Infinite Warfare Devs Want World War II Feel in New COD
By Maxwell Jeffery 01 November 2016
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare may be heading off into space, but that doesn’t mean that the game will lose any of that World War II feel, according to Infinity Ward.
Despite an increasingly sci-fi feel being present in the latest games in the series, Infinity Ward has revealed that it wanted the new Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare to have the same grit that the Second World War brought to the franchise. Widely critiqued for their decision to take the franchise further into the future, rather than back to classic wars, Infinity Ward’s lead concept artist Thomas Szakolczay spoke to GameSpot recently about its decision and what they tried to do to stop Infinite Warfare feeling too far from its roots, even as players enter the depths of space.
“We still wanted it to feel like war was happening and it was almost like we wanted to have the grit of a World War II game. That same kind of character development, that same progression of comradery, the same sort of visceral feel, but with the addition of space.”
The concept artist went on to reference Call of Duty‘s roots in gaming, with several past titles making use of World War II as a setting. Capturing the same feeling of a heroic force fighting against a clear enemy is something that the developer reportedly wanted to recreate in the futuristic Infinite Warfare. If the game manages to successfully feel like previous popular titles, Activision’s claim that Call of Duty will never run out of ideas is much less worrying.
Szakolczay also revealed that several battles taken from the latest Call of Duty title are directly borrowing elements or acting as re-tellings of classic World War II battles with new context. In this way, the developer hopes to keep the game feeling like a military game, rather than hardcore science fiction title.
Several times, the development team had to reign themselves in, reports the artist, in order to ensure that Infinite Warfare still felt like a Call of Duty game. Infinity Ward also had to learn to identify just what it is about hardware that gives it an authentic military feel – a task that must have taken some trial and error.
Finally, the representative from Infinity Ward praised James Cameron’s Aliens as a film that truly manages to find the middle ground between war and space in a way that the developer wanted to match in Infinite Warfare. The latest Alien game, Alien: Isolation, opted for a more survival horror genre than a war-based title, though it would be interesting to see what Szakolczay though of Colonial Marines.
In other recent Call of Duty news, the story trailer for Infinite Warfare is out now, featuring Kit Harington from Game of Thrones as the game’s villain. The game’s story looks to be quite the cinematic experience as soldiers head off into space to fight a war that will decide the fate of the Earth.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare hits Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 4, 2016.
Source: GameSpot
