Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Multiplayer is Familiar But Fresh

Much has been said about Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s space-faring single-player campaign, but we haven’t gotten a good look at its multiplayer mode — arguably the bread and butter of any FPS worth its salt — until now.

Infinity Ward is taking a bold step further into the future than any Call of Duty developer before them this November. But despite its high-tech trappings, Infinite Warfare will feel instantly familiar to longtime veterans and more recent COD fans. Sid and I played a few rounds of Infinite Warfare multiplayer and came away impressed by its ability to balance old and new. Here are a few details that stuck with us:

Overall, the map design seemed to bring a unique look and play style compared to Black Ops 3. Frontier was set in the sprawling, narrow corridors of a space station, leading to lots of close-quarters encounters and surprise attacks. While gravity wasn’t effected during play, defeated enemies would drift lazily toward the ceiling.
We played standard TDM and Domination, but also an addictive mode called Defender, in which teams compete to maintain control of a ball that periodically resets to its original spawn position. While carrying the ball, players are unable to use their weapons, but they can always pass to a nearby teammate — or dole out a hearty *thwack* over enemies’ heads if things get desperate.
Infinite Warfare’s multiplayer retains the movement system made famous by Black Ops 3, including slides, wallrunning, and mid-air boosting. I noticed that grenades seemed to have a slightly longer windup time, and felt a bit heavier compared to Black Ops 3.
We played with six Combat Rigs, selectable characters similar to Black Ops 3’s Specialists. Each comes with a complement of Perks and a special weapon that charges as the match goes on. Stryker can equip a Gravity Vortex Gun that fires black holes; combat droid Synaptic can summon integrated dual machineguns; Merc can deploy the Steel Dragon, a multi-target beam weapon.
My favorite? The Eraser, a limited-use, unreasonably powerful pistol that instantly vaporized anyone unfortunate enough to be in my way.

Create a Class presented us with a large number of classes, from the standard Rifleman to the heavy Rapid Response and shotgun-focused Point Blank. Sid favored a speedy class called the Duelist, equipped only with dual pistols.
The expansive Scorestreak selection included everything from traditional UAVs, to bombardments from nearby weapons satellites, to summoning an R-C8 mech which looked like a cross between a terminator endoskeleton and a walking tank.
Speaking of weapons, IW Multiplayer is bristling with high-tech firepower, everything from retrofitted ballistic carbines and dual-magazine SMGs to energy rifles, slug throwers, “sonic shotguns,” sci-fi grenade launchers, and beam weapons. And that’s a conservative description of the arsenal — it’s huge and varied.
The Type 2 caught my attention due to an interesting quirk. It’s an SMG that you can split into two separate weapons for close-range encounters by holding Triangle.
The weapon descriptions include cool little details that make the universe feel more lived-in. For example, the Hailstorm revolver fires devastating triple-shot blasts thanks to the stacked rounds in its cylinder.
We didn’t get a lot of time to play with all the various gear and equipment, but we saw Cryo mines that can slow down enemies, a Dome Shield for resisting attacks, and a wide array of other grenade types.
One sight attachment granted me thermal vision while aiming, but limited my awareness of the environment around me. A boon for long-range encounters, but likely not as useful in close quarters.

The maps showed off creative themes, such as Frost, a gorgeous map set on wintry moon Europa and featuring a stellar view of Jupiter looming overhead. Throwback seemed to be a recreation of a vintage American town.
We also got the news that the Infinite Warfare beta will debut on PS4 in October.