Topic: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - OT

@PlaytendoGuy: It actually started yesterday.

So what do you guys gather from all the negativity this game is getting? Especially with big CoD Youtubers like Drift0r out right saying that they don't like IW and plan to be playing MWRM alot more. I am wondering if this CoD does poorly if Activision will either shutdown or pull Infinity Ward off of CoD games.

I've been playing cod every year since Blops 2 and I wasn't impressed with the beta, I'm not buying it.

So decide to give IW MP a try today and I will admit it's better then I thought it was going to be, mind you I still like MWRM more. IW for one feels a bit slower then Black Ops 3 movement wise, not sure if it was suppose to feel that way or is a glitch or what but it was a nice surprise. Might actually put some time into this one just not as much as MWRM.

IW does feel a bit sluggish to me, I think it's because I've been playing TF2 and that games movement is so slick and fast. IW just feels sluggish compared to it

@Hego: I can't compare it too TF2 as I don't plan on playing it or getting it (one FPS like that is enough for me) but others I have talked to say the same thing as well as some Youtubers I watch.

@BAMozzy: I am surprised you haven't popped in here yet and gave us your thoughts on this game, I thought this was one of your most anticipated games this year.

@Tasuki: Call of Duty is one of those games that are generally quite solid and dependable - the same as Fifa is for those that like sports games but rarely something to be overly excited by or game of the year material. Whilst I do like FPS games and I do tend to buy every CoD, they are quite shallow but 'generally' fun games. They tend to be my 'bread and butter' games but not my 'sirloin steak'

I tend to be excited by Story and depth. My favourite games of the past couple of years have been 3rd Person - the Witcher 3, Tomb Raider, Uncharted 4 for example and my most anticipated games coming up are Horizon:ZD, Mass Effect: Andromeda etc. That's not to say I won't buy CoD of course.

I have the Legacy Pro (Modern Warfare: Remastered, Steelbook, Season Pass) edition but like Titanfall 2, I haven't yet installed or started playing any of it. I am waiting until my PS4 Pro arrives. Partly because I have no room on my PS4's 500GB and don't want to delete anything before transferring, and partly because I want to play these at the enhanced levels. I have been more interested in beating the challenge modes in Destiny's 'Heroic' raid too - which feels so much more of an achievement than getting a decent KD in CoD and/or unlocking new gear, emblems, camo's etc.

Therefore I am not really in a place to add my initial thoughts yet.

@BAMozzy: Ah that makes sense. I am always interested to hear your thoughts especially when it comes to CoD.

So after taking about a week of off Infinite Warfare I can say this is the worst CoD game for casual players, unless you want to sink actual money into the game to keep up with people. I tried playing this game and yeah I died so many times to people who had upgraded guns and equipment it was not funny.

Yeah it's gorgeous looking, the movement is better then BO3 but the crafting system just breaks the game for causal players, which is sad because I want to enjoy it despite the backlash it got but yeah. Way to ruin it Infinity Ward.

Now that I have completed the game, Prestiged at least once and tried out the Zombies quite a few times (only Solo), as well as played the other 'big' shooters of the year (apart from BF1), I think its fair to say that Infinite Warfare is being unfairly criticised because of its setting and movement - the movementb I find bizarre as Titanfall gets a lot of praise for this.

As far as the Campaign goes (beaten on Veteran with all trophies collected for campaign), I think its one of the best this year. I much preferred it to last years BO3 and actually preferred it to Doom (got bored half way through) and Titanfall2 as well. Titanfall2 seems to get a lot of praise but I really can't see why. It follows the same 'pattern' every mission as you start each with (or next to) BT, get separated and then have to do some platforming, some combat, more platforming, a bit more combat before some more platforming to reunite with BT and then a Boss fight with some of the most repetitive dialogue in a game. Yes BT and your character have some good (not great) dialogue but the supporting cast are poor and forgettable. The story itself isn't that great either. There is one stand-out mission where you swap your invisibility for a time travel control - which adds a new dimension (pun intended) to both the combat and platforming - having to jump back and forth between 2 different times to traverse areas and fight - butt that's over quite quickly. Doom is just the same thing over and over and over again - slight different backdrop and higher enemy count or bigger bullet sponges. Movement seems quite slow considering its just a movement based shooter too - all one speed and a bit faster than walking but not a sprint or as fast paced as TF2 can be. TF2 may have slow moments in between its combat but so does Doom - if you clear out an Area, the enemies are gone and the game often needs some backtracking or platforming to get to the next area and repeat the same combat style again and again. Glory kills are quite good fun in the beginning but get tired very quickly as you try to set up the thousandth one to get a bit more health or ammo... Both games look good and play well though. In terms of MP, Titanfall 2 is definitely better.

This brings me to Infinite Warfare. The story itself is much better, more cohesive and has a better supporting cast too. In terms of game-play, its more varied as well - a mix of on foot and air-combat (more like Battlefront should have had). OK so it doesn't have a Giant robot combat like Titanfall (which feels more ponderous in combat) or the Blood splattering Glory Kills of Doom but as a Single player, story driven campaign its better than both of these in my opinion and like those, plays very well and looks stunning on the PS4 Pro (no wonder Digital Foundry rate this as one of the best looking games on the Pro at 4k).

I know MP is personal choice but I prefer the variety, not just in customisation, weapons etc, but game modes too that IW offers over TF2's options - some of which have been almost copy and pasted from CoD - I guess that's fair as you could argue CoD copied TF's movement although Advanced Warfare released 6months after TF and been in development for just as long but I doubt they had time to redesign the whole game to incorporate this. Yes TF2's movement is more 'fluid' but the maps are bigger and more 'random' in how they 'flow'. AW proved that this fluid movement in smaller maps doesn't work well and ruins any 'flow' that CoD has and affected spawns too.

As for the crafting/supply drop issue, as much as I hate micro-transactional content - especially those that are non-cosmetic, this is the fairest that CoD has had in the past 2-3 years. The fact that every weapon is obtainable through playing the game and you can decide which weapons you want to have, makes this a better system. I am not saying I like it because I would rather see NO micro-transactional boosting to get these weapons faster. It certainly doesn't break the game at all and whilst 'some' are better than the 'stock' variation by having additional 'perks - like tighter hip-fire accuracy, a bit more range, bonus score for headshot kills or bonus 'payload' filling for kills, these don't affect every combat situation. Yes a gun with more range will stand a better chance of winning a gun fight against a base model variant at those longer distances but in the standard range its no more effective at all. Most of the perks are like a bonus attachment - like a laser sight for steady aim to increase hip fire accuracy but ALL weapons are obtainable without spending ANY extra money and I certainly don't see any 'upgrades' to equipment. I think the crafting system itself adds an extra dimension to CoD, something else to keep playing for to get the 'salvage' to craft these weapons. Some of them are only available through Supply Drops (but you can earn these by playing) and some are rewards from your Mission Team only. Like I said, I would prefer not to see any Micro-transactional content (especially if its non-cosmetic) but crafting itself isn't an issue and the more you play, the more salvage and supply drops you earn, the more variations you can get - maybe that isn't great for 'newcomers' or 'casual' players as they are unlikely to get many of these but from my perspective its an additional reward for playing longer.

Maybe @Tasuki the extra deaths were more of a result of playing against more experienced players and not being up to speed with the pace of this game compared to something like Modern Warfare for example rather than the variants?

Zombies is a lot fun too. Its very similar to Treyarchs Zombies and plays very similarly too. The difference being that IW's Zombies is more 'fun' in its setting where as Treyarch focuses more on the Horror side. Its more a b-movie comedy horror than a frightfest. I would love to play this more with a bunch of friends...

@BAMozzy: The extra deaths could be, maybe add a bit map knowledge in there too since I don't know the maps as well. However it seemed when I was confronted by a face to face confrontation, the gun with the variables always won.

Still I have pretty much written off IW this year as my CoD. Funny thing is my friend recently got an Xbox One along with BO3 on it (He won't play Infinity Ward CoD games, he likes Treyarch) and Idk after reevaluating it I just find BO3 more enjoyable, although I will say I like the movement better in IW but overall BO3. The specialists seem to have more personality then the rigs, it doesn't deal with all these varients and the specialists just seemed more balanced as well.

As for supply drops go so far I like how MWR is handling supply drops just as long as they keep it cosmetic, which I am fearing they wont.

@Tasuki: NOBODY uses the base model. The variants always have at least 1 free bonus/perk - even if ts a really 'naff' bonus its better than no bonus. Also, who wants to use a 'common' weapon weapon when the could use a Legendary or Epic one instead. EVERY person that kills you, unless they have literally only just started, will be using a variant of some description - it makes NO sense to use a common weapon unless that's all you have. I bet everyone you killed too had a variant equipped but you don't see that at the time. I think all the perks/bonuses are literally nothing more than a free attachment - increase range is a rifled barrel, reduced hip spread is laser sight. The others aren't game breaking - get bonus damage for crotch shots instead of headshots (not as well as), get 5 kills and replenish your lethal/tacticals (scavenger used to do that with every kill), double kills reload your magazine...

I agree the characters of BO3 had more personality than Rigs but that is a minor thing. I preferred the older style of 'create a soldier' without these gimmicks anyway but most of the rigs are not that dissimilar from the specialists. BO3 though has some OP weapons that are ONLY available in supply drops that you will probably never get. At least with variants, you might not get the specific variant you want (unless you play a lot and create it from Salvage) - I got 3 Variants just by logging in this week incidentally - but you are not excluded from using any of the weapons and can put on the attachments to create a 'version' of these that feels the same. I don't think its unbalanced at all as the variants are literally the base model with a free attachment built in so its no different in essence from balancing the weapons and attachments - its far easier to balance the core weapons and attachments than if they keep increasing the types of weapons available like BO3 has. Everytime BO3 introduced a new weapon - it affected the meta and balance of the game - it also annoyed more people as it meant yet more weapons that they would probably never get. Like I said virtually ALL variants are attainable in CoD:IW if you play a lot.

I certainly do agree that MWr's method of Supply Drops is more acceptable but only because everything is purely cosmetic (at the moment). Treyarchs games have generally been a bit slower than IW's - especially in TTK and not always had the best hit detection either. They also have a slightly different look to them as well but I must admit I like both equally but for different reasons.

Of the four (Doom, TF2, IW and MWr), I much prefer Infinite Warfare's MP. The point of my post was to evaluate and give my verdict. As I spend a lot of time gaming Solo rather than with friends, I find myself playing IW's MP far more than the others. I don't like Dooms, MWr is frustrating and flawed - but I knew that before it released and also more unbalanced than the later CoD's too, TF2 is OK but not as fun, much more limited etc so IW is the best. Maybe if I was to add in BO3 to the Mix, BO3's may have the edge - but I have already played that to the point where I wanted something new.

@BAMozzy: That's the best way I have heard someone put it and I agree with you, "Like I said virtually ALL variants are attainable in CoD:IW if you play a lot". And that there in lies my problem I just dont play IW enough to keep up unless of course I want to spend actually money for keys or salvage or whatever you want to call it. And honestly any game that I have to buy stuff to keep up with others that have better gear which can give you an edge is not a game I will be playing much.

Yeah people say well you just gotta get good at the game and learn the maps but come on let's be honest this is Activision's plan which is a smart business move but that's another story. The want you to play their game 24/7 every game developer wants that and if you can't oh well for those that either have other responsibilities or want to play other games well just fork out that cash to keep up. Yeah sorry I can't revolve my life around a game I like variety and have responsibilities that I can't ignore.

@Tasuki: I think you missed the point. Whilst ALL can be obtained if you play a lot or buy your way to owning them, you don't need any to do well. Most have essentially a free attachment and some 'bonus' like get 25 kills in a row and earn a nuke - something that wasn't on a specific gun before or earn an extra 10pts to your score per headshot kill. I am sure you don't need 'every' variation for every weapon. Just by playing you earn rep towards one of 4 mission teams and each time you reach a certain level (10, 20 etc) you get a new variation. There is also a lot you can craft with salvage and the 'epic's' maybe 'expensive, but I find some of the legendaries have better bonuses for my playstyle. I can play for a few hours and earn enough for 2 'Rare' Supply Drops too which have a chance of dropping a variant but I have used the base models to great success - I think my KD is around 1.5+ and don't have many epics at all. Some of the Epics I do have, I don't use as the bonuses don't suit my game-play (I doubt I will go on a nuclear 25 kill streak in Hardcore) or a weapon I don't use (like Shotguns or pistols). Just read through the perks/bonuses of the weapons you like to use and save up your salvage to unlock the specific variant you like.

All MP games are like this though. There is always someone who knows the maps better than you, know the best routes, etc. CoD is no different. Games with quicker TTK's and faster paced are less forgiving in that you don't have time to react. I remember you saying a lot of similar things at the start of Black Ops 3 too. Some of the best weapons in the game though are available at the start - the NV4 for example is very popular and a starting weapon. The base model is no worse than the Epic variants and hits just as hard. Like all CoD's, the more you play, the more you unlock - including attachments and scopes. Anyone who plays enough, will unlock more attachments, perks and of course weapons (not just variants) and equipment as these are based on your level - just like MWr and BO3. Like BO3, you had to learn those maps, learn which weapons you liked, which weapons worked best for you on those maps and as you played, you unlocked more gear, more perks, more attachments etc too. Like BO3, it gets easier as you move through the prestiges. Your weapons keep their attachments (until you prestige them), you get to permanantly unlock something (like Dead Silence) and get to pick a 'classic' weapon to permanently unlock too. Its not that different from any CoD in that respect...

No-one expects you to keep playing 24-7 but you don't jump into a CoD MP and expect everything to be unlocked and available right from the start - in fact I can't think of any MP game that does that nowadays and all try to offer some form of unlockable progression system. You can't expect to know the layout although the 'flow' is somewhat predictable as they all tend to use a 3 lane system. I don't play CoD everyday myself and I have only prestiged the once - nearly twice - compared to some that are 7th+ prestige - yet I still find I can pick it up and play for a few hours here and there, have fun and usually get more kills than deaths.

@BAMozzy: Hmm I don't know then it just seems that way to me but I do get what your saying. I am glad that you're enjoying it I guess it just comes down to playstyle or something, I don't know. I just know that for whatever reason I just can't get anything done in IW, and I just find I have a better time with MWR. Funny thing is I don't resort to cheap tactics either I don't chuck flashbangs everywhere, I don't use last stand nor do I camp but for whatever reason I just do better with the slower pace of MWR and lack of supply drop weapons b.s.

I even do better at MWR then BO3 and I put a ton of time into that game.

@Tasuki: That could be down to the fact that MWr is a lot slower and simpler. Its easier to aim at people who are moving slower (if they are moving) and, if you are using certain weapons/perks, kill them instantly. Maps are quite large (well large for CoD) on the whole too (I know Shipment is tiny but the others are generally quite big) so you often have a bit of time to get set for the combat. IW and BO3 may have some 'large' maps but even these feel smaller because of the faster movement but generally the map size is smaller overall. More medium sized maps with a few large and small. This also helps slow the pace down. A lot of the matches I have played on MWr, the timer runs out before the maximum score is reached in most game modes. Domination usually ends quickly as its so easy to spawn trap so one side usually ends up running away with it - if you are playing with relatively experienced players. I played a HC Kill confirmed game on Bloc that ended 18-16 with the top kills being 15

Talking of 'large' maps, I do find it funny that the vocal minority shout about wanting 'small' maps for CoD games yet games like CoD4 and MW2 - two of the most popular and fan favourites had very few 'small' maps - most were large with several medium sized maps and only 1-2 small maps.

Like I said though, overall the game is a lot slower and simpler too.

When Call of Duty has better space battles than Star Fox you know somethings wrong.

@PlaytendoGuy: I thought CoD's space battles were quite good too - if somewhat brief... It also offered more than Star Wars Battlefront too and a shame they didn't have a 'Jackal' based MP mode or two.

To be fair, Star Fox on Wii U was more depressing than Schindler's List.