Call of Duty: Vanguard Reviews

Call of Duty: Vanguard is ranked in the 48th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
IGN
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Nov 5, 2021

Call of Duty Vanguard's highly polished campaign provides a healthy amount of fun, even if its brief length and lack of variety lead it to fall short of the classic pieces of war cinema it's trying to emulate.

Read full review

IGN
Top Critic
5 / 10.0
Nov 10, 2021

Vanguard's Zombies mode is goofy, gory, and adventurous, but it suffers from a deadly lack of content.

Read full review

IGN
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Nov 10, 2021

Call of Duty: Vanguard's multiplayer doesn't do enough new to distinguish itself from the last few years to be a great game, but its excellent maps and Champion Hill mode mean that it's still a reliably good time.

Read full review

PC Gamer
Top Critic
60 / 100
Nov 9, 2021

CoD's multiplayer is as dependable as ever, but Vanguard's campaign and Zombies mode fail to capitalise on what could be interesting ideas.

Read full review

No Recommendation / Blank
Nov 5, 2021

Vanguard won't join the pantheon of Call of Duty games, but it's a decent stop-gap for those waiting for Modern Warfare's return.

Read full review

7 / 10.0
Nov 16, 2021
Call of Duty: Vanguard - Easy Allies Review - YouTube video thumbnail
Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
7 / 10
Nov 9, 2021

A reliable entry full of variety and worthwhile content, that simultaneously leaves an aroma of staleness that is beginning to taint the whole Call Of Duty franchise.

Read full review

Nov 8, 2021

A solid installment for the series with a satisfying story and great multiplayer balance.

Read full review

8 / 10.0
Nov 4, 2021

Vanguard is an overall solid pick with a lackluster campaign, a nascent but incredibly promising zombies experience, and multiplayer with a few critical new aspects.

Read full review

Polygon
Top Critic
Unscored
Nov 11, 2021

It will feel familiar to anyone who has picked up a controller and jumped into any of the past two dozen iterations of the franchise. More importantly, though, Vanguard is a Call of Duty game because of the role it proudly plays as a mythmaking vehicle.

Read full review

7 / 10
Nov 5, 2021

Tweaks in multiplayer and Zombies advance the Call of Duty franchise overall, and an emphasis on distinct characters makes Vanguard's story fun, but it doesn't always mix well with the series' gameplay.

Read full review

5.5 / 10.0
Nov 19, 2021

Sledgehammer Games is no stranger to righting wrongs, as seen with its previous Call of Duty entries, but even with additional balance tweaks and new content, I’m certain five years from now that Vanguard will be looked down upon as one of the weakest games in the series.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Nov 10, 2021

In the long history of the CoD series, it’s fitting that Vanguard stayed true to form with the World War II setting, because when all is said and done, I think it’ll be considered among the greats. If it’s already this fun to play now, I can’t wait to see how it evolves in the coming months with any updates Sledgehammer has planned.

Read full review

9 / 10
Nov 10, 2021

The stars have aligned for Call of Duty: Vanguard. For the first time, this truly feels like a full package without any caveats. Sure, some parts are naturally stronger than others but there isn't a weak link in sight. After back to back triumphs, Call of Duty is now on a killstreak.

Read full review

87 / 100
Nov 5, 2021

Even failing at "showing World Wart Two like never before", Call of Duty Vanguard is a great FPS. Campaign is full of epic (and some dramatic) moments, multiplayer is fun and fast, and includes 16 maps (twice as the previous Call of Duty game) with plenty of modes and progression elements, and the new zombies mode is incredibly fun.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Forbes
Top Critic
Unscored
Nov 12, 2021

For all its incredible characters and acting, Vanguard has somewhat confirmed that Call of Duty campaign modes are going in two very different directions: the stagecraft is getting better with each release, but the wider experience is going downhill.

Read full review

Erik Kain
Top Critic
9 / 10.0
Nov 12, 2021

All told, Call Of Duty: Vanguard has exceeded my expectations, especially after a less-than-promising pre-launch Alpha and press event. Then again, the Beta was drastically improved overall so I was already feeling more optimistic by launch.

Read full review

8 / 10
Nov 11, 2021

While Call of Duty: Vanguard does what it does well, it’s as I wrote at the start: the expected experience. There’s nothing overly surprising here, no major shakeups to the gameplay, nothing that rejuvenates the franchise like 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, Call of Duty: Vanguard offers a solid experience for those looking for their annual fix from the franchise.

Read full review

VG247
Top Critic
Nov 10, 2021

Judged on its own terms, Call of Duty: Vanguard offers a solid, albeit predictable campaign, an engaging multiplayer with deep progression systems and satisfying gunplay, and a Zombies mode that will only serve as a minor distraction in its current state.

Read full review

6 / 10.0
Nov 10, 2021

Overall, it feels like a game that doesn't want to disturb and has no soul of its own.

Review in Spanish | Read full review