During our coverage of the 2013 Expo we stopped by Activision to check out next game in the Call of Duty series. Much had been made of the company’s decision not to have their large booth on the show room floor and instead opted for invitation-only meetings with media and industry professionals. Fans did not have to worry as not only was the game featured prominently in Sony’s conference, but a large banner touting the game grace the exterior of the Los Angeles Convention Center and also appeared in the main corridor.
Once we were seated we were treated to a ground-based mission set in Switzerland that showed a mix of old and new as the characters responded to an unprovoked attack. There were the usual moving stages to various checkpoints and cover and attack elements which are a staple of series as well as the new inclusion of ammunition refill stations.
From an automatic weapon to a futuristic shotgun, The player named Captain Reyes dispatched human and robotic enemies and even called in an airstrike at various times upon entrenched enemies. Once the player entered the fighter and took the action to, things really took a turn as the close quarter combat against capital ships and fighters look to be an interesting new direction for the franchise.
The next segment we were treated to chronicled a fighter launch an assault on an enemy capital ship in orbit around the moon. It appeared that the player had the option to select which mission they were going to take prior to launch and once working in the Zero G environment, various options came into play such as the use of a grapple to pull enemy players towards you. This often resulted in a brutal dispatch of an enemy ranging from a smashed faceplate to an attached explosion and release which resulted in a gore filled explosion that slowly floated away.
Players use breaching charges to enter the bridge of the ship and then some of the familiar tactics as they attempted to secure the capital ship followed. One interesting feature was a grenade that when that when deployed altered the gravity of an area which caused mechanical guards to slowly float above the deck and became easy pickings for the attackers.
The final segment we saw was a ship raid from the enhanced version of Modern Warfare and looked stunningly beautiful and sharp. What I found most amazing is even though I played through and completed the game, seeing it now made it appear new and just as exciting.
Much has been made over the seemingly numerous dislikes that the videos for the game have been getting on You Tube. This is highly and fortunate as what I saw looked to be a very entertaining and exciting entry into the series and that Infinity Ward is to be commended for giving fans something new and different as the tired refrain of many critics of the series is that it’s the same thing every year. I’m very curious to see how many of the new weapons and maps will play out in the multiplayer portion of the game which for many is the driving force behind the series constantly being the best-selling game year after year.
If I can do team based combat in Zero G or dare I even hope, multiplayer fighter combat, this could be easily one of the most compelling purchases of the year.
We will no doubt see more the game as we get closer to its November launch, but I see no reason to believe that this latest series will in the and deliver the action and gameplay that fans have come to expect.
