COD IW (Call of Duty Infinite Warfare)

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (also known as COD: IW and IW7 internally) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows. Leaked advertisements for the game were initially found in late April 2016, days prior to the official trailer, which was unveiled on May 2nd, 2016. The game was released on November 4th, 2016. Infinite Warfare is the thirteenth game in the Call of Duty franchise and Infinity Ward's first to be developed in a three-year development cycle.

Set just before a devastating attack on earth, you play as Captain Nick Reyes, a Tier 1 Special Operations pilot, as you must lead the remaining coalition forces against a relentless enemy, while trying to overcome the deadly, extreme environments of space.

It is the first Call of Duty game since Call of Duty 2 not to be released on seventh generation consoles. The game, on select bundles known as the Legacy Edition, comes with a remastered version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, known as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.

On PC, the game is available on both of Steam and Microsoft Store. The games are identical, but in Microsoft Store version, all data must be downloaded. The Steam version allows players to select which content they want to download, just like Black Ops III.

The game does not support Xbox Play Anywhere, hence the Xbox One version and Microsoft Store version do not share data with each other. Therefore, players have to buy the game twice if they want to play on both of PC (Microsoft Store version) and Xbox One.

Developmentedit | edit source

 * "I want people to play our new game and say, 'Wow, I haven't seen [Call of Duty] change that much since Modern Warfare."
 * — Jacob Minkoff, design director at Infinity Ward

A space Call of Duty by Infinity Ward was alluded to in a 2013 Call of Duty: Ghosts launch interview with Mark Rubin, head lead of Infinity Ward at the time. In the interview by Metro, the interviewer asked him if there was potential for space DLC map packs or future games focusing more on space, to which Rubin replied "Yeah. It makes sense. I wouldn’t count it out. Everything’s on the table. When we start a new game every possibility’s on the table. If we think that it’d be cool to have a battle over Jupiter, sure. Why not?"

In 2014, Infinity Ward merged with Neversoft, and two key alumni from the critically-acclaimed Naughty Dog studio joined. These two people were Taylor Kurosaki, and Jacob Minkoff.

After the influx of new talent, Kurosaki and Minkoff quickly obtained leading positions on the team. In deciding on what they wanted to do for Infinity Ward's next game, Kurosaki overheard staff members discussing how cool the space mission was from Call of Duty: Ghosts. Inspired, they quickly used the mission as the basis for their next game, while at the same time starting fresh, by having it not be a sequel to Call of Duty: Ghosts.

With the addition of a space setting, Infinity Ward still wanted it to be less of a science fiction story and more of a military tale. Kurosaki stated "We want to tell first and foremost a classic war story in the great tradition of the genre that [Brian Bloom] and I are both huge fans of. This is my first foray into Call of Duty and telling a war story. I’m so taken by the rich history of the genre."

Infinity Ward also wanted their game to depart from having the main character be a "new guy", instead they wanted the character to be a "seasoned leader." They also wanted to show how harsh the environment of space and different planets can be. Kurosaki explained, "The setting of space puts even more pressure on our characters than even a traditional battlefield would allow for. In space, there is no gravity. In a lot of cases, most cases have no breathable atmosphere. Characters are thrown into conflict and resolve those conflicts. War is an incredible background, environment and foreground to navigate those waters. This is not about double and triple crosses, and double and triple agents, and chips in your head, and being a zombie fighter." Kurosaki specfically noted, "This is a story about the burden of making choices."

They also thought about the future and how they wanted Infinite Warfare to be a sub-franchise and have the lasting legacy of the Modern Warfare series. Kurosaki pointed out, "We want to establish our own new subfranchise. Our own new branch of the Call of Duty tree. What we are developing here could certainly support multiple games. We’re trying to develop a very rich world that we’re not even close to exhausting." Kurosaki then concluded with, "If we were the next thing in that rich history in the Call of Duty of Modern Warfare, of Black Ops. If we were the next in that lineage, I’d say, ‘Mission accomplished.’"

Overviewedit | edit source

 * "The needs of our planet were greater than she could supply. So we went beyond the reaches of our atmosphere. The new frontier offered the promise of a new beginning... but the distance gave way to a movement, with no connection with the place we call home. New rules, new ambitions, a new enemy. The Settlement Defense Front built an army and broke away from the Earth with blood and violence. They aren't revolutionaries. They want absolute power. They raid colonies, take resources, and control territories by force. They use their fleet to block us from raw materials we need to survive. Their mission is to erase everything Earth born. Today, the SDF is a war machine, ruled by its military. If a leader united that force... They would mobilize, and try to take our homeland."
 * — Lt. Nick Reyes of the United Nations Space Alliance

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare takes place in a future where Earth's resources have nearly been depleted, forcing governments and businesses to seek them elsewhere in the solar system. As space colonization grew, the nations of the world formed the United Nations Space Alliance (UNSA), to govern space travel, commerce and trade. The Solar Associated Treaty Organization (SATO) is the peace-keeping body of the UNSA.

Comprised of a splinter group of insurgents that broke away from UNSA during a war of secession years ago, the Settlement Defense Front (SDF) is a fascist power. They're brutal and militant radicals, toughened by extreme off-world environments and conditions.

After a surprise attack on the headquarters of UNSA, Lt. Nick Reyes must take the helm of the Retribution, one of Earth’s last remaining warships. In a time of unthinkable adversity, he must lead the remnants of coalition forces against the relentless SDF.

Throughout the conflict, Reyes will engage with many individual soldiers, flight crew and others, as he leads his forces in battle. Until recently, Reyes was a Lieutenant, commanding Special Combat Air Recon (SCAR) Team-1, a Tier-1 special operations force trained especially for combat in space. Field-promoted to Captain, he will lead a crew of a thousand naval troops, Marines, and SCARs aboard the carrier Retribution.

Reyes also pilots his very own space combat ready jet-fighter, better known as the Jackal. Integrated throughout the story missions, the Jackal is customizable and will evolve throughout the story.

Plot Synopsisedit | edit source

 * "Care clouds judgment. That is why you cannot win. This place ...isn't yours anymore."
 * — Admiral Salen Kotch of the Settlement Defense Front

In the future, a United Nations Space Alliance (UNSA) special forces team is sent to a secret UNSA weapons research facility on Europa to investigate an attack by the Settlement Defense Front (SDF) and recover a prototype weapon before initiating the facility's self destruct. The team is able to destroy the facility, but fails to recover the weapon and are captured by the SDF, where they are subsequently executed by one of the SDF's main commanders, Admiral Salen Kotch.

On Earth, Lieutenant Nick Reyes warns Admiral Fredrick Raines that the SDF attack is tantamount to a declaration of war and that the UNSA should be preparing a counterattack. However, Admiral Raines explains that the UNSA's leaders do not want to escalate the situation, especially during the Fleet Week celebrations where the entire UNSA fleet gathers at Geneva. During the celebrations, he links up with his wingman Nora Salter as well as his new robotic subordinate E3N "Ethan". Suddenly, the UNSA's AATIS defense cannons begin to open fire on the UNSA fleet, decimating many ships as an SDF assault force invades Geneva. Reyes manages to fight his way to the AATIS control tower, where he manages to shut down the AATIS cannons and apprehend Akeel Min Riah, the SDF spy responsible for sabotaging them. Reyes then accompanies the surviving UNSA ships into orbit where they destroy the attacking SDF fleet. The SDF's flagship, the Olympus Mons, suddenly arrives and destroys more UNSA ships before it is forced to retreat, leaving only two operational UNSA ships: the carrier Retribution and the destroyer Tigris.

Upon landing on the Retribution, Reyes learns that both the ship's captain and the executive officer were killed in battle, leaving him as the highest ranking officer of the ship and its de facto captain. Admiral Raines promotes Reyes to commander and then tasks him retaking the cargo port on the Moon from the SDF. After successfully liberating the Moon, Reyes is given the mission to delay the SDF for as long as possible until the UNSA can rebuild its fleet. Eventually, Reyes manages to destroy a strategic refueling tower on Titan, crippling the SDF's fuel supply. He is then sent to investigate a disturbance at an asteroid mining station near Mercury, only to find it was a diversion while the SDF destroys the Tigris, leaving the Retribution as the sole remaining UNSA ship. Learning that Riah is carrying a beacon meant to signal the main SDF fleet to invade Earth, Reyes devises a plan to use the beacon to lure the SDF fleet right into the still operational AATIS guns. Unfortunately, the plan goes awry when Riah escapes, destroys the AATIS guns, and kills himself to trigger the beacon. The main SDF arrives and the Olympus Mons destroys UNSA headquarters, killing Admiral Raines.

With no other options, Reyes decides to use the opportunity to board and commandeer the Olympus Mons. He manages to battle his way to the bridge and kill Admiral Kotch. He then has the Olympus Mons travel back to Mars, where he intends to use the ship to destroy the SDF's orbital shipyard and cripple their fleet in return. While the Olympus Mons and Retribution manage to destroy many SDF ships, the Olympus Mons suffers too much damage to use its weapons so Reyes orders it to ram the shipyard. Unfortunately, the Retribution also suffers damage and drifts into Olympus Mons flight path, forcing Reyes to order the ship to divert. Both warships crash onto the surface of Mars with the shipyard still intact.

Realizing that there's no way for them to get back to Earth alive, Reyes rallies the survivors of the Retribution crew and leads them on one final, desperate assault on the shipyard. Most of the surviving crew are killed in the fighting, but Salter manages to commandeer an SDF destroyer. However, its weapons are disabled and the mooring clamps are locked. Ethan sacrifices himself to destroy the moorings while Reyes activates the destroyer's weapons and orders Salter to destroy the station, despite him being on it. Salter reluctantly opens fire, ejecting Reyes into space. His last sight is seeing the SDF shipyard explode before he is killed by flying shrapnel.

Some time later, UNSA Admiral Coupe  honors Reyes, Salter and the Retribution crew's heroic sacrifice, stating that their destruction of the SDF shipyard was a decisive victory. Salter, who is one of the four survivors from the Retribution, passes by a war memorial listing the names of all of the UNSA soldiers who died in the conflict.

During the credits, the posthumous recorded messages of some of the deceased Retribution crew may be heard. An achievement can also be unlocked through listening to all 8 of them in one run.

Gameplayedit | edit source
The campaign is divided between core story missions which are progressed through linearly, as well as optional side missions. These missions provide weapons and assets, while also serving as a means to flesh out supporting characters. Three distinct modes of combat feature, and a player may encounter all three within the same mission. The first is standard infantry combat, which composes the bulk of gameplay. The other two are vehicular space combat, and "on foot" zero gravity combat.

The game does not feature co-op play in its campaign, but it does feature a Zombies mode as the co-op gameplay mode.

After completing the campaign on any difficulty, you unlock Specialist mode, and after you beat that you unlock #YOLO Mode.

Specialist Modeedit | edit source
This mode is unlocked after beating the game on any difficulty. It is intensely realistic and not for the faint of heart.


 * The player can only heal themselves with Nano Shots; there is no health regeneration in this mode.
 * Helmets protect headshot and suffocation in space. They will take permanent damage and need replacement.
 * Both Nano Shots and helmets take up equipment slots; the player should remember to equip them in their loadout on the Retribution before each level.
 * Mastering the lean from behind cover mechanic will be critical for the player's survival.
 * If the player gets shot at their body, they will be penalized.
 * Shot in either legs will impact their movement.
 * Shot in left arm will disable all equipments beside nano shots, and prevent players from aiming down the sight.
 * Shot in the right arm cause ADS to swing badly, hindering the aim.
 * Shot on the main body causes damge, but has no special penalty.
 * Shot in the head breaks helmet, and without it, instant death.
 * The player's weapon can be shot out of their hands: The player can catch it immediately, or lose that weapon until it is picked up again.

#YOLO Modeedit | edit source
The #YOLO difficulty is very similar to Specialist difficulty, with the key difference being that if the player dies, they will have to start the entire Campaign over. This mode is unlocked after beating the game on Specialist.