The series dragging on for thirteen years to a staging grotesque and shootings are alike. The passage to the science-fiction, with ” Infinite Warfare “, released on 4 November, has changed nothing.
This could be a joke between executives from Activision, the publisher of the most famous series of shooter games military : why Call of Duty will not deal with he never of the war 1914-1918 ? Because it is nicknamed ” Der des der “. Since its birth in 2003, the franchise is already in its thirteenth iteration, at the rate of one installment per year. And except industrial accident, Activision has little reason to stop there. With 1.08 million physical sales in France in 2015, and 61 million euros of sales, the series has established itself as a bulldozer business. But the weariness was lurking.
Read : The phenomenon of “Call of Duty” shows signs of shortness of breath
Infinite Warfare, the last episode in date, is symptomatic in itself of the situation in which is locked up Activision. Released on 4 November, he staged a civil war within the solar system – a brand-new storyline, and for a long time unimaginable for a series historically focused on the second world war. But in spite of this framework is as bombastic as atypical, and many innovations in weapons, space combat, or even the choice of missions per planet, this thirteenth episode, can’t help to give the impression of being yet another Call of Duty. With its qualities and defects well known, that for the player accustomed to, do not give rise to neither a surprise nor revolt, but just a form of familiarity lasse.
Fear of audacity
If space it may be, this episode adheres to the letter of the specification of the saga. On the one hand, an atmosphere sometimes bombastic, sometimes larmoyante, pyrotechnics galore, all worn by a very rapid film and an about going to war more and more affirmed. On the other hand, controls, reagents, and nervous levels in the corridor, a target easy and a precision of each shot to the nearest pixel, which have made the success of Call of Duty for fans of online matches per team.
But above all, he brings with him all through recurring in the franchise, those who were its charm in the years 2000, but feel the rust in 2016. What are these enemies static and idiots, at the time of the amazing progress of artificial intelligence ; these are the levels in a straight line and the architecture is absurd, in the age of the games open world ; what are these dialogues down the front and these scenarios imbitables and idiots, where the inventiveness in the narrative of video games is in full swing since the beginning of the decade. As if Call of Duty : Infinite Warfare had been afraid of his own boldness, of this spatial framework crazy. In spite of compelling new features, it has finally decided to stay true to the DNA of the series, and it is his error.
Sense of déjà-vu
Without a doubt, can we understand that a publisher is sitting on such a golden goose is reluctant to too shake it. But the inadequacy of Call of Duty his era has never been as blatant as it is today. Technically, this last episode greyish and angular is hard to see when compared to the feats of visual games shooting Gears of War 4 or Battlefield 1. In game terms, this adventure on the flat-bands of the science-fiction gives a terrible impression of softness and lack of inspiration : anything thatInfinite Warfare offers has already been done elsewhere and better than ever, in Halo 3 or Gears of War 4 for the main campaign, or Star Wars Battlefront or Overwatch for the online matches.
Worst : Call of Duty managed the feat of autoconcurrencer : what’s new with this episode, like the double jump, the robots or the race against the walls, have already opened in the two episodes that precede it in this year, Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3. Difficult to string together three installment’s futuristic, in a row, when we don’t have enough imagination to surprise him with one. In short, the feeling of already-seen and already played is to be found on all floors.
The misunderstanding of the future
there still a way to save Call of Duty of itself ? Ubisoft, faced with a feeling of weariness was even more pronounced for the players of its flagship franchise, Assassin’s Creed, has taken the strong decision to bring his saga to rest for a year. Activision can hardly afford it, while his other goose that lays the golden eggs, Skylanders, is showing signs critical of collapse.
The editor seems to especially pay a parse error. When, in 2007, the episode Modern Warfare knows a commercial success in terms of a proportion unexpectedly, Activision is eager to conclude that the games on the second world war are no longer the future, on the contrary, contemporary conflict – the one that the game puts you in the scene, and soon, the futurists. But the dramatic success of Battlefield 1 this year shows that it is not so : Electronic Arts, the competitor of Activision, has picked up the ponpon in choosing a conflict but deemed somewhat ” bankable “, the first world war.
And if the successful founder of Modern Warfare was not the modernity of its conflict, but to a mixture of novelty compared to the production in previous years and the familiarity of the forces in presence ? The last three installment of Call of Duty does not meet neither the one nor the other : they leave just the theatre of conflicts for the world that is already extremely marked up in the science-fiction, in which they struggle to emerge. Without, besides, succeed to evoke anything. Scenarios tortuous, armed poorly differentiated, geopolitical absconse… the image of the'Infinite Warfare : in spite of landscapes, solar prominent, they do not resonate with the culture, nor with the imagination of the players.
the skeleton of The game remains the same – and continues to rust year after year, failing to get to the page of the competition. This is now almost ten years that Activision performs miracles business by changing especially the tapestry. Perhaps it is finally getting to see really the formula. How, for example, modes annexes to the tone and to the more unconventional, such as the very funny and convincing mode ” zombies “, today one of the last good reasons to get excited about for the series.
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