Hidden away from the E3 show floor, Activision was able to unveil extensive gameplay of both of the upcoming Call of Duty titles: Infinite Warfare and the remastered Modern Warfare. The demo showed the previously teased “Ship Assault” mission, as well as two others that have yet to be released.
The developers at Infinity Ward wanted to make it very clear that even though the new title would feature epic new space combat in addition to more traditional boots on the ground. Taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, a team of soldiers are ambushed by an invasion of the Settlement Defense Front. The full scale assault decimates the city, leaving it up to the main character, Lieutenant Reyes and his crew to push enemy forces off of the planet.
The invasion force comes in the form of a robotic army with a few human meat bags thrown into the mix. The AIs are quick and powerful and begin their invasion through small drop pods carrying individual units. Reyes and his team sweep through the city, clearing out any and all of the forces until the end up at the center of the action at a courtyard tower. A sequence that was also teased in the initial trailer.
The main gameplay involves the classic assault rifle as a means to rid Geneva of the robot army, but also introduces an updated rapid fire shot gun that is able to guide the tiny bullets into critical areas of the enemy body. Making the weapon much more accurate and effective, while still limiting it to more close range combat.
The gadgets of Infinite warfare add to the theme of deadly A.I. as players are treated to a new Spider drone. The drone crawls around in a spider-like fashion until it finds the target that the player sets a mark on. Once it reaches a specific range, it detonates itself, killing any nearby enemies.
As the player makes their way to the final objective at the courtyard tower, an incoming battalion of robots arrive on the battlefield. As a last attempt to end the siege, the player takes control of another new gadget that allows you to hack into one of the robots and trigger its self destruct. Destroying the incoming fleet and forcing SDF to retreat to their orbiting fleet.
The fight doesn’t end there however, as the company is able to continue the chase by calling in their fighter jets. Capable of both atmospheric and orbital flight, the team race outside of the atmosphere where they bare witness to a fleet of both friendly and enemy battle cruisers.
The chase ends with a demonstration of the control schemes for the fighter jets. Players will be able to move in a traditional flight pattern at incredible speeds with the added ability of a rechargeable boost. The jet has two main weapons which are to side mounted chain guns, and missiles with the ability to lock on to enemy targets within a certain area of the dashboard.
The player flies relatively freely throughout the battlefield as they navigate exploding wreckage and the turrets on enemy cruisers. While there may very well be a dreaded invisible wall somewhere outside of the battle, the limitations are impossible to find thanks to the free flight movement.
After an exclusive look at the gameplay and gadgetry of a futuristic war, the end of the space dogfight then transitions into the very familiar Modern Warfare mission, “Crew Expendable”. The internet is littered with gameplay of the mission on the previous generation of the game, but the mission follows Task Force 141 operatives as they infiltrate a Russian vessel to locate a nuclear weapon.
As familiar as the mission is, fans of the series will be excited to see the updates made to scenery and gameplay. For starters, the water effects introduced at the beginning of the level look much less blocky as the updated engine registers a more fluid look to the crashing waves. The reflections of drenched surfaces have a much more reflective nature and react better with atmospheric lighting.
The basic look of the Modern Warfare gameplay shows improved fire simulations, and lighting effects, but the gameplay we saw measured somewhere in between the original game and Infinite Warfare. However, the biggest surprise from the demo came from the improved audio. The demo didn’t feature completely re-recorded audio, but it was noticeably enhanced to a higher quality than the original title was able to produce.
The upcoming titles from Activision may have received a fair amount of bad press since the announcement, but the E3 demonstration did illustrate a beautiful looking title with improved gameplay. Fans of Call of Duty will be sure to enjoy the latest entry in the franchise and can get their hands on Infinite Warfare and the Modern Warfare remaster when it launches on November 4, for the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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