Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

There's a massive amount of content in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, though especially if you played Black Ops 3 last year there’s little of it that’s particularly impressive. The campaign is ignorable and the multiplayer needs a little technical work to be as good as last year’s, but the overly silly Zombies mode keeps me coming back. It may not stand out in a year that’s been crowded with great shooters, but it still produces that familiar Call of Duty action.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare touches down with passable multiplayer, a tubular, neon-tinged zombie invasion, and the best campaign since the first Modern Warfare.

Infinity Ward's return is a substantial, spectacular package, but it doesn't innovate enough to stick in the memory.

A beautiful action movie that punishes improvisation, with under-populated multiplayer that can’t compete with a nine-year-old game.

As a package, Infinite Warfare stands out

It's not quite a complete reinvention for the series but Infinite Warfare makes some refreshing changes to deliver a confident and exciting shooter.

Infinite Warfare provides a potent triple-threat of entertainment: A hard-hitting campaign that deals with the sacrifices of war, a multiplayer mode overflowing with customization, and a nostalgia-laden trip through the ‘80s with the Zombies mode.

The latest instalment in the shooter series tries out some new ideas, including zero gravity combat, but it is held back by well-worn conventions

“Infinite Warfare” is arguably the most imaginative and wide-ranging game in the series, and yet every new idea it tries feels hamstrung by the conventions that have made the series so successful. There are a few interludes of space dogfights, but these feel strangely similar to on-foot levels, but with fighter ships that can come to a full halt and hover before zipping off again to chase a new enemy vessel.

Infinite Warfare’s story mode is an expensive-looking spectacle without a single idea of its own, mechanically or narratively. Even Ethan the robot’s attempts to salvage the Marine vs Navy vs Army banter by playing off some well-worn robot tropes can’t save the story or dialogue from being hogwash. Even the rare glimpse of interesting ‘burning asteroid’ level design can’t redeem the rest of the grey corridors and flaming city streets. As for how good it looks (and it does look very good) that is no saving grace.