Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Jackal Assault VR Experience (PlayStation 4) Review

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Jackal Assault is hardly a complete game, but it does follow a rudimentary three-act structure that can be found in a standard Call of Duty level. What Jackal Assault does is focus entirely on space combat, serving as a tech demo for the core game of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, while also being a semi commercial—and it is kind of effective. Activision makes very good use of the PlayStation VR's strengths and does basically everything right for a fast paced full 360-degree dogfight in outer space. The control scheme is also very simple and easy to use, and while the content is very light, free is still free.

What begins with a fairly riveting systems check and launch sequence, which is a thinly veiled tutorial (and roughly half of the experience), escalates as an enemy warship assaults a friendly fleet. It is extremely difficult to follow who is who in the narrative since it feels like Troy Baker is the voice of everyone, so do not expect much in terms of basic plot other than "bad guys show up and they must be defeated"—that's all. After the battle, the kills made are tallied and the game keeps track of high score, reminding those old enough of arcade and Atari games from yesteryear.

After completing the experience, which lasts about five or ten minutes, the option to skip straight to the dogfight becomes available. Bearing in mind this is a free download for basically anybody who owns a PlayStation VR headset, it does whet the appetite for more action because Jackal Assault has very good playability. It's smooth, responsive and looks every bit as good as any other core Call of Duty, but with the science fiction twist.

There is no question that everyone who owns a PlayStation VR headset should download this and give it a shot. Even those who are not interested in the franchise because it is associated with big dumb action should consider downloading because Jackal Assault shows just how experimental and daring Activision is getting with their flagship first-person shooter. Call of Duty has gotten weird and very interesting, but is still a very polished action game.