“Review of Call of Duty: Vanguard.”

After becoming a regular thing to release a new Call of Duty game every year, with small changes every time, Sledgehammer Games this time returns with a unique experience, offering a new adventure for fans of the series. This is what we’ll explore in this review.

Story

The story begins during World War II but this time in a somewhat fictional world, impressing us with its high cinematic quality and beautiful music. However, on the other hand, the story is very short, lasting no more than 5 hours. The story is divided between 4 heroes representing the first special mission team during the war. Each character has their unique abilities that set them apart, and their stories are told through flashbacks for each character, allowing us to learn more about each one and why they were chosen for the team.

Polina Petrova

She is a Russian sniper whose story begins at the start of the war, specifically in the Battle of Stalingrad. We get to know her various abilities, starting from climbing walls to locate enemy snipers, to sneaking through debris and moving through narrow spaces. Most of her missions focus on stealth and locating enemy snipers using her abilities to draw their attention. Therefore, her missions are generally considered the best of the four, and she is the character who gets the most attention in terms of her presence.

Lucas Riggs

He is an explosives expert, and his story begins in North Africa, where he faces Nazi armored forces. His abilities revolve around carrying different types of bombs and explosives, and even during his most significant moments in the story, he is mostly throwing explosives at enemies.

Arthur Kingsley

Here, the studio tried to integrate a new type of strategy in the story. Instead of playing as the strongest person in the world, you play as the leader of an entire team, guiding them to enemy locations like an entire squad during the war. Although the idea is beautiful, the execution is weak, making it feel like Lucas’s missions but with teammates to guide instead of bombs.

Wade Jackson

Wade is the best of the four in terms of beginning, as his story starts during a battle in the Pacific Ocean. However, it quickly becomes the weakest of the four stories due to the second part, where his ability to see enemies behind walls or hide among them doesn’t work well. The AI is inconsistent, sometimes making it easy to pass enemies without being detected, and at other times, the enemies spot you right away.

Multiplayer Mode

Here, Vanguard makes up for the lack of story content with a rich multiplayer mode. You’ll find all the familiar modes from previous Call of Duty games, but there’s also a new mode called Champion Hill. This mode tries to combine a few modes with Warzone’s survival elements, where it is limited to 2 or 3 players per team, each team has a set number of lives and money, which increases by killing other players. You can then use the money to upgrade your weapons or equipment during the match. The small map and fast-paced gameplay turn this mode from a Battle Royale-like mode to something new, requiring focus and good team coordination.

Overall, Champion Hill is an excellent addition to the Call of Duty formula that fans are familiar with.

The weapons are shared across all online modes, which reduces the time spent developing each weapon and allows you to play any mode without feeling pressured by weak weapons you’ve collected.

Additionally, two classic maps from World at War, Castle and Dome, have returned with a fresh new look, showing how much the studio cares about the series’ long-time fans.

Zombie Mode

This is considered the weakest zombie mode in any Call of Duty game to date. So far, it only includes a few missions, all revolving around surviving against large groups of zombies and collecting money to upgrade your base and weapons. The full zombie mode will be released with the first season pass update in December, but for now, it is the weakest part of the game.

Conclusion

Call of Duty: Vanguard delivers a fantastic cinematic experience despite the short story, excellent gameplay, and the best multiplayer modes in the series so far. However, the missing zombie mode makes it fall short of being the best experience in the series.

Pros

• Good story
• Enjoyable gameplay
• Multiplayer mode
• Variety of maps with classic maps from World at War

Cons

• Zombie mode
• Short story duration

Final Rating:

7/10