Call of Duty Vanguard’s highly polished campaign provides a healthy amount of fun, even if its brief length and lack of variety lead it to fall short of the classic pieces of war cinema it’s trying to emulate. [OpenCritic note: IGN is separately reviewing the campaign, multiplayer, and zombies modes. Their scores will be combined when finalized.]
Vanguard is an overall solid pick with a lackluster campaign, a nascent but incredibly promising zombies experience, and multiplayer with a few critical new aspects.
Tweaks in multiplayer and Zombies advance the Call of Duty franchise overall, and an emphasis on distinct characters makes Vanguard’s story fun, but it doesn’t always mix well with the series’ gameplay.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is a balanced game across the vectors of historical interest, good gameplay, variety, and a strong narrative. It ties everything together in a competent way that makes sense. That doesn’t mean it’s a spectacular game on the order of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which was a breakthrough game for the franchise because of its thoughtfulness and disturbing material. This is a good installment, but the stutter in combat makes me wonder if it’s as polished as it should be.
As a complete package, from a Call of Duty developer that hasn’t yet established its own Modern Warfare or Black Ops sub-franchise, Vanguard feels like it could end up being Sledgehammer’s tentpole. Iconic characters, unique multiplayer and map design, and overall integration into the wider Call of Duty experience set the pace for not only the next year, but whatever comes next from Sledgehammer.
