopping day. While traversing these familiar sci-fi environments вЂ“ futuristic cityscape, ice planet, rock planet, space station вЂ“ parkour is mostly unnecessary.Дeveloper Infinity Ward really wants us to care about its characters but doesnвЂ™t give us enough narrative ammo Photograph: Activision Even this concept is a pale imitation of Titanfall at its finest, boasting similar fundamentals but not the conviction to make them integral. ItвЂ™s just that here, those boots are rocket-boosted and wall-run-capable. Disappointingly though, Infinity WardвЂ™s latest offering is mostly the familiar CoD routine of boots-on-the-ground combat in long corridors of choreographed action.

#Infinite warfare time series#

They may not be perfect in execution вЂ“ rotation can become disorientating and enemy AI remains erratic вЂ“ but they at least attempt to jolt this long-running series off its sometimes derided rails. Needless to say, Call of DutyвЂ™s production values ensure such episodes look spectacular. That taken care of, Reyes grapples to his waiting Jackal space fighter and boosts off to begin dogfighting with enemy craft. 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.

These moments usually come when the protagonist, Nick Reyes, leaves terra firma and zips about in zero-gravity, course-correcting with boosters and engaging enemy soldiers against the backdrop of gargantuan spaceships smashing into one another. In the moments that Infinite Warfare has the courage of its convictions, when its various systems sync-up sufficiently, we get a tantalising taste of its true potential.