Call of Duty: Vanguard Reviews
Call of Duty: Vanguard is a totally recommendable experience for fans of shooters and historical moments like World War II. The title establishes some new features that could have an interesting development in future installments, but fails in other modes such as zombies that remain in no man's land.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Although a solid offering overall, one can't help but feel that the series has taken a step backwards in terms of the content available as well as the era depicted; instead of expanding upon the almost non-linear structure of the Cold War campaign we instead get a safe reversion back to the standard model and the Zombies mode is barebones as all get out no matter how you slice it.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is Sledgehammer Games' best work to date. Thanks to an epic campaign and charismatic protagonist characters, a multiplayer the sea of fun and a Zombies mode that presents many, many novelties, make this delivery a very good option for both fans of the franchise and users looking to have fun with a hilarious gameplay.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Call of Duty Vanguard is a solid package featuring an enjoyable campaign experience, fast paced expansive multiplayer and a rather drab zombies mode that actually lessens the overall value.
Despite an immense amount of content, Call of Duty: Vanguard feels a bit like a step back for the franchise: a couple of guns need to find a better balance with the upcoming updates and the campaign is fascinating but extremely short and unripe. The game is genuinely fun, of course, but it's not the best Call of Duty to date.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Perhaps the softest launch in Activision Blizzard's historic FPS series, Call of Duty Vanguard shows that there's much potential for this year's entry to grow. However with the weakest Zombies mode in series history, a shortage of cosmetics and upgrades for anything save your primary loadout, and a Campaign that could've offered so much more, Vanguard is a tough sell if you're looking for anything than your next TDM fix at the moment.
Overall, Call of Duty: Vanguard is another solid entry to the CoD series. Sledgehammer has worked almost entirely by the rulebook, but has made enough improvements to deliver a template that can carry the series forward for another year. There’s a promising lineup of post launch content on the way too, leaving the future looking relatively bright for the future of Call of Duty.
Call of Duty Vanguard is a particular episode, a collage of experiences that do not all present the same inspiration and quality.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The latest Call of Duty: Vanguard is a correct shooter in single and a replay of entertainment in multi. It does not surprise either on the plus or on the minus, which makes it a slightly pale, easy to forget scene.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Despite coming in with low expectations, Call of Duty Vanguard has failed to change our minds. Vanguard has managed to do the inverse of Black Ops Cold War; it has provided players with a fun multiplayer experience bringing back some fan-favorite maps while stripping Zombies of its roots. The campaign is an adequate story but it is ultimately forgettable; the campaign can be beaten in under 6 hours. Call of Duty Vanguard could have been so much better but ultimately feels like a rushed project. If you are going to play all the modes, then sure it’s worth the $60. If you were planning to purchase it for Zombies, hold off. Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War would make a better Holiday present than Vanguard. A fair price for Call of Duty Vanguard right now is anywhere between $25 to $45.
Call of Duty is back in World War II with good multiplayer but weak campaign.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Call of Duty: Vanguard is another part of a long-term series, which does not surprise at any point. Fans will have a lot of fun, but some could count on something else.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Vanguard delivers the Call of Duty experience in a very traditional and solid way, but with nothing new. Far from being a perfect title, it has several problems in the campaign, multiplayer and zombies, such as lack of direction, refinement or content.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Call of Duty: Vanguard drops the ball on two fronts. The campaign is a short, disjointed, and shallow affair, and its Zombies mode is solid but too bare-bones and devoid of content to recommend at the moment. Regular multiplayer matches are where Vanguard shines the brightest, but a lot of that is due to leaning heavily into familiar territory. Vanguard struggles to make meaningful additions to the formula, and apart from new battle pacing options and a generous selection of maps, Vanguard sits comfortably on the achievements of its predecessors. That's not a bad thing, and I enjoyed the online components throughout this review, but it's also not a great look for a yearly release. If you haven't played a Call of Duty title in a few years and don't care for its single-player campaign, Vanguard is a fun and solid entry in the series.