The Same old song and dance with a twist:
Call of Duty's latest installment brings back the magic in more ways than one.
I purchased a copy of the "Legacy Edition" and it came with Modern Warfare Remastered. I have thoroughly enjoyed this game so far. Suffice it to say that I am a fan of Call of Duty, I have owned every single Call of Duty installment since the first game. I have enjoyed the multiplayer and I have been a longtime fan of shooters in general. This game really breaks the mold and changes things for the better. I will write the first part talking about Modern Warfare.
Modern Warfare Remastered
Modern Warfare has a special place in my heart. I have so much nostalgia, and the hype while I waited for this remaster was absolutely way too much for me. I got my hands on the game recently, and I love it. I will warn you the download is atrociously big. The download for Modern Warfare is about 50gb. The game runs at 10gb, and it lets you select multiplayer or singleplayer as your first playable selection. The graphics in Modern Warfare remastered are so ahead of where they were and the nostalgia factor is dialed up to eleven. The multiplayer is a fast-paced as it ever was, and the campaign honestly feels like you're watching a movie. What has always separated Call of Duty from other first person shoots is the action element of the game. The game feels like you're playing a movie and you're the lead actor. The cut-scene to action/interactive scenes are pretty flawless in this game. The game I already had rated as one of the best in my opinion.
Single Player
Infinite Warfare filled a niche I had no idea I wanted filled. The game has many callbacks to sci-fi and other great space stories. As I stated earlier with MWR it really seamlessly transitions through the cut-scene/action sequences. You can legit play this game from start to finish and it is a bit longer than a movie. I played through the campaign on hardened or "hard" for most games. I think that Hardened is a great balance of challenge and fun. It keeps the game flowing with a sense of accomplishment, I played and beat the game on veteran, and it took me much longer, I started specialist difficulty, and my unlocks for my character carried over. The game doesn't slow down progress by taking you back to menu to "continue mission" and you can always pick up right where you left off. I think that this separates this campaign from many other call of duty games in the sense that they really mixed up game play from space combat all the way to ground fighting, at it's core it is still call of duty, but in my opinion call of duty needed something like this to spice up their tired game play works. The multiplayer is really where this game sings. The Campaign is great, but pretty much as soon as you wrap it up, beyond playing it on a harder difficulty there's not much keeping you going back, but it is easy to replay.
Multiplayer
In multiplayer we have a great variety of weapons, and perks to choose from. I particularly enjoyed using the Type 2 rifle with a ELO sight, and it was nice to be able to customize the weapon with various attachment, and near endless possibilities. Multiplayer feels like a mix of Ghosts, Black Ops 3, and Advanced Warfare. The exo-suits and jump ability has been toned down a little for aspects that made the pacing quick and high-risk reward. If you have played any of the last 3 installments of Call of Duty, this game is pretty much the same.
Zombies
Call of Duty and Zombies have been the usual thing keeping me attached to the franchise, and the last 3 installments have featured zombies and it's been great. Zombies in Spaceland is an engaging PVE mode where you and 3 other players survive waves of zombies together. There is a ton of fun here, and most of the time I've spent on the Zombies portion. David Hasselhoff makes a guest appearance here, and it's great. The soundtrack is very 80s, and the lines and voice actors are pretty much great. I would recommend this game on zombies alone.
The Verdict
Overall, I give this installment a 9/10. Really fantastic, but the familiarity is a blessing and a curse, the mix up is enough to save this game from irrelevance. Lastly, I would recommend the legacy bundle because it's two games packed into one. This is a title that would make a perfect gift.