Call of Duty Vanguard Review - Not the best way to revisit World War II

Sledgehammer Games’ latest entry in the annual franchise, Call of Duty Vanguard, is a game whose announcement made me roll my eyes, as it marked a return - yet again - to the World War II setting in 2021. When it was revealed, it looked generic. As I played it, it felt generic. This series has gotten to a point where being fun is all it can strive for, as there’s only very little in Vanguard that made me excited for the series’ future. There were a few added features that raised an eyebrow or two, but if you’ve played the last two Call of Duty games, you’re not missing much. 

Let’s start with the campaign, a narrative set in World War II that focuses on a special unit composed of elite soldiers from different countries, all equipped with their own unique sets of skills. They are ordered to do a secret mission that involves intercepting top secret Nazi documents. The campaign had an interesting concept for a World War II story, but sadly consists of mostly flavorless characters inspired by 80s action flicks - one-man-army types that are mostly obnoxious and lacked any depth, negating any potential attachment the player might have been able to form towards them. 

A missed opportunity

What’s frustrating about this campaign is that it spent most of its runtime giving context to these characters' battle skills through flashbacks. This results in the campaign hopping between different regions and historical moments in the war, from the battle of Stalingrad to the Battle of Midway, and even the deserts of Libya.

Only one of the four main characters really stood out - Polina Petrova, the deadly Russian sniper of the group. She had a more personal story - a typical World War II origin story, but it was a solid enough driving force as to why she is the way she is, which I appreciated a lot more when compared to what the other characters are given to work with. Most of this 5-7 hour campaign felt meaningless, since most of the great battles featured have been reimagined countless times, even through different mediums, and Vanguard doesn’t bring anything unique to the table on something so heavily documented. A good portion of the campaign felt like it could have been summarized through a detailed montage, making this whole affair with Vangaurd a big missed opportunity that started strong.

Each mission delivered similar on-rails FPS campaign segments that got me thinking that I'd played this game before. There were slight twists in gameplay, such as occasional stealth sections and features introduced mid-way through, such as a slow-motion button paired with auto aim, allowing you to easily take out waves of enemies. Nothing ground-breaking.

Visually, the game does look stunning, as you look at the distance or stare at the detailed environments with impressive lighting and reflections, which give Vanguard an almost photorealistic appearance. CGI cutscenes during narrative moments are aplenty and blend well, as they transition from one cutscene to actual in-game cutscenes.

Modern Warfare: Vanguard 

In multiplayer, I was less optimistic, but came out enjoying it more than I thought I would. Despite its being the same old Call of Duty competitive multiplayer, the variety did a lot of the heavy lifting here, making this iteration of the famed game mode a more palatable offering compared to last year’s effort in Black Ops Cold War. It felt packed at launch, as there’s enough maps that work for the majority of the game modes, and even for the different available match sizes. I can go from slow-paced 6v6 in mid to large maps to go all-out with 12v12 mayhem, or go crazy in a 7v7 match of Domination in Da Haus, one of the smallest maps I've ever experienced in Call of Duty.

Maps are designed differently this time around due to the introduction of destructible environments, a feature that I highly appreciate as it opens up new opportunities for flanking or securing objectives. Every map has certain sections that can become destroyed to a degree, in order to create either a new line of sight or a path for players to take advantage of. Each map starts fresh, and it’s great seeing how much the game space changes due to all the gun fights and explosions. These micro-destructions greatly affect gameplay for the better, and it's something I hope becomes a staple in future games. 

As for progression, nothing really changed in this department, as it embraces the Call of Duty Modern Warfare UI design and customization system, where you level up to unlock more guns and perks, and separately level up each weapon to unlock the many attachments for it. I still find it absurd to see World War II weapons like the M1 Garand fully decked out with up to 10 attachments. 

The similarities to 2019’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare continue as Killstreaks and Field Equipment play the same. Even the animations and sprinting screams Modern Warfare. If you haven’t played Call of Duty’s multiplayer since 2019, you really haven't missed much. You'll still find people running and gunning 90% of the time, jumping or sliding when they check a corner, and a player’s K/D ratio will still take priority over objectives for most players in Quick Play sessions.

Zombies be shallow

Zombies is - again - the last big game mode, and this has to be the biggest disappointment in this Call of Duty package. In just one night I felt like I’ve done what I wanted from the single map available at launch as there’s barely any incentive to do multiple runs. 

What we have is a boring map where you'll start in the center where all of the upgrades and vendors are already available, from the pack-a-punch, mystery box, upgrades, etc. Players will then have to trigger certain portals that transport them into enclosed sections of the map, where they're tasked with completing objectives such as gathering rune stones or surviving for X amount of time to earn money and scrap. Once you're done, you'll return to the center and spend all that you’ve earned at the many vendors available. Rinse and repeat. 

The sense of accomplishment, difficulty, or discovery is not present in the Der Anfang map. The idea of opening new sections of the map through surviving multiple rounds and revealing new upgrade options was a major part as to why the Zombies game mode has been so beloved since 2008. Losing that just leaves a shallow zombies experience where players are forced to accomplish mundane objectives.

Then we have the lack of an Easter Egg at launch - it's the crown jewel and biggest objective for any Zombies fan. Der Anfang will eventually have an Easter Egg (a secret event triggered when you perform certain actions on the map) added into the map in the near future, but it was sadly not available as of this writing, giving little to no reason to play it multiple times at this moment. 

Franchise fatigue intensifies

As I think about Call of Duty Vanguard further, overall, it’s a big miss due to the campaign and the current Zombies experience, as each of them fail to establish a need to want to play more. Zombies could spike your interest once the first map gets updated with an Easter Egg, but that’s about it. 

Multiplayer is a decent offering, but it remains safe and familiar with slight changes like destructible environments. The amount of multiplayer content at launch is a pleasant surprise as well. The time I spent in multiplayer resulted in unlocking new weapons, perks, Operators, and killstreaks, but it also gave me Call of Duty Warzone rewards through its seasonal battle pass reward system, reminding me that their free battle royale game mode will be part of Vanguard’s future in the coming months. 

The problem with Vanguard is that it’s difficult to recommend with multiplayer being its strongest asset, which is something Black Ops Cold War and the Modern Warfare reboot provided well enough, as there isn’t a big enough change in the gameplay formula to warrant a switch. In the end, Vanguard simply asks if you prefer the World War II setting enough to buy it at full price. If not, I think you’ll be good with whatever Call of Duty title you have right now.

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7/10

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Highlights

Pros

• A packed competitive multiplayer offering wrapped around the usual Call of Duty gameplay formula 

• Destructible environments in multiplayer maps need to be a staple

• Campaign explores different locales

Cons

• Campaign is solid on paper, poor in execution

• Zombies’ first map is shallow, loses its flavor in one sitting, and doesn’t feature an Easter Egg (yet) 

• Unnecessary victory/MVP animations that occurs after the end of every multiplayer match

What I’ve Played

• Reached Prestige 1 in multiplayer, played all game modes, and fully leveled-up a few weapons

• I Did over 10 runs of Zombies in the Der Anfang map

• Finished the Campaign in around 6 hours

[This review is based on a PC review code provided by Activision Blizzard.]

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