WAR WITHOUT END

INFINITY WARD BALANCED THIS HELLISH GAME OF CHANCE WITH A SOMBRE TONE

There have been two Infinity Wards. The first invented Call of Duty; the second saved it from diminishing returns. In the middle was a cataclysmic event in game development, one that played out in public and left a world-famous studio forever changed.

The origin point of Call of Duty, when you get down to it, was actually Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. While still under the auspices of a company named 2015 Games, the nascent Infinity Ward team established a new paradigm for first-person shooters.

Where FPS protagonists Lt Mike Powell was unnervingly human – all too vulnerable to machine-gun nests and mortar fire, which seemed to rip the air in two.