At long last, details about Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's multiplayer have been revealed. It should look familiar to players of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, but there are a number of new elements to get players excited as well.
The major new addition to the Call of Duty formula this year are Rigs. Rigs are essentially classes that come with a number of unique traits, abilities and special weapons (called payloads) among which players can choose. There are six Rigs total, with the ongoing Call of Duty XP event diving into three in more detail: Warfighter, Merc and FTL.
Warfighter is a Rig that sounds like it will appeal to a wide portion of Call of Duty players. It excels at medium-ranged combat, has a powerful special weapon with massive bullet spread and even sports a special ability where killstreak progress doesn't reset upon death, but costs more.
Merc is the tank of Infinite Warfare. In addition to an ability that allows him to quickly regenerate health, he also comes equipped with a damage-resistant bullet shield that can be used to take down enemies or assault-defended objectives.
Last but not least is FTL, a lightning-fast assassin Rig that puts emphasis on mobility and sliding. FTL sports the "Eraser" handgun as one of its payloads, a powerful sidearm that can incinerate enemies in a single bullet.
Moving onto the customization side of the game, the popular pick 10 customization system is making a comeback. New this year is the ability for players to craft base weapons into what are being called "prototype weapons" using salvage earned from playing. These prototype weapons come in a number of different rarities and sport special gun perks that modify their functionality. Detailed during the event was a sniper rifle called the EBR-800. The least-rare prototype version of the weapon simply grants players additional ammo, but more rare versions of the weapon outlined low-health enemies, rewards extra killstreak points for kills, reloads faster and can even deliver a tactical nuke after a 25-player killstreak.
There are, of course, new killstreaks as well, such as the T.H.O.R. missile platform and a mech that can be piloted remotely.
As for when players will be able to take Infinite Warfare's multiplayer for a test run? The game's beta will begin Oct. 14 on PlayStation 4 and will arrive on Xbox One at a later date, with no plans for a beta on PC. Those who preorder the game will get access.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare releases on Nov. 4.
