‘Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’ shows off high-tech shotguns and mean robots

By Gabe Gurwin July 22, 2016

Call of Duty®: Infinite Warfare – "Black Sky" Gameplay

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare looks like it’s finally taking the series’ campaign component into a new direction, with a heavy focus on space combat and zero-gravity moves that keep you from hiding behind cover for more than a few seconds. While the game’s opening sequence might have a little more standard gunplay than we expected, Infinity Ward included some new high-tech toys that shout “future.”

After a sneak attack during a “Fleet Week” parade in Geneva, Switzerland leaves Earth’s ground forces decimated, protagonist Captain Reyes and his team move forward through debris-filled streets. The squad includes more than just humans, however; a robot named “Ethan” leads the charge and helps civilians get to safety before all hell breaks loose, as enemy machines launch an ambush.

Related: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is Stalingrad meets Battlestar Galactica

It’s here that Infinite Warfare most resembles a standard Call of Duty game, with grenades being liberally thrown and the hero blasting enemies as they attempt to take cover behind barriers. However, the presence of enemy dropships firing lasers down at the street like something out of Halo helps to change the flow of the mission. Reyes also pulls out one of the coolest weapons we’ve seen in the series thus far — a shotgun that appears to target several vital body parts at the same time– and blasts his way to safety.

When Reyes is forced to take cover behind a wall, he has another trick up his sleeve: a small, harmless-looking drone. He throws it on the ground, allowing it to move up with seemingly no remote control, and it completely vaporizes two enemies. If moments like this are prevalent throughout the game, we’re in for a treat. Last month, we were able to see the Geneva mission for ourselves at E3, as well, and compared it to the original Call of Duty‘s Stalingrad level. Check it out for yourself (including a small look at the game’s spaceship combat) in the video above.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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