Call of Duty: Vanguard

Early in the evening on November 3, 2021 I patiently waited to load into a multiplayer lobby in Call of Duty: Vanguard.

A few short minutes before, I had wrapped up an 11-round session of Zombies with fellow Vanguard reviewer Nathan Stevens. We had a great time. Not only did we pass the hours literally and figuratively shooting the shit, we indulged in one of Call of Duty‘s simple pleasures: mindless killing. The two of us reflected on past Call of Duty games, Zombies, reviewing games, and the undulating cadence of this yearly tradition.

After a harrowing revive right before exiting within an inch of our lives through a portal, the results screen indicated the gooey residue of 1200 Nazi zombies each had been splattered all over the icy German village we were trapped in. I felt a rush as the trusty Sten I had used most of the match rocketed to Level 15 and my character shot to Level 12.

Because Vanguard had not yet officially launched and likely only a small pool of press and influencers were trying to play, getting into a multiplayer match was a longshot. But I persisted. I wanted to play.

Rummaging through the menus, I looked through the various Operators, weapons, perks, attachments, calling cards, and challenges that Vanguard housed. The bulk of potential checklists giving me flashbacks to the four months starting in November 2019 when I played almost nothing but Modern Warfare. I felt that familiar longing, the mouth-watering desire to unlock camos and Battle Pass levels.

And suddenly, early in the evening on November 3, 2021, I finally loaded into a multiplayer lobby in Call of Duty: Vanguard.

The match was Free-for-All but in the first ten seconds, I didn’t know it. I ran up to another person, thinking they were on my team, and was shot to death. “Oh, I see.” Then my brain clicked into place. I ran around the snowy European village with the blown-out church hunting down and firing at any movement I saw. The familiar feeling. The rush. I watched as new players began to trickle in one by one. I kept eyeing the score in the bottom left corner as my ears cautiously sought out the slightest noise of footsteps. I threw grenades, pulled off headshots, jumped around corners, died within seconds of respawning, picked off the survivor of a gunfight.

When it was all said and done, I walked away with a win. First place against a public lobby of random people in the first new Call of Duty of the year. My reflexes felt alive as my hands tensed around the DualSense controller, hungry for another.

This is what Call of Duty and–more specifically in this instance–Call of Duty: Vanguard are all about.

Another year, another CoD. An interesting mantra that means different things to different players. Vanguard is another Call of Duty game, yes. But it is one that will likely appeal to the widest demographic of Call of Duty and FPS players.

Did you enjoy Modern Warfare? You’re likely going to enjoy Vanguard. Are you looking for a break from the faster, looser flow of Black Ops: Cold War? You’re likely going to enjoy Vanguard. Are you looking for a new Call of Duty game because it’s November? You’re likely going to enjoy Vanguard.

While the statement may seem blasé, I think Call of Duty, like Battlefield or Destiny or any number of Maddens and FIFAs provides a comfort. It’s competitive for those who want a frenetic multiplayer experience. Those seeking out one of the highest budget campaigns in gaming usually won’t be let down by the action movie setpieces a Call of Duty provides. Need a dash of Zombies in your life? Well that mode seems to be standard now. And Warzone has proven to be pretty damn popular and not just a throwaway Battle Royale.

Vanguard hits those comforting notes. This is classic Call of Duty in setting and feel. It’s a bevy of modes and features that will satisfy anyone craving a first-person shooter. And after spending a good chunk of time with Vanguard and all it has to offer, both Nathan and I have a lot to say. It’s extremely rare that I’ve collaborated on a review but we live in different times. What used to be a days-long Call of Duty review event allowing complete immersion has been rattled by the state of the world, transforming the process into a handful of special online events meant to soak up the game as best possible.

Whether its the campaign, multiplayer, or Zombies, both Nathan and myself are pretty well-versed in Call of Duty and that familiarity allowed us a comfortable foot in the door with Vanguard. But it’s also through this lens that I think we both came away fairly delighted with the game. It hits specific notes throughout, meeting expectations but also exceeding them.

Nathan, for his part, spent the longest time with the campaign, playing it both before and at launch. His deeper thoughts on the campaign helped illuminate my own, which I will save for later, after Mr. Digital Chumps has had his say.

Campaigning for Something Different

Truth time… I’m old. Yes, I have accepted it. My reflexes aren’t what they used to be at the age 45. Certainly not what they were around Black Ops II, where I dominated the hell out of bigger sites during a review event’s multiplayer match sessions. Those days are gone and I’m okay with that truth. Without MP, what am I left with in the Call of Duty experience? Well, the campaign of course, you silly goose.

I’m still good with campaigns. I enjoy them. I embrace the storytelling and the Jerry Bruckheimer-like drama that comes with every single Call of Duty campaign experience. You can see and sense the over-the-top drama with each yearly edition. I love the campaigns and I expect them to flow the way they generally do, which is the following:

– Starting mission, you go in and set up the plot for the rest of the game.
– Something horrible happens, people must investigate.
– Just as ground is gained, ground is lost.
– As the heroes’ backs are against the wall, a revelation is had.
– Said revelation turns into major gain against enemy.
– A holy shit conclusion of epic proportions wraps up things.

Tell me I’m wrong.

The campaign for this year’s Call of Duty: Vanguard has the above moments, but with a good/different twist, at least in the storytelling part.

Let’s dig right into it.

Arthur Kingsley leads a ragtag group of international soldiers with different backgrounds into battle against a rogue Nazi force that is hellbent on going above and beyond Hitler’s plans, while maintaining the essence of the Nazi groundwork even in the face of a losing battle. Arthur’s group has to wipe out the lead forces before they get away and continue to live in the world.

Breaking it down

The story is just as simple as it seems, though the direction and story structure that Sledgehammer chose is an odd bird when compared to other CoD games in the past. Essentially, the developers decided that they would introduce the group of soldiers, present the problem at hand once they are captured by the Nazis, then slowly introduce each character’s background while they await their fate in a Nazi prison, which clears the way towards a finality. While the structure certainly isn’t new to the movie world, hell The Usual Suspects was one big flashback sandwiched between two slices of present time, it’s still neat to see time spent on spilling the beans about the game’s major players. Anytime you can concentrate and spend a good chunk of time explaining characters is a good time to be had when it comes to engaging and attaching a player to characters. Player connection and engagement with the story are a must for a game to be successful.

Story and character development aside, the game uses each character to present a different gameplay design to the player, which works in some instances and not in others. For example, when we’re introduced to Lady Nightingale, Polina Petrova, we find out she is an excellent shot and a budding sniper. The levels built for her show off her sniping skill and help to shape and define her character in the game, especially the parts built on tragedy. The elements of gameplay compliment her character development, which come in the form of stealth and sniping, especially in the latter stages of Petrova’s gameplay. The missions you play as Petrova are intense, fun, and a good prep for that sniper MP experience you didn’t know you needed. In other words, the storytelling and gameplay design work well here. It must be an even balance of good development with narrative and proper gameplay design implemented in her scenarios to make it worthwhile and engaging. Whatever team designed this character’s narrative and levels were truly in sync with who she was and how to sell her to the player connection.

Wade Jackson’s story, which comes in two pieces, has some disconnect to it with narrative and gameplay design. His story begins with him as an ace pilot and the game wants to flaunt that with a Midway scene. While the intention of being a ‘flyboy’ is there, as he represents a confident American wanting to kick the enemy’s ass, the execution of his scenario doesn’t quite live up to the narrative. You get to take control of him and go flying in the Pacific to take out Japanese Zero aircraft and dive bomb Japanese aircraft carriers. This portion of the gameplay is clunky and feels like more chore than its worth. I had a helluva time with the controls in this mission, not completely getting them in check and I felt like I was flying all over the place. Chaos and the lack of understanding where the flight path was, especially when the game dings you for going out of bounds, were incredibly frustrating. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the concept of flying, admired how pretty the level was, but just couldn’t grasp or enjoy the controls. They certainly needed more time in the oven. Because of this disconnect, the narrative really wasn’t as impactful as it could have been. The gameplay design was way off balance, which didn’t do the player connection any favors.

To make up for this part of Jackson’s story, Sledgehammer gave him another go where he crash lands on a Japanese occupied island. Most of this level is spent building up Jackson’s character as a hero that helps to save his friend and the day, while doing what he can to survive. It’s a brutal stealth stage that is dangerous as it is gorgeous. This level specifically shapes and helps show off Jackson’s backstory as a human being, while also instituting some intense fun. I died a lot in this stage, but it felt impactful and important as a part of Jackson’s character development. It certainly helped me understand what Sledgehammer was trying to do with him and how he fit into the group.

As you can tell, the game does its best to throw different experiences in that are built to help the narrative instead of hindering it (for the most part). Sledgehammer seems to step out a bit and take chances, but those chances seem more well thought through because they fit the scenario they’re built for in the game. Nothing seems wasted, which is impressive. Unlike CoD games in the past, where things were thrown in to see if they stuck, this seems a lot more methodical and well-designed.

Another good example of fitting the narrative with the right gameplay design is Arthur’s story, which is first up. You get to see how he builds his relationship with Sergeant Richard Webb, whom he proves himself to after Arthur finds himself behind enemy lines during a mishap with parachuting. The game gives Arthur a struggle with finding his allies, and then throws Arthur into leadership with making squad decisions as he traverses the countryside with Webb to take back the land the Nazis have stolen. The command design, where you order the troops to do a task, instituted into the gameplay works well to build the relationship with Webb which, again, creates an even balance between gameplay design and story.

All this said, the campaign does a solid job of presenting a good story, creating urgency, allowing for actual character development, and then implements a good amount of gameplay elements that make sense within the narrative storytelling and the scenarios created. It’s all good and fun… sans Midway. Played that twice and still not a fan. It could work with more refining.

Anyway, it’s a good campaign. It looks great, it plays great, and mostly works.

I tend to agree with Nathan’s feelings on the campaign. And it is always the first thing I try and touch when playing a new Call of Duty game. In fact, I felt like much of Vanguard’s campaign was a prologue for what was to come with the rest of the experience.

That forward momentum starts with the campaign, one that takes the series back to its World War II roots. Sledgehammer Games, the developers responsible for Advanced Warfare and WWII, return for Vanguard. It was strange to see Sledgehammer’s absence last year, breaking the three-year development cycle between it, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch. I’m thrilled to see the studio putting their best foot forward again.

Vanguard‘s story is framed around a special elite unit known as Task Force One. Gathering six soldiers from different parts of the world, players begin the campaign in a rainy train heist in 1945. At the end of the mission, the group is captured and interrogated by Nazi soldiers. Led by the British Arthurt Kingsley, a large portion of the game takes place as a series of flashbacks to the key members of Task Force One. Kingsley narrates these individual stories, showing how the soldiers’ path through World War II led to the events of 1945.

The crux of Vanguard‘s campaign rests on Project Phoenix, a mysterious program or file or unit or something that the Nazis are desperately trying to cling to. What could it be? That’s the journey players and Task Force One find themselves embroiled in. It’s a fascinating framing device because the “current events” of the game take place in the time where Adolf Hitler committed suicide as defeat slowly closed in on him. The name Project Phoenix has heavy implications and it makes for an engaging take on history.

While the core mystery helps drive the player’s desire to see the narrative through, it’s the characters of Task Force One that are the highlight of Vanguard‘s campaign. Players get a handful of missions with each operator that span multiple theaters of war, including the Pacific, North Africa, and Europe. And it wouldn’t be Call of Duty if those missions weren’t a whirlwind of gameplay moments meant to dazzle and excite.

Personally, I found the campaign to be a dazzling display of technical prowess. The refined Modern Warfare engine truly shines on the PlayStation 5 in both the campaign and the online modes. Bear McCreary’s soundtrack is obviously stellar but the sound design from gunshots to explosions is borderline impeccable. Performance capture and voice acting were fantastic but the true standout is Laura Bailey’s Polina Petrova, the Russian sniper who gets the most meaningful backstory and screen time.

It’s just a shame that this year’s campaign is without a doubt one of the shortest in recent years that suffers from being over too quick. Normally, a Call of Duty campaign is often a one-and-done affair like a lengthy trip to the movie theater. But I can’t help but think that more could have been done to flesh out these characters and truly cull from undiscovered or invented stories of World War II. Though at this point, I can’t imagine what else can be said about this conflict that has been extensively covered in the games space. It was just odd to me that several gameplay twists were integrated into the campaign. Soldiers get unique abilities like Wade Jackson who can slow down time and see enemies highlighted through terrain or Polina who can climb surfaces and move fast while crouched. Players can still mount but this time are able to blind-fire behind cover which can have its uses. Doors and windows are destructible and can be entered, providing new opportunities for tactical attacks. Again, though, a longer campaign would have allowed Sledgehammer more opportunities to really let these mechanics shine.

A Standout Multiplayer

Vanguard‘s multiplayer is truly the standout of this package, much like it is year after year. Those who have played Modern Warfare will feel at home this year as weapons But the biggest boon to Vanguard‘s multiplayer is that it truly feels packed to the gills with content and feature complete for the first time in awhile.

A quick scan through the the weapons, operators, challenges, and barracks tab will show players a feast of opportunities to unlock cosmetics, new attachments, and those wonderfully pointless, show-offy camos. Thankfully, Vanguard makes so much of this easily viewable so players desiring to set personal challenges for the day can lay out tasks for themselves like spending an evening completing weapon or operator challenges.

Gameplay is exceptionally tight, a near flawless rendition on the standard set by Modern Warfare. For some it may act as a kind of expansion to the Call of Duty experience but I see Vanguard as a dream shooter. The fast-paced gunplay and time to kill have always been staples of Call of Duty, despite fluctuating over time. Vanguard finds that perfect balance out of the gate. I’m sure there will be a lot of tuning in the coming weeks as a massive audience finds exploits that the developers might not have accounted for. In my time with the game before and during launch, spawns felt fair and I didn’t see any weapon overwhelming the battlefield. Leveling up strikes me as average but I’m by no means an expert, merely obsessed with slowly completing challenges and running in and out of the thick of gunfire just because I love throwing caution to the wind.

A welcome addition to multiplayer is how players can matchmake by selecting their preferred combat pacing. Tactical, Assault, and Blitz are the three pacings that determine how many players will be in a match. Tactical sees a 6v6 player count, Assault ranges from 10v10 to 14v14, and Blitz can balloon to a 24v24 match. As a person who obsessively launched into small maps with a high player count to maximize my score, this is a welcome addition to the multiplayer experience. And those who want to warm up can go with Tactical.

Traditional modes can be found like in previous games with the main differences being Patrol and Champion Hill. Patrol acts like Hardpoint if the point moved around the map at a constant pace. It’s a tense and hectic mode as most point capture matches are in Call of Duty. Champion Hill is a fascinating mode that is surely going to be a standout mode for months to come and perhaps a new addition to the series’ formula. In it, a small group of players–usually singles, duos, or trios–fight inside small contained maps. Teams have a shared pool of lives and aim to shave off the lives of each other. During the match, money is earned that can be used to upgrade weapons or purchase equipment like armor and tactical and lethal grenades. This is a prime mode to play with a tight-knit group of friends who want to learn the maps and execute chokepoint saves and sneaky points of assault.

Call of Duty lives and dies by its maps and Vanguard should feel quite alive. The 16 main maps and 4 Champion Hill maps are bubbling with personality and beauty. Taking place in many of the war-torn parts of the world, Sledgehammer recognized that while war is dreary, it doesn’t always have to look that way. Familiar farmlands, blown-out manors, snowy creek-side villages, and Pacific pagodas offer countless points of interest diverge from the familiar three-lane maps I’ve become accustomed to. Vanguard is thrilling in how it manages to give so many of its maps several interesting points that ensure there is rarely a dud.

The Undead Lurch

Zombies is in an interesting place this year. Treyarch has stepped in to take over the mode, offering up a prequel to the Aether storyline from the studio’s last games. Anyone who has played Zombies won’t arrive at a daunting version of the mode that piles on the difficulty at a severe pace. Rather, Zombies serves as a tense mode that provides the player with multiple avenues of increasing the power and ability to survive.

Der Anfang is the mode/map that Vanguard players will have access to at launch. In it, waves of zombies will assault the player as they progress through endless and increasingly difficult rounds. But don’t expect to be boarding up windows and hunting down story opportunities. Right now, the Zombies mode in Vanguard focuses on collecting guns, earning points, and slowly growing in power. Players can expect familiar potions that increase their health and reload speed, a Pack-a-Punch device that boosts the damage of a weapon, and a mystery box of constantly rotating weapons.

Players will be able to start a loadout with a specific weapon and an artifact that grants a mystical power like an explosive blast, a damage buff, invisibility, or a slowing frost blast. Pacts can be made with entities from another plane of existence to acquire further boosts that have been seen in Zombies before like Brain Rot which gets a zombie to attack for the player, better damage when consecutively shooting the same target, and other buffs.

To progress, players go through portals where they complete mini-missions such as surviving a flood of zombies or deposit runes into a point. After a few rounds, the ability to exfil and get out alive after surviving a final wave opens up. Stay longer and get larger XP boosts. Unfortunately, after a point the missions become repetitive and the grind for power becomes less interesting as the missions repeat themselves with no purpose rather than hearing odd bits of dialog or hoping to survive longer and longer. Without the traditional Easter Eggs and only three types of zombies, the mode does feel bare. That being said, it’s one of the easiest points of entry the mode has every had. Without an obtuse story to progress through, Vanguard offers a care-free Zombies mode that has a gradual difficulty curve… to a point. It’s fairly casual and allows for a group of players to hang out and test their coordination and eventual strength through increasingly stressful scenarios.

Nathan, for his part, gives me way too much credit on our Zombies and multiplayer success but walked away from both modes enjoying what they offered, saying the following:

“While Ben Sheene will take most of the reins on the multiplayer experience, I would like to add some flavor to his MP soup with my Zombie two-bits. I get why people like Zombies, as it can be creepy and intense. The gameplay is usually fast and challenging. From my point of view, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience with this mode, and maybe Ben made it more fun.

Anyway, while I’m not the resident expert on this mode, or really its past, my take is this – it’s balanced and it feels challenging, but not overwhelming like it did in the past. Even last year’s Zombies mode felt like it was just thrown into the mix a bit, putting the player in a restrictive area and constantly throwing zombie after zombie at them without allowing a bit of breathing room. While I liked what the game mode did last year, I didn’t love it, and I certainly wasn’t going to revisit it after reviewing it. This year’s was a bit different for me.

While the game starts you out in a restrictive area and provides you with a series of portals that are a hodgepodge of gameplay design possibilities, it seemed like there was breathing room to sit and enjoy yourself for a moment. Sure, each stage presented a different type of zombie attack, and the main level eventually threw a shit ton of zombies at you, it still gave you a chance to enjoy the surroundings and gave you the feeling like you could still win. It never felt incredibly overwhelming, even when it literally was overwhelming. I think Ben and I made it to level 12 before exiting, which was more than enough in the scheme of things, but because it was fun and gradual, I want to return to the mode again and try to best 12. I have never felt like that when playing Zombies. Generally, it’s a one-off for me.

Anyway, this is my short two-bits. Ben has a better explanation of the mode, but just know I enjoyed this the most out of the MP experience. Again, it might have been Ben.”

And Nathan… I think it was the both of us, just saying.

That brings me to one of my biggest downsides of Vanguard. Despite the multiplayer feeling complete, it’s hard not to be somewhat frustrated that players have to wait until Season 1 on December 2nd for the new Pacific-based Warzone content and map to drop. Additionally, the actual “story” mode of Zombies won’t be launched until that time, meaning that some players might burn themselves out on the mode before the best content arrives. I’m pleased that the trend of massive free content drops that were usually locked behind paid DLC remains with Vanguard.

Still, I’m unsure why Zombies wasn’t given more love right out of the gate. That being said, I’m sure the Preseason will keep many players busy before new weapons arrive and a host of bizarre skins bursts onto the scene. But as Modern Warfare and Black Ops: Cold War show, some of the best content to Call of Duty can often come after the launch months. And that’s a great way to keep the community alive and thriving.

For Nathan, he sums up his thoughts on Call of Duty: Vanguard succinctly:

“Call of Duty Vanguard seems like a complete and fun package from campaign to multiplayer. Sledgehammer and crew did a fantastic job of bringing some intense WW2 action to the franchise through its campaign, while also balancing out the MP experience for everyone to enjoy. As you know from past Call of Duty experiences, that can be tricky for some developers to do.”

And as for me…

Call of Duty: Vanguard is a standout shooter experience. A globetrotting campaign that features some of the franchise’s best visuals features a core mystery that is over far too quickly but remains strong. I also wish the Zombies mode wasn’t impacted by a content drop that is expected a month from launch, meaning that players are given an engaging but sometimes toothless wave-based assault on the undead. Yet the multiplayer is an exceptional entry at the heart of Vanguard. It offers refinement on the standard set by Modern Warfare and gives players an incredible amount of challenges to complete to best show off their combat prowess. While a new Warzone map isn’t here yet, there’s plenty to look forward to in the months to come. Despite skipping a year, Sledgehammer Games is at its peak with Call of Duty: Vanguard, delivering a premium World War II shooter and an incredible Call of Duty game.