Infinity Ward’s Joel Emslie and Michael Boon discuss bringing war to the present in Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat

“We’ve done WWII games for longer than the war lasted, so we really wanted to do something fresh.”

When it comes to compelling, intense action, it’s hard to beat the guys at Infinity Ward. The developer that created the Call of Duty franchise has always managed to provide exciting experiences in a World War II setting. Now, after handing off the development reins to Treyarch for the third entry in the series, the team at Infinity Ward is currently working on Call of Duty 4.

This upcoming entry will be a departure of sorts for the series, getting away from the WWII campaigns that the series has made its name on for a fictionalized war set in modern times. Luckily this move will pay off for the franchise, as the series’ hardcore intensity and detailed settings are well in place, this time with accurate modern weaponry.

At a recent press event held by Activision, the publisher of the Call of Duty games, GameZone got the opportunity to sit down with Infinity Ward’s Joel Emslie, Lead Character Artist, and Michael Boon, Lead Artist, to discuss the direction behind the game, including the reasoning behind the fictional campaign and the modern setting.

The Call of Duty series has long been a staple in the World War II FPS genre. Why modernize Call of Duty 4?

Joel & Michael: Modernizing Call of Duty has been something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, and it was something we felt very passionate about. We’ve done WWII games for longer than the war lasted, so we really wanted to do something fresh.

Why do a fictional story instead of mirror a modern conflict like the war in Iraq?

Joel & Michael: We thought about that one a lot, actually. The signature of CoD has always been huge battles between two evenly matched sides, which is something that really isn’t there now. It’s no fun picking on the little guy.

Also, the team was interested in being tasteful in not mirroring a current situation, and we really didn’t want to weigh in on the politics of the war. We wanted to go for “Tank-on-Tank”, not “Tank-on-peasants-with-rocks”.

Call of Duty 4 is set to release simultaneously on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. What are the differences between the versions?

Joel & Michael: The different versions will be very, very similar, more so than they were in Call of Duty 3. Gameplay is certainly the same. One difference is the way that the game uses the Xbox 360’s vibration function. When using the Javelin [a weapon that targets enemy vehicles and then launches a missile at them], it will begin to vibrate when it locks onto an enemy, which is something that it will do in real-life.

The game seems to draw a lot from film sources (one stage is called “Charlie Don’t Surf”, in a nod to Apocalypse Now). What were some of the films that you took inspiration from for CoD 4?

Joel & Michael: I must’ve watched Black Hawk Down a bunch, and Enemy at the Gates to get the feel of Russian soldiers. But the biggest help was seeing the real deal. The US solider has a quality to them that we really wanted to capture.

You get a squad of marines together and they act a certain way. They all dip and they all have tobacco stains on them, so we wanted to make sure to have that in the game. Also, they would’ve taken my head if one of the tanks didn’t have “war pigs” written on it [laughs]. We tried to draw as much of the art style from reality as possible.

What about the weaponry? Is every weapon in the game authentic or are there a few “embellished” ones?

Joel & Michael: Everything we have in the game is currently in actual use. We’ve held each weapon in our own hands, so there’s nothing set in the future at all. No ray guns [laughs].

What can you tell us about the vehicles in the game?

Joel & Michael: We can’t say other than there will more vehicles than just the AC-130. Only, expect to be deployed in several different ways.

Considering that the modern theme is somewhat of a departure for the series, do you feel that this is the direction the series will go in from now on? Might it return to World War II?

Joel & Michael: At this point, we’re only concerned with getting CoD 4 ready to go, so we’re not really thinking about it. Infinity Ward makes great WWII games, and now they want to make the best shooter ever. So, wherever we set it, we’re mainly focused on making an intensely awesome FPS.

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