After what many considered to be a surprise showing of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on the Sony stage at E3 this year, the flood gates opened up about what Infinity Ward have been up to for the past three years. There has been a lot of talk about Activision going the wrong direction with the Call of Duty franchise, and as many fans still believe that’s the case, the game’s newest reveals have shown a lot more potential than ever before.
GamingBolt had an opportunity to sit down with Brian Horton, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Studio Art Director at Infinity Ward to ask him to clear up a few focal points we’ve been itching to ask:
"The jackal combat and the zero-G components are definitely some big investments that we’ve made in the single player campaign. And they really center around the ship the Retribution."
Though Ghosts technically had the first real shooting level in space, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare marks the first time space has been a major part of the game. What inspired the studio to finally take this leap into the final frontier?
We looked at the three year investment we had as an opportunity we had to innovate and space seemed like a really rich place for new mechanics and give the player an all-new experience that they haven’t had before in Call of Duty.
How much has the single player campaign be expanded to accommodate these new dog fights and zero G arenas?
The jackal combat and the zero-G components are definitely some big investments that we’ve made in the single player campaign. And they really center around the ship the Retribution. So when you go into your ship as Lt. Reyes, the captain you’re going to be able to go on the ship assault missions; and you can pick different points within the solar system, execute that location, and you’ll go there and be able to do jackal dogfights, zero-G combat, ultimately mount one of the SDF ships and take it out. There’s going to be multiple opportunities to do that all throughout the game.
We’ve seen quite a bit of the squad in the trailer, including the robot that helps you out. What kind of interactivity will the player have with their squad mates, especially since co-op has been nixed?
Our focus was to try and tell a character-driven story of a band of brothers; so Lt. Reyes is surrounded by a cast of fully fleshed out squad mates of which make up the fighting force that has to defeat this settlement defense front. So your characters are going to help you in an A.I. capacity as well as further our narrative throughout the game. So they are going to play pivotal roles all throughout the story mode itself.
How has the shooting changed over Black Ops 3? Will players be relying on abilities and whatever weapons they choose as load-outs or will there be other mechanics to keep them busy?
Well there’s going to be a huge arsenal of weapons. In fact this is going to be the largest suite of weapons we’ve ever had in a Call of Duty game. In addition to the weapons you also have a lot of gear. You’re going to see things like our anti-grav grenade. You’ll have robot hacking. You’ll have seeker grenades. There’s a lot of gear you’ll be able to use throughout the campaign that will progress and allow you to take out your enemies in creative and fun ways.
"Our energy weapons are completely unique to this franchise; but there are a mix of weapons that you are accustomed to: ballistic weapons as well as energy weapons."
What has Infinity Ward done to change up the momentum-based movement system introduced in Black Ops 3? I personally found the wall running to be very situational rather than an essential movement mechanic. How has that, for example, changed in Infinite Warfare?
So our focus was to try and create a fluid navigation system that starts in Geneva with the classic “boots in the ground” movement; as we go into space we really try to explore what it meant to have movement in zero-G. You’ll see that the player will be able to use the grapple hook as means to navigate through a zero-G space. In addition to that, there will be sections where you’ll be able to use enhanced navigation like double jumps and wall runs.
Can you tell us about the kinds of weapons we can expect in Infinite Warfare? Will the energy weapons be like Advanced Warfare?
Our energy weapons are completely unique to this franchise; but there are a mix of weapons that you are accustomed to: ballistic weapons as well as energy weapons. The energy weapons each have their own uses and functions. But one of the things we’re really excited about are some of our advanced sights which allow the player to do things, like, with a shotgun they’ll be able to manipulate where their pellets are going to go. The pellets will have maximum effect on the enemy. We really wanted to use the advance sights as a way to augment the weapons that are both energy weapons as well as ballistic.
How are you approaching the balancing weapon types in multiplayer? Also, will there be any Specialists like Black ops 3?
We’re not talking about multiplayer at this point, it’s mostly single player focused event at E3. So at this time that’s pretty much all I have to say about that.
How long will the campaign be?
The campaign is comparable to classic Call of Dutys. The big difference being some of these optional missions you’ll be able to do all throughout the story campaign.
Call of Duty Infinite Warfare has been garnering a lot of hatred over its initial reveal trailer. Why do you believe that is?
We have a very passionate fan base and it’s a very large fan base, as well. Ultimately what happens: when you make something new for a Call of Duty there’s going to be a myriad of responses. What we believed was once we were able to show more of our content in context like we have at E3, people are getting a better idea of what this game really is and we’ve gotten an extremely positive response.
"Ultimately what happens: when you make something new for a Call of Duty there’s going to be a myriad of responses."
Ultimately, what are your thoughts on titles like Battlefield 1 (whose trailer has been praised) and Titanfall 2 (which features a space sci-fi setting much like Infinite Warfare)?
We always wish our competitors the best. Our focus right now is hands down trying to make the best Infinite Warfare game that we can.
Okay this is a big one. I am kind of confident that the game will run at 1080p on the PS4. But what about the Xbox One? Can Xbox One players expect native 1080p resolution?
We’re not announcing any resolution at this time. We’re still in optimization modes but we’re definitely supporting a fluid 60 frames per second experience.
There has been a lot of talk regarding Xbox One’s eSRAM as the major culprit behind the lack of 1080p resolution. Do you think things are stable and developers have been able to overcome it now?
At this point the focus for us is to get the best experience we can out of every system that we work on. And then within whatever the strengths or limitations of those systems that’s where we really focus to try and get the most out of each box that we work on.
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