Michael Foster-Sanders
senior producer
The “Call of Duty” franchise is an American staple now.
There is a new game released every holiday season, so children who are still in grade school can yell out racial epithets as they time travel to the 1960s Bull Connor rally in Alabama.
Activision refuses to let the franchise rest for a year so it can improve on the gameplay across the board, due to it being its cash cow. So it has four game developers working on four titles. Three of those are the retail games “Modern Warfare,” “Black Ops: Cold War,” and this year’s WWII-inspired “Vanguard.”
COD games fall into two categories: Modern Warfare or Black Ops. Modern Warfare feels the most polished between the two with its focus on realism, slower, but brutal, gameplay and modern aesthetics. Black Ops has its twitch-based mechanics and fun arcade-type gameplay to promote inclusiveness. Neither cared about the third game, “Call of Duty: WWII,” due to it being slow with ancient weapons.
Developer Sledgehammer Games tries its hand again with another WWII-inspired title with Vanguard, but will this go the way of the Axis alliance?
Vanguard comes in guns blazing and deserves a hero’s homecoming.
The majority of people do not play COD for its single-player experience, so this review is strictly for the multiplayer component of the game
If a person has played one COD game, they’ve played them all, but the new game mode options make this game feel special, rather than the usual cut and paste jobs Activision tends to deliver yearly.
Champion Hill is a cross between team deathmatch and battle royale, where eight squads of two and three players duke it out in a four-round tournament until the last team is standing. Patrol has opposing teams battling for a constantly moving hardpoint which the players have to control and can lose in a heartbeat if they’re not on their A-game.
Now, there are some downsides to Vanguard, such as shots not hitting their target in range and allowing invincibility within some games.
Some of the Killstreaks could be distracting for players, such as the mortar and bombing runs, but they’re supposed to mimic the real-life feeling of a warzone environment. Last, but not least, someone needs to ask People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals about the number of shots it takes to kill the attack dog killstreak. It should not take a full magazine to put them down.
Sledgehammer combines the best of both mainline games to create a blend that only nitpickers would cry about. A fast-paced shooter with tactical elements that’s fun, but also deep at the same time. Make sure you grab your controller and head for the trenches.
