The annual Call of Duty instalment once again steps into future warfare, but this time in a far-flung age where off-world colonies have sprung up, thrived and now threaten the order of things.
In the single-player campaign, you play as Captain Reyes, an elite soldier who takes the helm of the Retribution, one of Earth’s last remaining warships. You take to the stars after a Pearl Harbor-style attack on your homeworld that serves up a typically spectacular opening set piece where much of your fleet ends up crashing and burning in the city streets below.
Reyes must defend his home against this relentless enemy force. Along with the boots on the ground, and duck-and-cover gunplay, a hallmark of the series, this outing lets you pilot your own jet fighter known as the Jackal, in free-flying aerial battles both on Earth and in space.
There’s lots of jet packs, anti-gravity grenades, portable spider bombs that chase after targets, heavy air support from patrolling jet fighters and space combat, whether that’s racing across a lunar landscape on the back of a jeep or spaceship battles amongst the stars. There’s even wall-running as found in Titanfall 2, just no way near as satisfying to execute.
And that’s the problem with this iteration; yes, we still have a robust online multiplayer and the zombie survival mode, which includes a new four-player cooperative feature is still great fun, but for all the futuristic-style combat it feels very much like old ground is being retrod.
Part of this is down to the handling. Boots never feel fully on the ground, instead you just sort of drift along as you push the thumbstick forward. This isn’t a depiction of low gravity, those sequences work well within the physics engine; instead it’s the normal running along that just feels unrealistic.
This is still a polished shooter, at times bordering on very good
Likewise the firepower feels lightweight, especially as you’re often fighting robots or heavily armoured personnel that take forever to bite the dust. And the story spread over a typically short six hours never properly sucks you in – no matter how many set pieces and "big ideas" the developers throw at you.
But let’s reign in the criticisms for a minute. This is still a polished shooter, at times bordering on very good. Blowing out windows in a space station and watching half a dozen bad guys get sucked out to infinity and beyond is undoubted fun. But in the same release window as the likes of Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1, this Call of Duty offering stands in shadows.
There’s just far too much "more of the same" even down to the pithy quotes and blurred screen when you get killed – an effect that has been in the series for generations. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is a jaunt into the distant future complete with creaky gameplay from yesteryear – fun but forgettable.
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