Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Multiplayer Beta Launches on PS4
- Paul Thurrott
- Oct 15, 2016
-
7
It’s a great time to be a Call of Duty fan, and that’s especially true for those who choose to game on PlayStation 4. Last week, PS4 gamers got early access to the near-perfect Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single player campaign. And now, we can sample the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare multiplayer experience.
Yes, I’m pinching myself.
Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
Both games are of course sold together: When you purchase certain versions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on any platform—Xbox One, PC, or PlayStation 4—you get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare for free as well. Both games ship publicly on November 4—can you believe that’s only three weeks from now?—and both will provide both single player and multiplayer experiences. (The initial Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer experience will feature 10 of the original maps, and then Activision will ship the remaining 6 in December.)
But as I noted previously in Pre-Order Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on PS4 Now, Play Modern Warfare Remastered Today, those who pre-order the new COD will get some early access to each of these games. What you get varies, both by platform, and in timing.
For PC gamers, sorry, but you’re out of luck: Even if you preorder Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, you’ll need to wait for November 4.
Activision throws Xbox One gamers just one bone: Those who preorder the game on that platform will gain early access to the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare multiplayer beta for a three-day period that runs from October 21 to October 24, 2016. So, you need to wait until next week for your first peek.
But PS4 gamers have the best experience, as was the case with the previous COD title, Call of Duty: Black Ops III. PS4 pre-orderers now have access to the full Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered single player campaign, which again is nearly perfect. And they will have two long weekends during which they can play the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare multiplayer beta: October 14 to 17, 2016 (Friday through Sunday) and then again from October 21 to October 24, 2016.
That beta is downloading to my PS4 as I write this. It’s separate from the full game, but if you search the PlayStation Store for “Infinite Warfare” you will see an entry titled Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Beta. Download that to gain early access today.
Unlike with the early access to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered single player campaign, the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Beta is not the full experience, is in fact not even close. Instead, this 20 GB download provides just three maps—Frontier, Frost, and Throwback—and four game modes, Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Kill Confirmed, plus a new mode called Defender, which appears to be a “keep away”-type experience.
Further limiting gameplay during the beta is the fact that you can’t select the game mode you want: Instead, you will get a special playlist that cycles between the various modes and maps. (Update: Actually, now that I’m playing it, I can see that you can in fact choose the mode, which is great. –Paul)
That said, Activision is also providing some early access to uniqueCall of Duty: Infinite Warfare features like Mission Teams, where you can complete missions with other players and rank up your team rating.
As a big fan of Call of Duty: Black Ops III—which not only makes the jetpack gameplay from its terrible predecessor Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare fun, but is in fact the best COD multiplayer experience yet—I’m intrigued by this line from the PlayStation Blog post that announces the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Beta:
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s multiplayer mode features Infinity Ward’s take on the momentum-based fluid movement system ofCall of Duty: Black Ops III.
Great. Because while it’s fair to say that many are simply going to buyCall of Duty: Infinite Warfare in order to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, the new game needs to stand on its own too, and offer a year’s-worth of multiplayer entertainment. And if it’s going to work a lot like BO3, that’s a good sign.
Anyway. Looks like I have some gaming to do today. And instead of banging my head against the wall playing something like Gears of War 4, I can instead enjoy some truly new Call of Duty instead. Excellent.
PS: Or, at least I hope I can. I’ve read that the PlayStation Network is having some issues. That’s not why I prefer Xbox, but it’s certainly on the list. –Paul