Call of Duty is one of the most known shooters in gaming history. With annual releases since 2005, the series has surely had its highs and lows. This year, Call of Duty: Vanguard is up to bat by developer Sledgehammer Games. It takes Call of Duty into treaded territory with a world war 2 setting for the story, coupled with the series staple multiplayer, a new interpretation on the zombie’s formula, and of course Call of Duty’s Battle Royale, Warzone; but do all these elements stick the landing?
NARRATIVE
The campaign follows a special ops group of soldiers known as the Vanguard. Hitting on the positives first I thought a couple of the characters within the group were interesting and not so cut and dry by the rules soldiers that we saw in WW2, Sledgehammer’s last game. It helps here that each soldier represents different ally countries during the war to keep them unique as well as to show viewpoints of how the war hit and affected different countries and the people who lived there. One character, in particular, was the highlight of the group for me. She had the most charisma and she stole every section and cutscene she was a part of. The game is of course presented with great graphics and cinematics and while the running and gunning gets tired in some areas throughout the runtime of the campaign, certain missions have their little quirks to them with some good change-ups in pacing.
The problems that come up in the campaign aren’t things that ruin the gameplay but weaken the story. First off, Narration can be a tool for storytelling, but here it is overindulged in. Each mission, in the beginning, and the end has this narration over it to a point where it makes me feel like the writers think we are stupid. It’s a shame when you are watching a good cutscene, seeing character action, and understanding who this person is, and then we have to hear it told to us a second later in an over-dramatic way. It kills any sense of thinking and makes me as a player feel like I need to be spoon-fed details. Another big issue is the villain. We have seen the evil and mean bad guy general before and this one came out with promise, showing off his brutality he seemed to have a bone to pick with our group specifically, but nothing ever amounted to much. After his introduction, he is shoved away into an office where he scowls and barks orders for most of the rest of the story. The story ends up ended up feeling lackluster and while it leaves way for a sequel for this group, basic story elements are going to need to be addressed and strengthened for it to succeed in delivering.
MULTIPLAYER
Multiplayer is where the meat of the COD community lies and for good reason. It always feels good running through the map, raking up kills, calling in killstreaks, and leveling up. All of that is the same here with what we have come to expect but coupled with some issues. The game unfortunately is adhering to the Warzone feel and this is where the battle royale is hurting new Call of Duty titles. Every game has to feel like it in some way or else you can’t comfortably move from the BR to the core multiplayer without this jarring feeling. Vanguard practicality re-skinned Modern Warfare (2019) in the movement and animations. Yes, we have new guns and maps (some actually being fun to play on) but it gets dull fast since it is something we have played before. Of course, Call of Duty has been around for a long time and we know what we are getting but some installments have attempted to make it go in a new direction or at least change how the game handles and operates. If you love Call of Duty multiplayer this will feel familiar, and for you, good, but if you were looking for something new this is not it.
ZOMBIES
The last piece to talk about is zombies and it’s going to be short. I was obsessed with zombies in World at War and Black ops 1-3. While I feel games like advanced warfare and Cold War did some good things I was not that into them, but I know for a fact AW and CW never did something like this. Vanguard zombies is in short, over-complicated, and bloated to the point I can’t give you all the details because I quit after a couple rounds. Surviving straight rounds on unique maps has been replaced by constant voiceovers, portaling over and over with a blinding effect displayed on the screen, with some classic zombies gameplay littered within. Zombies is not going to swing the purchase of this game so I will leave it there. If you would like to try it, go for it, but I had no desire to understand or experience any more than I did and that is a huge disappointment.
WRAP-UP
Call of Duty Vanguard treads known territory in its setting and gameplay feel. While the story falls into areas of cliche, some characters show promise. The multiplayer is re-skinned but feels good with well-known weapons and a few fun maps with Warzone still kicking away in the battle royale market. Zombies is an enormous misstep and should seriously be re-thought going forward in DLC’s. The game has fun elements, but for $60 I cannot justify buying this game for what it offers at the end of the day.
Score: 4.5/10
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