Peace and international understanding - these are two of the greatest goals of manned space travel. But where today's astronauts from the US, Europe and Russia are researching unanimously on the ISS, the distant future of "Call of Duty - Infinite Warfare" does not look quite as good.

The nations of the Earth joined the United Nations Space Alliance (UNSA) and founded numerous colonies on almost all the planets of the solar system, including their moons. But many of the colonists living there do not want to have anything to do with their homeworld.

The separatists formed into the Settlement Defense Force (SDF) and are now bombarding the earth - because they want to keep the solar raw materials that are urgently needed in the home world. "Computer Bildspiele" has tested the action game.

Off into space

When Infinity Ward announced the now 13th part of the successful first-person shooter series "Call of Duty", many fans reacted angrily: they had wanted a serial part in the Second World War or the present instead of the futuristic scenario. However, most of the last twelve editions were already played there, which is why other players have given creators a lack of creativity.

Not least for this reason, the graphic designers, programmers and designers from Southern California decided for the future. Ultimately, the result should appease all skeptics: "Call of Duty - Infinite Warfare" is a magnificent game and consists of the best parts of the series.

Space ship action

In "Call of Duty - Infinite Warfare," Captain Nick Reyes takes on the role of Captain Nick Reyes, who with his comrades of the Special Combat Air Recon the SDF troops in 22 main and nine optional side missions forehead. This means that, unlike in earlier series, the player does not move wildly between different players.

Instead, he is accompanied by characters such as Reyes' long-time battlemate Nora, or the prototype robot ETH.3n, which is a powerful one in the course of the approximately ten hours long, excellently staged campaign.

Another great innovation: Reyes is not only on foot, but goes up again and again in the "Jackal" space hunters. Its control is less reminiscent of a complicated flight simulator, but rather to space classics such as "Wing Commander": the player targets opponents, selects weapons, fires deceptives, and occasionally activates the turbo to escape poisonous situations.

optional

Some missions take place completely behind the joystick. From there, the player must disassemble SDF hunters and large-space ships. In others, Reyes leaves the cockpit to explore planets, moons, asteroids, or enemy spaceships.

The developers are able to combine the mix of space and ground battles perfectly - both parts fit perfectly into one big whole. Lack of variety is therefore never to be deplored in "Infinite Warfare".

After almost every mission, Nick, Nora and Co. return to their flying base: the carrier ship "Retribution". Here, the player chooses whether and which of the nine optional side missions he wants to tackle, hijacked SDF pilots and officers in the quarters, and looks at personal dossiers, mission details, and TV news on a computer display announcing the recent successes.

Remote controlled robots

It is worth it to do secondary missions - not only because they give further insights into the conflict UNSA against SDF. Success can also lead to improvements, such as faster health regeneration, more precise shooting from the hip or more nimble reloading.

In SDF facilities, there are also well-hidden and guarded weapon chambers, where plans for strong hand rifles and rifles await new owners. Splinter, antigrav and other grenades open up with larger enemies, as do self-firing drones or explosives on four legs.

The hacking of enemy robots is great even through closed doors: The players who are captured by the player turn off enemy troops before the player chases them by self-destruction. In the course of the campaign, the player, as in previous series, set targets for surface bombardment and rockets of giant Mech robots.

Rapid multiplayer mode

For most "CoD" fans, however, the multiplayer is more important than the campaign. And what can he do? A whole lot. There are currently 15 game modes, including classics like "Team Deathmatch", "Domination", "Gun Game" and "Kill Confirmed".

In the new "Defender" mode, two teams are battling for a drone, the possession of which scales the points account. But beware: those who carry the object of desire can only perform close-combat attacks.

Once again, the multiplayer maps are set for quick action: in "Frost", the battle rages, for example, in a twisted research station on Jupitermond Europe. "Throwback" is a space station reminiscent of a "halo" ring, and its corridors lead to a central square that can snap sniper rifles from adjacent buildings.

"Breakout" houses a high-security prison built in a mountain on the earth. It's more than in the other cards for skill at the race along walls and booster jumps at the right moment.

Combat rigs instead of specialists

The specialist classes from "Black Ops 3" are no longer available. Instead, the developers rely on six futuristic combat suits, the Combat Rigs. They possess not only features such as special punching force (Merc) and high speed (synaptic) but also individual abilities and equipment possibilities.

Thus, Warfighters press a few seconds on the accelerator, while Mercs build an electromagnetic shield that protects against any form of damage. Synaptics turn the time back, jump to an earlier position, filling up health and ammunition.

After each match, distribute the game key, which the player exchanged for supply crates. It contains weapon plans, equipment and raw materials for producing prototype weapons in four quality levels. The four factions of the multiplayer mode also have their own weapons.

Zombies in Spaceland

The zombie mode has developed over the years into a major game mode at "CoD". "Infinite Warfare" is not disappointing. The map "Spaceland" is included for sale.

The homage to the 80s puts four players in the coop in the same-named amusement park, in which it is teeming with undead. As a nerd, sports skirmish, rapper and blonde, the quartet meets the zombies - teenage films like "The Breakfast Club" leave greetings.

The retro quartet renders zombies, picks up coal and invests them in new weapons. Enemy wave around enemy wave mows the players. In doing so, the Koop team gains access to ever new areas of the park. If a player bites into the grass and is not re-enlivened, go to the "Afterlife Arcade" - a mystic play area with fairground races and old eight-bit games from Activision.

He must master the dead man to collect enough energy and then return to the action. The player cancels lost weapons at a fee in the park fund office. Although "zombies" seem a bit confused at first sight, strategy and cooperation are required to be able to survive the undead group in the long term - and this makes a giant fun.

Conclusion: For "Call of Duty - Ghosts" the designers of Infinity Ward had to put a balancing act over two console generations in just two years of development - with not completely convincing results. "Call of Duty - Infinite Warfare" was just under development for the current hardware generation for almost three years, and the player feels and sees it at every corner.

The campaign is grandiosely staged, just spraying before change, and for an ego-shooter, it is a surprisingly reflective sound. The multiplayer mode combines the well-known point collection for prestige level ascents with four-part sets, four groups with their own tasks, the production of prototype weapons and a wealth of maps and game variants.

In addition, the completely new "zombies" mode, which some other game manufacturers would sell as an extraspiel. With "Infinite Warfare", Infinity Ward qualitatively ties up to "Modern Warfare 3" - whoever likes an ego shooter does not need another game in the next twelve months - this action package is more than thick enough.

Strengths: Campaign with flight and ground missions, story with lots of depth and great actors, multiplayer mode for the first time with weaponcrafting, superb zombies-co-op mode

Weaknesses: Flight missions not very simulation-laden, Modern-Warfare-Remake not in the standard issue, German synchronization little succeeded

Assessment: very good

About the test: The editorial team tested "Infinite Warfare" in San Francisco with two dozen colleagues from the USA and Australia - about 40 hours. Except for the matchmaking servers, all aspects of the game were playable.