Our bite-size bald battler blasts baddies ~

Lloyd Sabin, 5 March 2018

And each one of these set-piece battles is invigorating…not just exciting, not just well done, but hard driving, balls to the wall fun

Some games just grab on and never let go – especially in the world of first person shooters. Call of Duty has a long and proud gaming history, replete with fantastic single player campaigns, but has met a downturn in the last few years.

With the installment of Infinite Warfare (IW), the single player component was not only revitalized, it was supercharged. IW has received some flak from some players, but honestly I cannot see why. In the single player campaign alone players get to fight in space-based dogfights, lead infantry assaults, besiege giant capital ships, fight mechs and even, for a few fleeting moments, pilot a huge battlecruiser.

And each one of these set-piece battles is invigorating…not just exciting, not just well done, but hard driving, balls to the wall fun, with all kinds of space-based troop types including sailors, marines, battle droids, assault troops…if you can think of it, it is probably included in IW. And the arsenal at your command? As you level up, the player’s arsenal reaches fantastic levels of wonder. Each weapon has an intricate design and a serious heft to them that the player can feel, and using them is just a blast (heh).

The story itself is set only about 200 years in the future, so IW does not span trillions of light years…it only takes place in our own galaxy, and there are scenes taking place either on or in orbit above our immediate earthly neighbors. So if you like your sci-fi shooters grounded in a semblance of reality, you will probably dig the conflict portrayed in the war between Earth and Mars factions here. I certainly did.

And the graphics…my God man, the graphics. This game came out about two years ago, but it looks absolutely stunning, still. Every scene is filled with something totally absurd but incredible, something that will make you shout out ‘holy shit!’ with glee and keep begging for more. I was never bored with IW and never hesitated to boot it up…I always wanted more and never felt overwhelmed. You can even choose which secondary missions to play next, a la the fleet manager in Assassin’s Creed: Rogue…except here in IW you play the missions out in first person (and in space, of course).

And besides being a major can of testosterone drenched bad-assery, IW also elicits emotion…you begin to feel attached to the major secondary characters, even the battle droid who is a part of your team.

If you’re looking some serious space based firefights, whether infantry, orbital or spacecraft based, look no further than the single player campaign of IW. When shopping around for this game, I was told that the only sci-fi single player based campaign that could compete with it was Titanfall 2. I can’t wait to see how that game compares, because IW is just incredible. See for yourself in the shots below.

The game begins when this Mars-based rogue needlessly slays some of your marines. Then he mutters something about winter coming.

After the initial Martian encounter you are back on Earth for fleet week…set 200 years from now. You have worked with Salter for some time and she will be with you throughout this entire campaign. Better get used to her.

Fleet week of the future is more awe-inspiring than it is now. Until something goes wrong.

Make that VERY wrong. The Settlement Defense Front (SDR), based on Mars, has used Earth’s fleet week to stage a massive terror attack, including turning their own weapons against them. Time to get spaceborne.

That is the city of Geneva, Switzerland, where the Earth-based military is headquartered. Remember the skyline because it’s not going to look that good much longer.

There he is again, the leader of the angry Mars-based SDF. This time he has more threats. Winter has come.

Whatever ships of the Earth-based navy survived are rallying. Your new capital ship and home are dead ahead.

It’s total war now between Earth and Mars. This board shows some of the prominent officers who have sided with the Martian faction, a nice touch based in the recent history of our own world. The in-game board will evolve and change as the campaign goes on.

A shot of the bridge of your new capital ship.

Another shot of the bridge and the command console.

Before each mission you can choose which weapons to carry. You can create your own load out or use a recommended one. The weapons are extremely well done. Your Jackal (think space-based F35 variant) can also be loaded out and even customized with a variety of different paint schemes.

Honestly there is a metric ton more content to show here and I have barely scratched the surface to do IW justice, so I will cover the rest in another 2-3 installments.

For the most part the game ran perfectly smooth, except for one major issue during the playback of cut scenes. 75% of the time the audio for the cut scenes would get totally garbled and become de-synched from what was being played on screen, ruining the immersion. This was the one and only tech issue I had with IW…otherwise it ran flawlessly, especially in game. It was a shame though because some of the cut scenes looked magnificent, only to get nerfed by the wonky audio playback.

More to come of IW in the coming weeks!

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