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Call of Duty, a franchise old enough to vote, finds itself in a familiar predicament with Vanguard: stuck in a cycle of hype and disappointment. This year marked the return of three FPS giants – Call of Duty, Halo, and Battlefield – but the reception hasn’t been as universally positive as it once was. While Battlefield and Halo had something to prove after their respective hiatuses, Call of Duty seemingly rests on its laurels, secure in its market dominance. This complacency, unfortunately, manifests in Vanguard, a game that feels lost and unsure of its identity.

Arthur Kingsley Briefing his squad

A Campaign Lost in Time

Call of Duty and World War II have a long and complex relationship. Telling a compelling WWII story isn’t difficult; the lines between good and evil are clearly drawn. Vanguard attempts to explore a lesser-known narrative, a “hidden history,” but stumbles in its execution. The campaign centers on a special operations task force assembled to infiltrate Berlin during the war’s waning days. Their mission: uncover “Project Phoenix,” a Nazi plot to establish a Fourth Reich. This intriguing “what if” scenario had the potential to explore uncharted territory, allowing Sledgehammer Games to craft a unique historical fiction narrative.

Polina Petrova takes aim

Instead, the Project Phoenix storyline, primarily told through the perspective of Nazi officer Jannick Richter, is relegated to the game’s opening and closing acts. After the task force’s capture, the game flashes back to their individual war stories, transforming from a potentially fresh perspective on WWII into yet another greatest hits compilation of iconic battles. While Vanguard offers some variations – a flanking maneuver during D-Day, a summer Stalingrad, and a Midway dogfight – the missions, despite their polished design and pacing, fail to deliver on the narrative promised by Arthur Kingsley, the squad leader. He champions the team’s strength as a unit, but the game rarely demonstrates this synergy. The characters, rather than driving the narrative, become the focal point, leading to a thin plot that serves primarily as a setup for Warzone integration and a marketing platform for future character skins.

Multiplayer: A Familiar Battlefield

Vanguard’s multiplayer is both exhilarating and frustrating. It delivers the visceral gunplay and high-fidelity visuals of Modern Warfare 2019, incorporating features like mounting and interactive doors. The experience, however, feels overwhelmingly familiar, more akin to a WWII expansion of MW 2019 than a standalone title.

Wade Jackson in the Pacific Theater

Thankfully, Vanguard’s map design is a step up from MW 2019. Maps like Tuscan and Berlin offer classic three-lane layouts with added complexities, while others, like Numa Numa, introduce unique triangular designs. The destructible environments, though limited in scope, create dynamic gameplay moments reminiscent of Rainbow Six Siege. Respawning issues, however, persist.

The Gunsmith system is a significant point of contention. While offering ten attachment slots per weapon and the return of Proficiencies and Weapon Kits, it falls short in balancing. The lack of trade-offs between attachments allows for overpowered loadouts that trivialize gunfights. The abundance of TTK-reducing attachments and proficiencies further exacerbates this issue, turning engagements into split-second reactions rather than tactical gunplay. Combat Pacing options, while offering variety in player count, mainly cater to those seeking constant action over strategic map control. Killstreaks lack variety, and several quality-of-life improvements from Black Ops Cold War are noticeably absent.

Lucas Riggs fighting in North Africa

Zombies: A Pale Imitation

Vanguard’s Zombies mode, Der Anfang, is disappointingly barebones. Blending elements of Outbreak and Onslaught, it offers a repetitive loop of objective-based missions across fragmented maps, including a reimagined Shi No Numa. The lack of a main Easter Egg quest, signature Wonder Weapons, and even Pack-a-Punch camos leaves Der Anfang feeling like a hollow shell of its predecessors. While Treyarch promises future content, including the Easter Egg, the launch state of Zombies is undeniably lackluster.

Opening moments of the Campaign

Conclusion: A Missed Opportunity

Call of Duty: Vanguard, despite its flashes of brilliance, ultimately falls short of its potential. A compelling campaign premise is undermined by a disjointed narrative, while the multiplayer, though mechanically sound, suffers from balancing issues and a lack of innovation. The underwhelming Zombies mode further compounds the sense of missed opportunity. Vanguard isn’t a disaster, but it’s a far cry from the triumph it could have been.