E3 2016 may go down as being the first E3 in some time where the gargantuan Call of Duty franchise’s presence almost felt like an afterthought compared to the hype afforded to other properties and the burgeoning VR market, talk of which has dominated the first two days of the year’s biggest games industry trade show. But the series that defined a generation of gaming still soldiers on, and 2016 sees the release of the new Infinite Warfare installment – pushing the franchise even further into the realm of outright science fiction.
While prior installments of the series have featured near-future scenarios involving robotic soldiers and human augmentation, Infinite Warfare takes place in a future where space travel has become both common and highly militarized, and places players in the role of a soldier whose mission will take them across different planets and outer-space installations to thwart a growing military conflict.
The new E3 footage shows off a complete early mission from the single-player mode, where the player begins by receiving a mission briefing aboard a starship before heading out into space itself to engage the enemy in one of the game’s much-hyped new modes: outer-space dogfighting. From there, gameplay returns to standard FPS-shooter format, though with new additions like having to negotiate changing gravity (as the battle moves to the hull and then the interior of an enemy battleship) and making use of a grappling-hook tool to move rapidly through limited-gravity spaces.
Along with the new gameplay features, the video gives players their biggest look yet at the world and aesthetic of Infinite Warfare, which features a dramatically different design from earlier COD installments along with returning favorites from the earlier sci-fi episodes including drone-robot soldiers, hulking combat mechs, and tech-enabled shields and weaponry. Impressively, it still manages to evoke the familair Call of Duty feel rather than resembling any of the myriad other futuristic shooters with the COD name attached.
As has been the case with previous trailers and demos released for the game, the video includes a bonus clip at the end, showing off footage from the “remastered” version of the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which will be included with Legacy Editions of Infinite Warfare.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will be available November 4, 2016 in both Legacy and Deluxe Editions – preorders will include Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Remastered, an HD reworking the title that kickstarted the modern era of Call of Duty games.
Source: Playstation
