Call of Duty: Vanguard Reviews
Call of Duty: Vanguard offers us a mix of interesting stories, very fun group play phases and much-welcomed zombie innovations, already an experience not to be missed for fans of the series and first-perspective shooting games.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Call of Duty Vanguard is a decent next installment in the franchise that I would recommend to both newcomers and veterans who love the game series. However, if you already own one of the previous installments and don't like the World War II theme, you can safely skip this one or wait for a lower price. It's easy to drown dozens and hundreds of hours in multiplayer in this game, but if you're not into multiplayer and are only interested in the campaign mode, I wouldn't buy the game if I were you, as the campaign mode is very short. I enjoyed Call of Duty: Vanguard and I thoroughly enjoyed all three game modes, I will definitely be returning to multiplayer and zombie mode more regularly. I'd recommend the game, and if you're excited about the multiplayer, dive into it as soon as possible while it has a large player count.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Call Of Duty: Vanguard is less enticing than its recent forebears and that's a real problem when it's facing its own competition with free-to-play battle royale CoD: Warzone riding high (not to mention rival Battlefield 2042 out later this month). But with a solid multiplayer mode on offer, there's enough here to keep fans occupied over Christmas at least.
There are a lot of aspects of the game that I’m sure we will see future updates fixing, however, there are some that are wired into the game, especially in the campaign and Zombies that an update cannot fix.
Call of Duty: Vanguard does everything except Zombies very well. The problem is, we’ve seen it all before. Over and over and over again. While WWII can still be enjoyable in CoD, it very much feels like Activision relies on the same bag of tricks.
Once reinforcements do come for Zombies, it will be hard to argue against Vanguard as one of the best and most complete Call of Duty titles in the last decade, potentially of the franchise's entire history. This is one of the rare times Call of Duty has seriously dug into its past, learned from it, and delivered a new and improved experience. Vanguard sets a high bar for Call of Duty as the franchise moves into the next generation.
A surprisingly well-polished mix of the immersive campaign and engaging multiplayer. Enough starting content to keep you busy til the end of the year.
The story gets a little confusing at times, but overall Call of Duty: Vanguard is a solid game.
Having spent several hours playing all three modes, I can safely say that it's definitely worth buying, specifically for the multiplayer which is surprisingly good for a change.
Call of Duty Vanguard falls fully within the canons of expectation and offer of the series under almost every single point of view, resulting literally as a "another Call of Duty", which will entertain all those who have always found enjoyable and fun experience offered by the various chapters of the saga, but does not try for a moment to strive to offer something more.
Review in Italian | Read full review
All in all, Call of Duty Vanguard is an amazing singleplayer experience, with a more than decent multiplayer component. It plays and feels better than its competitors, especially Battlefield. The only other hard-hitting title out there right now is Halo: Infinite, but that’s offered for free for anyone and it’s really hard to compete with that. I would recommend you get it just for the story and maybe wait for a few weeks before jumping into multiplayer if you want to get the Battle Pass too.
This year we have an approach devoid of interest in another Call of Duty. Here in Vanguard, the formula is obviously maintained with small additions to multiplayer that is currently chaotic and packed with cheaters on PC. The campaign contains no interest and is quickly placed in the corner of oblivion. We are left with zombies that are minimally acceptable and make everything else forget a little, but only for those who like this mode of play.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Vanguard’s campaign recalls the same shooting galleries seen year after year, full of cliches and with somehow even less point to it all.
Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s campaign isn’t going to redefine how war stories are told, nor does it reach the highest points of the series’ past triumphs. However, it manages to tell a personal story with a cast of likable characters and stays at a steady, even quality throughout. While excellent DualSense support does its job of subtly immersing the player, it serves a grander experience that brings the player into its world with its likable cast and intimate stories.
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.
Call of Duty is always one of the biggest releases of the year, with Battlefield usually releasing just before it – but not this time. Call of Duty: Vanguard is the first in the series for a while to release beforehand, is it an improvement to the series? I’m here to tell you.
Thanks to a surfeit of undaring options, solo and multiplayer, Sledgehammer Games' latest sports the most ironic subtitle of the year.
Call of Duty Vanguard is an exemplary multiplayer masterclass that bathes in chaos, creativity, and tactical prowess. It has all the making of a truly great esports title, backing the CDL and the competitive community, which will likely create a hugely entertaining season of gameplay emulated in the upcoming ranked playlists by their fans and aspiring talents – the omission of which is unforgiveable from an esports perspective. Whilst the foundations have been laid though, it comes as a year too soon for a full pathway between casual and competitive, although it’s the perfect stepping stone to be built upon. For a title with miniscule hope, Call of Duty Vanguard could go down as the game that revived esports, soon to be a game that we reflect upon as one of the greats.
There’s no denying that multiplayer is by far the biggest selling point for Call of Duty and the mode that makes Activision the most money through both sales and microtransactions - heck, Black Ops 4 launched without any single player offering whatsoever - but this showing is poor from Vanguard. It’s fun enough at surface level, but it fails to provide a captivating narrative or any stand-out moments that could attempt to elevate it as one of the greats. It’s also shockingly short with zero replay value, which means the Vanguard campaign only helps to stagnate the Call of Duty franchise. With that in mind, if we are to get Call of Duty Vanguard 2 a few years down the line, this has laid a solid foundation to build upon.
It’s a longstanding truism that annual games are not well-suited to innovation. They tend to make only small, incremental changes but even these can thrill or displease the loyal year-on-year purchasers. Vanguard is exactly that kind of game in exactly that kind of series. What it does have is the extremely high production standards and level of polish that Call of Duty is known for these days. This looks and plays every bit like a game which cost many, many millions of dollars to develop. If you have ever enjoyed a Call of Duty game you will enjoy this one, too, and can expect to be kept busy until the next edition. 18 games in, that is about all we can expect.