Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Activision
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Three stars
Sticking with tradition despite a planet-hopping sci-fi setting, the latest Call of Duty is a rather conservative addition to the annual first-person shooter franchise, offering safe, market-tested upgrades, including a wisecracking robot, spaceship dogfights, ray guns – and a scarred Kit Harington.
While Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare includes moments of gaming grandeur, it fails to surprise, shock, or deliver any major new ideas in a year that has delivered heavy competition in this ever-popular genre, including new versions of Titanfall, Doom and Battlefield.
You play as captain Nick Reye who leads a UN Space Alliance team into battle against the Mars-based Settlement Defense Front.
The straightforward war narrative hits you over the space helmet with its message of military sacrifice, but is elevated by sharp – even heartfelt, sometimes – dialogue and strong acting from Homeland's David Harewood, among others.
However, a jokey robot companion makes more of a lasting impression than Game of Thrones star Harington's character, an evil space admiral.
As usual in CoD, several set pieces shine. A giddy firefight outside a space warship sends players spinning upside down and sideways, while a confrontation with solar-powered robo-warriors on a rapidly spinning asteroid is grimly intense.
Gestures toward player choice – perks, side missions, a more realistic and challenging “specialist mode” – offer minor variations from the familiar on-rails gameplay. Also helping to shake up the shooting-gallery monotony are creepy-crawly exploding “seeker bots” and zero-gravity grenades that send enemies floating up into your crosshairs.
Multiplayer matches, where most players will spend their time, have been tweaked, with a rudimentary weapon-crafting system and "combat rigs", featuring perks that replace last year's "specialist" characters. Boost jumping and wall-running allow for innovative map design, and the overall gameplay is slightly less frantic than last year's Black Ops III.
I’ve never been much of a fan of the “zombies” mode, which blends puzzle elements with survival-type combat. But an aggressively silly 1980s amusement-park setting – with David Hasselhoff playing a DJ – is worth repeat visits to uncover its loopy secrets.
For longtime CoD fans, though, a sense of "been there, shot that" lingers. Infinite Warfare is polished and shiny – but doesn't justify its existence in the way 2009's Modern Warfare 2 or 2012's Black Ops 2 did. Perhaps a hard reboot is in order. Here's hoping Activision stops promising CoD sequels every year so its developers have time to innovate and make the franchise feel vital again.
* Associated Press
RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The full list of 2020 Brit Award nominees (winners in bold):
British group
Coldplay
Foals
Bring me the Horizon
D-Block Europe
Bastille
British Female
Mabel
Freya Ridings
FKA Twigs
Charli xcx
Mahalia
British male
Harry Styles
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Michael Kiwanuka
Stormzy
Best new artist
Aitch
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Mabel
Sam Fender
Best song
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - I Don’t Care
Mabel - Don’t Call Me Up
Calvin Harrison and Rag’n’Bone Man - Giant
Dave - Location
Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
AJ Tracey - Ladbroke Grove
Lewis Capaldi - Someone you Loved
Tom Walker - Just You and I
Sam Smith and Normani - Dancing with a Stranger
Stormzy - Vossi Bop
International female
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish
Camila Cabello
Lana Del Rey
Lizzo
International male
Bruce Springsteen
Burna Boy
Tyler, The Creator
Dermot Kennedy
Post Malone
Best album
Stormzy - Heavy is the Head
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent
Dave - Psychodrama
Harry Styles - Fine Line
Rising star
Celeste
Joy Crookes
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Read more from Johann Chacko
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
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Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
