Better than All Star magazine - who lit up in Call of Duty? The protagonist of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, soldier and pilot Nick Reyers, is somewhat reminiscent of Captain Shepard

What hero do players think of first when it comes to Call of Duty? That's right - the mustachioed and forever young John Price. But the British captain is far from the only prominent character in the popular series. Fans will probably name a dozen more "legendary" names.

Starting with Call of Duty: World at War, the authors involve top stars in the development, and also use images of real historical figures in games. And the scriptwriters are now much more serious. So in the new game, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, we are waiting for a meeting with Kit Harington ("Game of Thrones"), who for the first time in his career will play a villain who unleashed a war of cosmic proportions.

Read about other notable characters from Call of Duty in our material!

One of the first really interesting heroes was Viktor Reznov, who appeared in Call of Duty: World at War. Last but not least, he was remembered by the players thanks to Gary Oldman (The Fifth Element, Dracula), who gave the soldier his voice.

In some ways, Reznov is similar to Price. The Soviet commander also appeared in several games in the series: he defended Stalingrad and took Berlin in World at War, led the uprising in Vorkuta in Black Ops and assisted Alex Mason in Black Ops 2 (although the latter seems to be Mason's hallucination).

Reznov is perhaps the most tragic hero of Call of Duty. During the siege of Stalingrad, he lost friends and relatives, and after the Second World War he ended up in the Gulag. According to the official version, the Soviet soldier died trying to escape from the camp, but there was no confirmation of this.

Although the creators of Call of Duty did not immediately begin to take their characters seriously, we simply could not ignore the very first part of the series. Alexei Voronin is the protagonist of the Soviet campaign in Call of Duty. It was he who in 1942, under gunfire, made his way through Stalingrad, and three years later he installed the Banner of Victory on the roof of the Reichstag.

Little is known about the hero himself. At the beginning of the war, he was an ordinary Red Army soldier, and reached Berlin as a lieutenant of the 150th Infantry Division of the Red Army. Maybe Alexei Voronin is not the best main character the original (in the first part we played two more heroes), but for Russian players it is definitely another reason to go through the same Call of Duty of 2003 again.

John "Soap" McTavish is the central character Trilogy Modern Warfare. And if in the first game he was a recruit with a "stupid name", then by Modern Warfare 2 he rose to the rank of captain and became Price's closest friend.

Soup participated in all the key events of the trilogy: he prevented the bombing of the United States, eliminated the nationalist Imran Zakhaev, pulled Price out of a secure prison and tracked down the terrorist Vladimir Makarov, who massacred the airport.

At the same time, in each game, Soap was seriously injured. In Modern Warfare 2, for example, he had to pull out a rather large knife from his own chest and throw it at the main villain. The third wound that McTavish received in Prague was the last - John did not live to the hospital.

And here is another character from Modern Warfare. For the first time, the laconic Simon Riley appeared in the second part of the trilogy and was remembered for the fact that he played the whole game in a mask depicting a human skull. Ghost helped the main characters during special operations and never came to the fore.

Perhaps Riley would have remained just another extra, if not for the very “spectacular” death of the hero. Ghost was shot, and his body was doused with gasoline and burned. And it would be nice if the character died at the hands of the enemy, but he was killed by US Army General Shepard, who turned out to be a traitor.

The developers rightly reasoned that Ghost was given little attention in Modern Warfare 2, and after the release of the game they released a Modern Warfare 2: Ghost comic book series dedicated to Riley.

When Shepard killed Ghost, many players were also sad because the scene shown in this screenshot was preceded by a long and very difficult mission. And all for what?

faithful dog

The idea of ​​​​a special unit "Ghosts", which will include the most experienced operatives, has been in the air for a long time and as a result found its embodiment in Call of Duty: Ghosts. The game itself turned out to be an amateur, but there was one “hero” there that you can’t forget about.

We are talking about a German shepherd named Riley (in honor of Ghost, of course), which has become a symbol of graduation. During some tasks, the dog can be given orders. At such moments, Riley turns into a real killing machine: he becomes invulnerable and single-handedly tears entire squads of enemies with his teeth. And sometimes you can take control of the dog yourself, sneak through the bushes into the enemy camp and sink your teeth into ... the carcass of the enemy.

Even before the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, the staff of the studio Infinity Ward presented Riley as one of the main features of the game. This approach did not go unnoticed: with the help of the players, the dog quickly became a meme.

The Call of Duty series knows not only brave heroes, but also insane villains. The latter, without a doubt, include Raul Menendez, a politician from Nicaragua, a revolutionary and founder of the organization Cordis Die, whose goal is to destroy the capitalist superpowers.

Menendez is one of the most colorful characters in Call of Duty. He does not seek to kill as many civilians as possible (such sacrifices, in his opinion, are just costs), but wants to take revenge on those who are responsible for the death of his younger sister.

The appearance of such a character in Call of Duty is no accident. The script for Black Ops 2 was written by David Goyer ("Blade", "The Dark Knight"), and he must be thanked for the character of the hero.

Gary Oldman is not the only actor involved in the creation of Call of Duty. So, in Advanced Warfare, the main villain was played by Kevin Spacey ("Secrets of Los Angeles", "House of Cards"). And he played, I must admit, perfectly. True, this time the creators did without the help of Goyer, so the story lost its quality of presentation and gained several “unexpected” turns.

This, however, does not make Jonathan Irons himself a less interesting character. He is the head of the private military corporation Atlas, one of the most powerful in the world. At first, Irons even tries to help the main character: he takes him to work after a serious injury, gives him access to the most modern weapons and implants (the series has finally moved into the future by this point).

However, the desire for unlimited power is a trait most often inherent in villains. Irons becomes such, however, he does not have time to realize the dream of world domination, having disappeared as the most typical villain.

But Salen Kotch is not exchanged for such trifles as world domination. His goal is a space war, the capture of the Earth, other planets and the destruction of all those who disagree.

The commander of the villainous organization Settlement Defense Front in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is played by Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Silent Hill 2). Little is known about Admiral Kotch's motives, but judging by the name of the SDF, Salena was not satisfied with Earth's policy towards colonies. Why did Jon Snow actually switch to dark side Forces and decided to unleash an intergalactic massacre, we will find out on November 4th.

By the way, Narrative Director Taylor Kurosaki (in other words, he is in charge of the script), who previously worked at Naughty Dog on the Uncharted series, is involved in the development of the new game. Given this fact, it's easy to believe that the heroes and villains of Infinite Warfare will surprise us... in a good way.

THIS IS INTERESTING: as for famous personalities, in the case of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Infinity Ward studio attracted at least two more "stars" to create the game - mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor and British race car driver. The former will play Kotch's assistant, while the latter will play an engineer aboard the Retribution space cruiser that survived the SDF attack on the United Nations Space Alliance fleet.

There are many characters in Call of Duty. Developing the series and creating new games, the developers do not forget about their heroes. Already now there are many famous names - who knows how many there will be in the future.

What other characters would you classify as Call of Duty legends? Write in the comments!

In just a couple of days, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, the new installment of the action series that needs no introduction, will hit the shelves. In honor of the high-profile event, Life remembered celebrities who at some point agreed to give their voices to the heroes of the most popular action movie in the world. Who was not there!

The star of the main series of our time and the favorite of millions - it's scary to think that Kit Harington's film career began only 4 years ago, with a terrifying (in bad sense) horror "Silent Hill - 2". But what difference does it make that there are not so many notable roles in the filmography of the young actor - Jon Snow from the "Game of Thrones" alone secured his place in the history of the industry.

In Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Harington got the image of Salen Kotch, the main villain. Little is known about the character, but he looks menacing - unlike the charming good-natured Snow from the HBO series.

For the eleventh Call of Duty, Sledgehammer Games drew inspiration from two sources - the Deus Ex series and the House of Cards TV show. From the first came mechanical prostheses and a cyberpunk setting, and the representative of the second was Kevin Spacey in the mask of an unscrupulous tycoon with claims to world domination.

Even though the character of the Oscar winner got ridiculously flat, but there’s no need to talk about some kind of complex acting game with such a scenario, Spacey still easily “stole” a sci-fi action movie. You can't drink talent.

Someone will say that the stars came to the series only recently. But no - celebrities crept into the cast right away. Did you know that one of the heroes of the original Call of Duty was accompanied by Jason Statham himself - a carrier, defender, mechanic, adrenaline and just good guy? The role is not so noticeable, but still important, because the sergeant more than once or twice saves the player's skin along the way.

An interesting fact: the name of the character (Waters / Waters) can be regarded as a kind of reference to Statham's sports career. Before gaining the status of "tough British bone breaker", the actor was fond of diving and even participated in major competitions. Without much success, however, but a hobby is a hobby.

Once upon a time, the protagonists of Call of Duty did not differ in talkativeness, preferring to keep their mouths shut and talk with the help of guns at the most crucial moments. In 2010, everything changed: the ambitious Black Ops hit the shelves. Suddenly, a voice cut through the hands with a machine gun, and it belonged to Sam Warrington, the star of the blockbuster "Avatar" and the deservedly forgotten action movie "Terminator: May the Savior Come."

Since then, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge: the budding actor managed to fade into oblivion after a series of unsuccessful projects, Jai Courtney has been aiming for a vacancy for a couple of years, but Call of Duty fans still remember Warrington and his Mason. Why, because he so believably went crazy on the screen and taught Noob so well in the trailers of the game.

Anyone can yell, but growling so that the blood runs cold is a talent. No wonder Treyarch chose Kiefer Sutherland - Jack Bauer from the television series 24 Hours - to play the belligerent sergeant from the US World at War campaign.

As befits a soldier, Sutherland is always in a raised voice and sounds so believable that he was even assigned to commentate on multiplayer matches for the Americans.

Despite his characteristic voice and enviable enthusiasm, Kiefer is rarely called to voice video games. But aptly - last year the actor tried on the Snake costume in the latest Metal Gear Solid, replacing a permanent lead actor. Hardened fans at first took the castling with hostility, but changed their anger to mercy after hearing his performance.

Famous actors have been in Call of Duty since the beginning, but Jason Statham is one thing, and maestro Gary Oldman is another. The star of "Leon", "The Fifth Element" and Nolan's "Batmen" brought the series to new level and proved that celebrity involvement is more than just a big name in the credits and press releases.

Oldman filled with life the image of Sergeant Reznov - a brave patriot of his homeland, a tragic and memorable character. Not without reason, when it comes to World at War, they remember him first of all, so much the hero cuts into memory.

Although the final part of the Modern Warfare trilogy disappointed some people, you can’t argue with one thing: Activision has assembled a quality ensemble cast. It was headed by Idris Elba, who literally in 5 years after the release of the shooter has noticeably increased in popularity - no one will be called for the role of Strelok in the film adaptation of The Dark Tower.

Unfortunately, the artist does not have much to work with - the image of an American soldier without any distinctive features does not allow him to go wild. Together with him, Timothy Olyphant (Die Hard 4.0, the first Hitman) and William Fichtner are working a little on autopilot ( The Dark Knight", "Armageddon") - and in the finale, all three sacrifice themselves, saving the President of the United States. We barely knew you!

But what about the fair sex? Alas, the Call of Duty cast did not get along well with famous actresses until the release of Black Ops III. There, one of the roles was taken on by Katee Seckhoff, an officer Starbuck from the "Star Cruiser Galactica" model of 2004. A breakthrough? Rather not: her character is quickly disposed of in the course of the plot.

Nevertheless, Seckhoff took her job seriously and not only voiced Miss Hall, but also played her using motion capture technology. Did you think that the authors have some special attitude towards women?

Usually Call of Duty has a regular cast, but there are exceptions. For some reason, Ed Harris ("The Rock", "Apollo 13") decided not to return to the role of Special Agent Hudson, so Michael Keaton voiced the hardened Tseraushnik in sunglasses in Black Ops II. Yes, that Batman!

It is worth recalling that more recently, Keaton's career has experienced better times- after the tapes about the Knight of Gotham, he starred in medium-sized films for two decades, so the chance to have a hand in one of the best-selling game series came in handy. And there is already close to the "Birdman".

There are recognized actors, and there are just loved ones - they can’t see from the Oscar category, but what the hell is the difference. "Familiar to fans of the series" the walking Dead"Based on the role of Merle Dixon, Michael Rooker signed up for two Call of Duty at once, but in completely different guises.

In Black Ops, he played himself - along with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Danny Trejo and Robert Englund (classic Freddy Krueger), Michael confronted hordes of zombies in the eponymous mode.

But in Black Ops II, the actor appeared already as Harper, David Mason's partner in the story campaign. If desired, he can also put a bullet in his temple - but who will commit such a crime?

Watched "Being John Malkovich" and realized that you always wanted to feel like your favorite actor? Well Exo Zombies additional mode Advanced Warfare provides such a unique opportunity! What could be better than shooting ghouls in the company of Bill Paxton (Terminator, Aliens, Predator 2), Rose McGowan (Planet Terror) and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, Daredevil)?

Alas, at some point, happiness comes to an end - in the course of the plot, the militant cleaner Oz turns into a mutant and becomes an extremely tenacious boss. Luckily, the survivors have a secret weapon, and its name is...

Everyone's favorite Ash from The Evil Dead returns to round out the quartet of Exo Zombies heroes following the untimely death of Oz. Even if there is no chainsaw on his arm, and the Necronomicon remains in other pants, the walking corpses (and Malkovich) will still be unhappy.

Campbell is a frequent guest gaming industry. He has a very distinctive voice and a great sense of humor, so the developers regularly turn to Bruce for help. But he does not mind - they give him money for this.

Especially for the fans of "Knight Rider" and "Rescuers Malibu" Infinity Ward invited David Hasselhoff to one of the roles in latest version zombie mode Call of Duty.

Why Hasselhoff? Because the 80s: colorful outfits, crazy hairstyles, stereotypes and politically incorrectness - the list would be incomplete without the participation of an odious actor and a popular singer in Germany. True, gamers will not be allowed to play for him - the DJ will simply comment on what is happening on the screen and turn on retro music during action scenes.

What unites "Fly", "Jurassic Park" and the duology "Independence Day"? Charming Jeff Goldblum, who fits absolutely anywhere, whether it's a comedy, horror or adventure thriller. He came in handy in the bonus mode of Black Ops III, where for once he was handed a machine gun and put on a par with Ron Perlman ("Alien: Resurrection", "Pacific Rim") and Heather Graham ("Austin Powers: Spy, who seduced me."

By the way, Goldblum is not the first to voice video games: in the 90s he had a hand in interactive adaptations of The Day and The Park, and also gave his voice to Count Dracula in Goosebumps: escape from Horrorland - a small adventure based on the "Horrors" by R.L. Stein.

The final chord is the People's Artist of the RSFSR in one of the main roles of the original Modern Warfare. If you thought that someone was assigned to play Zakhaev, you were mistaken: Infinity Ward and Activision picked up a venerable artist and made him look like a one-armed terrorist.

The choice was due to the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lazarev moved to the United States and starred in a lot of political and action series ("Spy", "The West Wing", "24 Hours"), as well as Hollywood blockbusters, albeit on the sidelines. Although Imran has few lines and scenes, and the antagonists and "Rocky IV" will envy his cranberry, thanks to Evgeny Nikolaevich, he at least has an authentic voice.

In the show "Choose the best shooter of the fall" Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare performed last, but the number turned out to be ambiguous. Three years later, Infinity Ward returned to the big leagues, immediately stepped on the old rake, got hit on the forehead and saw the stars in the sky - as a result, the series naturally flew into space for the first time ...

Infinity Ward has always bet on a dynamic Hollywood story. Neither logic, nor common sense, nor any disclosure of characters is important in it, but in the first place - pathos, drama and entertainment, which nail the viewer to a chair, squeeze out a tear and make you forget about the existence of the same logic and common sense... So this time they did not change themselves.

Reyers controls the huge flagship Retribution, flies it from planet to planet, performs various missions, and communicates with crew members. He even Personal Area there is a personal computer on which you can view the personal files of subordinates or get some kind of intelligence report. Yes, and the goals are similar - to protect the Earth from the invasion, which was staged by former colonists from Mars, who have now created the Colonial Defense Front.

Side missions are needed in order to get some useful perk or unlock an upgrade for the "Jackal" - Reyers' personal fighter, on which he periodically flies and fights. Yes, in Infinite Warfare, as promised, elements of a space simulator have appeared, although infantry missions with assault and shooting from the hip have not disappeared.

Of course, in terms of character development, Nick Reirs is as far from Captain Shepard as Earth is from Mars. This is a hero without fear and reproach, who is always eager to fight and is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of completing a task. The level of pathos and unmotivated heroism in Infinite Warfare is over the top, and the scriptwriters clearly hit below the belt: they introduce a lot of characters surrounding Reyers, only to have almost all of them die before our eyes, squeezing a tear out of the viewer.

The approach is simple and predictable, as in all Hollywood dramas. If someone says "It was an honor to fight you!" - Know, in five minutes he will die! If the wounded man in your arms assures that he will soon return to duty, then he will die! If someone says that the captain should prioritize the task, and not the life of his subordinates - know that in five minutes he will die, pointing to personal example how to do it!

Here - all the usual for Infinity Ward, and indeed for the entire series of crutches and stamps. Here you break into a room full of enemies and shoot enemies in slow motion, here a colleague reaches out at the last moment, preventing you from falling into the abyss, here you survive in situations where it seemed impossible to survive - for example, after the fall of a downed fighter.

If in the latest releases of the series and, in particular, in Black Ops 3, the scriptwriters tried to bring the plot to a new level, to raise some more complex moral questions, then in Infinite Warfare everything returned to the level of a straightforward Hollywood action movie with heroes without fear and reproach .

In fact, some characters, such as the robot Ethan and our permanent partner Nora Salters, are written very well. At some point, it even seems that, just about, a romantic spark will shoot between Nick and Salters, and even when in the very finale, on the verge of death, they, having discarded all conventions, begin to call each other by name, then naturally comes to the throat. But the scriptwriters leave all these personal emotions behind the scenes, focusing on the heroic pathos.

And yet, all these old, hackneyed tricks still work today. Yes, this is a straightforward, but very emotional and dramatic Hollywood action movie that simply cannot leave you indifferent.

And how can you not be hooked by a story that in the first 20 minutes makes you relive the death of the characters you played as, shows a massive invasion of Earth and sends you from the streets of Geneva, where there are fierce firefights, straight into the stratosphere to fly in a starship and make hyperjumping on a huge spaceship?

Further there will be scenes in outer space, clearly peeped in the movie "Gravity" - only for them the game can be forgiven a lot. And in the finale, which was made according to the principle “Everyone will die, but I will stay. And then I’ll die too! ”, Tears still treacherously well up in my eyes - no matter how skeptical you are and no matter how smart you understand that all this is cheap, predictable and has been seen so many times already ...

The level of direction, as always with Infinity Ward, is impeccable, besides, the authors competently maintain the rhythm, alternate different situations and game mechanics, forcing us to either shoot from behind cover, or fly on a starship, or fight in outer space using the "hook-cat ".

And even side missions here, in contrast to Black Ops 2, where there were also optional tasks, are delivered almost like story missions - with cutscenes, drama and special, invariably interesting conditions. Somewhere we levitate in open space, penetrate an enemy destroyer and steal some important piece of equipment, somewhere we rescue hostages, carefully knocking out enemies one at a time, and somewhere we fight on the surface of a hot asteroid, watching not only enemies, but also in order not to fall under the deadly rays of the sun ...

There is a certain regression in multiplayer. It would be more accurate to say that Infinity Ward returned, by and large, to the familiar and long-established mechanics of Modern Warfare.

Multi-level maps are a thing of the past, and all these acrobatic exercises with long jumps, flights and wall runs no longer play such a role as, for example, in Advanced Warfare. The battles take place mainly on the ground, and these are very fast, dagger fights - the fast pace typical for the series has grown even more here, and even on slightly more extensive maps it is not necessary to talk about some kind of positional struggle.

Against this background, the multiplayer battles of Battlefield 1 and Totanfall 2 look more interesting, complex and diverse.

On the other hand, those who like it hotter and faster, longtime fans of Modern Warfare and the dagger-based multiplayer style inherent in this sub-series, should be pleased. Moreover, all the cards are well thought out and designed in terms of design, and each one has to be carefully studied so as not to remain a stranger on this celebration of life. In the same way, you need to study the features of using different weapons, "body kits" for them, perks and classes. Yes, Infinite Warfare has a more intelligible class system, the role of which is played here by exoskeletons. There are six of them in total: however, three of them are initially available, and the rest will open as you gain levels.

Each of the exoskeletons is tailored to a specific combat style and gives its owner unique active and passive skills. True, using all the skills at the same time will not work - you have to think and choose.

Participating in various game modes (" Team fight”, “Superiority”, “Team Defense”, where you need to capture radio modules for your team, and others), you increase not only general level character, but also upgrade the weapon that you use. And this opens up new “body kits” and upgrades for each gun, allowing, for example, to reduce recoil, put an optical sight or increase ammunition. Thus, Infinite Warfare opens up huge opportunities for customizing your character.

It must be remembered that Modern Warfare is still considered by many to be the pinnacle of the development of the series. Therefore, such a “regression” for them would seem like a balm for the soul. But then it’s all the more strange that Infinite Warfare not only doesn’t break sales records, but sells even worse than the same Black Ops 3. There are two options. Either the people are still tired of the futuristic setting, and even they don’t like space - especially since the battles on fighter jets are implemented quite primitively, at the level of an arcade space shooting gallery. Or, on the contrary, he was not ready for such abrupt body movements, which in some surprising way are combined with the old, somewhat archaic mechanics and principles of plot presentation. In any case, we are already happy with the fact that Infinity Ward are back - even with the old rake in hand!

Game tested onPlayStation 4

The audience initially greeted the new Call of Duty with hostility - the announcement trailer was in second place in the list of videos with the largest number of "dislikes" on YouTube. The developers failed to take the crown from Justin Bieber, but they still got the silver medal in this dubious marathon. Then one of story missions showed at E3 2016, and then many thought about whether they were in a hurry with conclusions. As the release showed, they hurried. Very much hastened.

Every fall, Activision offers us new part famous series, once dedicated to the events of the Second World War. But in recent years, we have seen double jumps, wall running, exoskeletons and other futurism in Call of Duty. That's why everyone was so happy about the announcement of Battlefield 1: trenches, trenches, horses, shovels, ancient weapons - in a word, DICE's game in contrast was a success. There was also a problem in the developer studio - after the nightmarish Ghosts, Infinity Ward's credit of trust was almost exhausted.

As it turned out in the end, it was not worth writing off Infinite Warfare in advance. Infinity Ward took into account the mistakes (both their own and their colleagues) and offered one of the best story campaigns among all Call of Duty in recent years. This is not the incoherent ravings of a madman, which was the story of Black Ops 3, but a simple as three pennies story about how earthlings went to look for resources on other planets, but were eventually attacked by an evil corporation headquartered on Mars. Due to circumstances, the protagonist is appointed captain, but he does not intend to sit and give orders - he himself goes with partners to all tasks and seeks to defeat all the bad guys in the Galaxy.

One of the biggest draws to this campaign is the characters. We all remember Captain Price and Soap from Modern Warfare and will probably not soon forget Ethan and Salter from Infinite Warfare. For once, the developers of Call of Duty managed to register the characters in such a way that they do not look like another typical warriors - these are interesting people with their own stories, sense of humor and emotions. You worry about them, you are ready to go into battle with them. Against their background, the main villain performed by Kit Harington looks pale - as if he was deliberately made a caricature upstart, who can only push pathetic speeches. Moreover, the character has several times less screen time than the anti-hero Kevin Spacey from Advanced Warfare. Instead of the star of "Game of Thrones" they could have taken any other actor, and nothing would have changed.

The story campaign, which traditionally takes a couple of evenings, delivers exciting episodes one after another. Since the war in the game has reached cosmic proportions, the matter is not limited to skirmishes on the ground (although it would be more correct to write “on Earth”). Periodically, the main character sits at the helm of a space fighter and sets off on a journey to other planets and their satellites, where new opponents will certainly await him. Captain Reyes is not a blunder - he is also trained in anti-missile maneuvers, and in which case he is always ready to get involved in a shootout in zero gravity.

Fighter control is incredibly simple - the left stick of the gamepad is responsible for moving and accelerating, and the right one works with the camera. One button fires a machine gun, another fires missiles, and a third fires anti-missile traps. By pressing L2, you can focus on a specific enemy ship in order to turn on automatic aiming after a couple of seconds and leave it no chance. Everywhere there are explosions, shooting, the player dodges asteroids, watches for traps, calls a drone to replenish ammunition and does not get bored for a second. If space combat in No Man's Sky were even a little bit like here, she would be forgiven a lot.

Shooting in zero gravity is not much different from fighting in narrow corridors - yes, there is much more space here, but the essence remains the same. Unless it's not easy to hide from enemy attacks - it's impossible to sit in cover when you fly in space. Because of this sniper rifles at high difficulty levels, they turn out to be a much more appropriate type of weapon than rapid-fire machine guns or pistols. But if the enemy nevertheless got close, you can pull him towards you with a hook and break the suit, so that it would be disrespectful.

In Infinite Warfare, the developers decided to change not only the environment, but also the structure of the campaign. After a couple of story missions, the player can walk around the ship and access the map in the manner of the original mass effect. Of course, it did not come to novels with colleagues, but it is allowed to choose the next task - side or plot. The levels themselves still remain corridors, where the goal is always the same, and it is impossible to turn off the path. But nothing prevents you from choosing the next step and deciding whether to board enemy ships or spend time destroying destroyers. This is far from a new word in the genre, but this solution changes the Call of Duty formula for the better. Yes, and side missions are no worse than the main ones - they are diverse and sometimes even offer original and unexpected tasks.

Unfortunately, complete with an excellent and memorable story campaign (which I really want to play again, but for more high level difficulty) comes with a very mediocre multiplayer. If in the "single" Infinity Ward was not afraid to offer something new and came up with many impressive episodes, then the online component is almost identical to the multiplayer of Black Ops 3. This is not good and not bad - it just seems like an attempt not to spoil what is already working fine. However, lovers of the annual transition to the new Call of Duty will find themselves in a strange position, as they will have to play the same as before.

There are still some differences - for example, unlocking new weapons and exoskeletons (they replace characters with different skills from Black Ops 3) is possible without the use of tokens. If earlier you had to think carefully about what to spend the token earned in long battles (and sometimes regret the decision after a couple of matches), here everything immediately becomes available upon reaching certain levels.

In addition, it now makes sense to end matches even if defeat is inevitable. In Destiny, for example, there has never been such a problem - even if your team was destroyed in a couple of minutes, everyone can receive legendary rewards. Here the idea is somewhat different - military organizations give the player tasks, the completion of which increases the level of the corresponding faction. And for this, in turn, you can get exclusive weapons for this faction or other items. The conditions are very simple - kill 10 opponents, then make one headshot. As soon as the task is completed, its complicated version appears, for which a small bonus is due.

There is also a kind of crafting in multiplayer - by typing enough details, you can create an improved version of the existing weapon. Parts are obtained by leveling up factions and opening boxes, and they are sometimes given out as a daily bonus at the start of the game. There are also microtransactions that not everyone will like. But much more annoying is the lag compensation system, due to which players with bad connection receive a significant advantage. If in multiplayer you are killed in half a second, and you don’t have time to react with the same weapon, it’s not your fault - it’s just that the network part is designed so that the “lag” opponent sees you earlier. This controversial solution raises far more questions than micropayments.

But in the zombie mode, there are no significant miscalculations - this is an exciting entertainment, made in the style of the eighties. Shooting the walking dead under “Relax” and “Let It Whip” is fun even with random players, and there are much fewer difficulties than in last year’s Black Ops 3. There, players were literally thrown onto the map without any explanation, but landmarks constantly appear here or hints, as well as helpful hints. And death is not at all upsetting, because after death the user finds himself in the game room, where he must play ancient arcade games and earn points, after which the fighter is returned to the amusement park safe and sound.

Many joked about the fact that Modern Warfare is being released this year, and Infinite Warfare is included as a gift. However a new game turned out to be great entertainment, because of which many will not immediately get to the remaster. A spectacular story campaign with memorable characters and many impressive episodes, an exciting zombie mode and a good, albeit unprincipled multiplayer - a set worthy of attention. It's a pity that you can't fly online in space, but it's probably temporary. We'll fly like that in three years.

Set outside of Earth, players find themselves in the midst of a war that spans the entire solar system. The protagonist of the game, Captain Reyes, unexpectedly takes command of Retribution, one of the remaining combat spaceships earth fleet.

We caught up with Taylor Kurosaki, Narrative Director of Infinity Ward, to talk about the epic story and development process of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Taylor Kurosaki: My first game was Crash Bandicoot. I was the second employee at Naughty Dog and most of the game was made by a team of five, including the two founders of the company. As far as I remember, there were eight of us at the time of release. After working on Crash Bandicoot, I decided to take a break from video games. I already had experience in TV and the film industry, so I returned to the world of television. Some time later, at the end of 2003, I got a call from Naughty Dog and asked: “Hi, can you help us with some cutscenes and dialogue?”. So I returned to Naughty Dog. By this point, there were already 35 or 40. I worked on Jak 3 and for about a decade on all four parts of the Uncharted series, until my move to Infinity Ward in 2014.

Taylor Kurosaki: Jacob Minkoff and I have been through a lot and worked together at Naughty Dog for many years. But one day he just decided to take a break from business, sold his house and truck, gave someone his dog, got rid of a bunch of other things, and before he left for the jungle, he settled with me, waiting for the completion of all transactions.

While he was living at my house, I started talking to Infinity Ward about the possibility of working with them, and Jacob and I started watching old war movies, playing Call of Duty, and bouncing ideas about what we could do for Call of Duty together. . I said, “Look, I really would love to work with you on this project. I don't want you to go to the jungle." And he said, "Yes, that would be fun, but maybe some other time."

He flew away, and I continued my communication with Infinity Ward. When they proposed to me, I emailed Jacob and received an auto reply that he had gone upriver and would be completely unavailable. About a month later, he reached the nearest town and was able to check his mail. I sent him a message and just wrote: “I really would like you to work with me, but I understand that this is not destined to happen. I hope when you get this message in a couple of weeks, you will know that my offer is still valid.

I got a response from Jacob the very next day. He was still in town and wrote, "Oh, most of the people in my camp came down with malaria and I wouldn't want that, so I'm in." And he just flew from the jungle to Infinity Ward, and we soon started working together on Infinite Warfare.

Taylor Kurosaki: The team at Infinity Ward had very interesting ideas about what they could do in the next Call of Duty. For example, the non-stop gameplay approach was perfect for Jacob and me. No loading screens. Just imagine: you take a gamepad and nothing else distracts you. We were very inspired by this.

They also had a few ideas about being able to choose side missions, which, again, was something new for the Call of Duty series. This was a really interesting challenge, as all of our previous games were fairly linear in structure.

After watching a lot of movies and reading books about the war, we noticed two patterns. There are stories told from the perspective of an ordinary soldier, an infantryman, and there are stories from the perspective of a commander. We thought that since you have a choice side quests then, of course, you are the leader. You decide what to do next.

So we started there and never stopped. We decided to tell the story from the point of view of the leader, and as you can see for yourself, the goal of the leader is not to fight alongside friends and bring everyone back home. The leader's goal is to complete the task, and the task must come first.

In Saving Private Ryan, Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) learns that the main thing is not to return home to his wife, not to deliver all his subordinates to their relatives, the main thing is to save Private Ryan. We wanted to tell a story that follows these same principles, and so we have Captain Reyes, who has to realize in a very short time that he is no longer just a squad leader who has to bring all his guys home, but a real leader, and most importantly for him - the execution of the task.

Taylor Kurosaki: We wanted to tell a realistic story. If you want to talk about the burden of leadership, you have to credibly show what it's like to send people to the bullets and live with the consequences of it. And there are always consequences. We do not want to tell stories in which you would be a member of a superhero squad, and all missions would be calm and safe. We want to honor the service of real soldiers, to tell about it without embellishment.

Taylor Kurosaki: When we start developing characters, we are not tied to gender or race. We draw diagrams and discuss. We knew we needed a main character. We knew he would need best friend and the right hand, but we also knew that someone else had to join them. And in the end, this “other” became “completely different”. Machine.

Then no. Ethan was not originally conceived as a machine, just as Salter was not conceived as a woman. The whole point was to reveal their characters, to find a “trick”. We wouldn't make Ethan a robot if we realized that his character wouldn't work like that. From the very beginning, we promised ourselves that we would not make him a robot if we felt that such a hero would not fit into the Call of Duty universe.

Robot heroes are featured in many games, TV shows and movies. We said to ourselves: “What is special about our guy? Why does he have to be a robot? – and almost at the same moment we realized that we wanted to create a universal soldier. Such a soldier should not only be the best on the battlefield, but also an ideal support for his squad.

This means that if you look at the war from the perspective of a soldier, you will see that the main thing for him is to protect his comrade. The main thing is to make sure that everyone returns home. Therefore, Ethan's most important goal is to always protect his associates, and in some cases, Reyes, his commander. This is his way of thinking.

How do soldiers who find themselves in the midst of hostilities support each other? In most cases, humor helps them. It's strange, but jokes help you get through all this trouble. In war there is a lot of routine and boredom, there are many extremely dangerous, tense situations, and very few moments between these extremes.

To get through it all, to survive dangerous situations and tense moments, the soldiers use humor to distract each other from the thought that death can be waiting for them just around the corner. Ethan is able to joke - and this part of his personality gives him the opportunity to fit into a squad of living fighters.

He is very different from them. He doesn't look like anyone. It became extremely important to give him the opportunity to intermarry with other fighters in battle. With people like Omar. Omar is a real fighter who believes in the power of weapons and head-to-head combat without resorting to technical bells and whistles - which is why he is skeptical of Ethan. But Omar is no fool. Gradually, he recognizes Ethan as a valuable member of the team and eventually takes "for his own."

Taylor Kurosaki: When it comes to war stories, we've studied a lot of stuff, from Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire, where we are talking about about the Spartan warriors at Thermopylae, to Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan.

If we talk about the sources of inspiration among science fiction, then we can separately note the industrial design in the films of James Cameron - he always skillfully combined recognizable elements with unfamiliar ones. If they are properly mixed, then your fictional universe will become more mundane and similar to the real one.

The Call of Duty series always takes place in a universe where there are no monsters, aliens, or giant blue humanoids. In Infinite Warfare, we tell a story about human conflict in the setting of a realistic future. When we go to unfamiliar worlds, we take familiar elements with us - just like David Cameron. The glass cockpits of the aircraft, the heavy valves on the doors, the helmets look like straight from the Vietnam War.

We have carefully studied the aesthetics of the modern fleet and carefully transferred to the game the elements that make up real warships. We reproduced colors, materials, aesthetics - and then combined this with the design that NASA follows - because our ships plow not the seas, but the expanses of space.

By combining all these elements, we created the Retribution, a ship that looks real because it is made up of many real-life fleet and NASA elements. Many of the players have probably never been on a real battleship, but I'm almost 100% sure that none of them have ever been near Titan or Europa, or on the surface of Mars. When you go to fantastic places, you take something familiar with you, a piece of home, which is what we tried to achieve in game design.

Taylor Kurosaki: We always ask ourselves, "Does this feel like part of Call of Duty?" - can we add certain elements without fundamentally changing the concept of the game? Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Modern Warfare are games that have had a huge impact on us. Our goal during the creation of the game was to honor the roots of the legendary game series, but at the same time to qualitatively develop its components.

Imagine an abandoned mining colony on a rapidly spinning asteroid near the sun itself. What happened here? Where did the miners go? Secret. The next question is, can we tell such a story in Call of Duty? Will it feel like Call of Duty? At some moments we said to ourselves: “Yes, it’s really possible to do it!”, and we did it. When we felt that we were deviating from the canon, we said: “Stop!”, and began to work out the next concept.

Taylor Kurosaki: Yes, we were heavily inspired by science fiction such as Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Of course, we are well acquainted with other popular works and their versions of the cosmos, planets and moons.

The bottom line is that Europe has a lot of water. This is a place that you will definitely want to appropriate - this is a source of resources, and in war, the possession of resources is a key factor in victory. If this or that resource ends on Earth, and at the same time it will be rarely found in the expanses of the solar system, a conflict between those who wish cannot be avoided.

This thought was a great starting point - as fans of science fiction and war stories, we built the narrative, inspired by them. You can see the fruits of our labor in Infinite Warfare.

Additional information about Call of Duty is available on the official Russian-language Call of Duty Facebook page, as well as in @CallofDuty accounts and @InfinityWard V