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How Infinite Warfare Takes C.o.D. Back to Its Roots

How Infinite Warfare Takes C.o.D. Back to Its Roots

What makes a video game truly great? What’s the point of playing a video game? I think we could agree that, generally speaking, we play to have fun and to be entertained. Some of us are entertained when we’re laughing, others are entertained when they’re scared, and still others may be entertained when their adrenaline is pumping. What are the core ingredients that make any of these experiences possible? Basically, it boils down to story and gameplay.

“Gameplay is the personification of the narrative, and the narrative is the support, the glue that holds the gameplay together.” That’s Taylor Kurosaki’s take on it. Kurosaki is the narrative director for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare , and despite the fashionable hatred that still lingers around the game, it might please you to know that Kurosaki knows what he’s doing. He and Jacob Minkoff were brought on to work for Infinity Ward after years of hard work and success at Naughty Dog where they worked on games like Uncharted and The Last of Us . Neither of them have worked on a first-person shooter before, and that’s one reason why I believe their instincts and storytelling acumen will pay off big time.

Call of Duty games have become more homogeneous with each iteration, despite changes in setting and a few added mechanics. Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer have all been taking “what works for Call of Duty ” and adding their own twists and takes on that formula. What’s reassuring about Kurosaki as narrative director is the assurance that he’ll starting with “what works in a great video game narrative” and working with Infinity Ward to build a great Call of Duty game atop that foundation.

That will translate to some significant changes in Infinite Warfare . For starters, for the first time in years, we won’t be playing the part of the “new guy;” the rookie soldier with something to prove. The new guy caricature is a nice crutch for when you need to push players through an initial tutorial and make an emotional connection from player to game as a newcomer, but it’s an easy way out. Infinite Warfare will make no such compromises, and our protagonist is a high-ranking commanding officer. We will be forced to deal with the pressures and consequences of leadership; to make tough calls that affect the lives of characters who look to us to dictate a sound strategy.

How Infinite Warfare Takes C.o.D. Back to Its Roots

Multiplayer will also be more intimately connected to the single-player experience. “I think when you are playing multiplayer, all of that should be framed by the experience you had in the single-player,” Kurosaki said in an interview with Polygon . “The single-player is the toehold into this new story universe. I think of my work here as incredibly important both in terms of telling war stories, meaningful stories, and with creating meaningful characters.” That element of overall coherence and meaning is completely absent in Black Ops III , and even in Infinity Ward’s last offering, Ghosts. Both of those games had campaigns that were forgettable and convoluted. Not since the days of Modern Warfare have Call of Duty fans had a single-player campaign to really get behind and celebrate.

I believe that Infinity Ward is going back to its storytelling roots with Infinite Warfare . We won’t be losing any of the explosive Call of Duty set-pieces that we love so much, nor will we see a lesser emphasis on world-class online multiplayer. Rather, those facets will be further polished and made to shine all the brighter by characters to whom we connect, and a story that grips us. Can you imagine, weeks after the launch of Infinite Warfare , fans discussing what happened in the campaign the same way people discussed what happened in The Last of Us ? That’s a priority now, and it’s a goal that I think Infinity Ward will achieve.

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