Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare Trailer - Talk About Jumping The Shark

Have you ever watched your most beloved franchise - whether gaming, film or otherwise - try so hard for novelty and "freshness" that the makers jump the shark so high it ends up in outer space? Well, that's what has just happened with Call Of Duty.

After days of leaks and rumours, Infinite Warfare (what does that even mean?) has been confirmed with a first official trailer that also confirms we're going intergalactic.

Look, the trailer is well made, has a nice musical choice (it didn't need to be covered, but whatever) and it does sell the idea of a good looking sci-fi game. But this isn't Call Of Duty.

Advanced Warfare and Black Ops were a step away from the traditionally "normal" combat warfare, with the Iron Man like augmentations and futurism, and things had to change. Now though, the next level of play is suggesting space-ship dog-fights, zero-G hand-to-hand combat and a distinct Halo flavour (albeit without aliens), as if they're trying to compete directly for no fathomable reason.

Let's just hope the silly elements of BO3's narrative are now gone. Thank heavens for small mercies.

To a certain extent, story doesn't even matter any more - that much has been clear for years. COD's major selling point is its multiplayer element, and the developers are probably looking for anything that shakes that up enough to make sure this year's title sells. But it was going to sell anyway. It didn't need to introduce space-ships and new levels set outside of the atmosphere to bring fans back.

I don't know about you, but I want Call Of Duty to return to the days when it was about storming beaches and historical or at least real world military worlds. This fascination with jumping further into the future just leaves me cold and the augmentations and robotics just takes all the immediacy of threat away.

I'm not stupid enough to think my opinion will be a reflection of the majority (because the trailer sells an exciting experience), but a wouldn't a new World War II set title with current engine capabilities would be far more welcome than this?

Wouldn't a single man with limited weapons that aren't from the pages of Star Trek tie-in novels fighting other men with limited ammo and more personal stakes fundamentally better?

Maybe this is just the year the Call Of Duty franchise sheers off the element of its fanbase who still want that. Because it's going to be a difficult sell for a certain type of gamer.

Still, it's only a matter of time before they make a time travelling Call Of Duty, so maybe it's just best to wait for that now. And if not, maybe those Battlefield World War I rumours will bring some redemption.