Call of Duty: Vanguard

 Xbox Series X
User Score
4.9

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 267 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 109 out of 267
  2. Mixed: 28 out of 267
  3. Negative: 130 out of 267
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  1. AnthonyG
    Nov 23, 2021
    5
    Every year these games get worse not better. Modern Warfare in 2019 was the last decent Call of Duty.
  2. Crzymeatball
    Dec 31, 2021
    6
    I think this game is better than some of them but it's not a requirement to play unlike some of the gods in recent years
  3. M-Reviews
    Nov 7, 2021
    7
    As expected, this years entry in the Call of Duty - Series does not offer much of a surprise. The heavily scripted and linear campaign is a hit and miss, while the expensive multiplayer mode will keep you busy in a reliable way, without offering any remarkable innovation. Technically, the game feels like a little step back from its predecessor - especially on current generation hardware.As expected, this years entry in the Call of Duty - Series does not offer much of a surprise. The heavily scripted and linear campaign is a hit and miss, while the expensive multiplayer mode will keep you busy in a reliable way, without offering any remarkable innovation. Technically, the game feels like a little step back from its predecessor - especially on current generation hardware. It is hard to imagine that "Vanguard" will be a game worth remembering in a year or two.… Expand
  4. RainbowSix_Glaz
    Nov 7, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It turns out that it was actually better than I expected at launch. The Beta was kinda null in certain points, but Sledgehammer Games actually listened to what we wanted in the game, and they did it. Various adjustments and additions, balances, visibility, and everything else in betweens. The superior IW 8.0 engine did show the beauty here, but there are some things that I need to pointed out.

    (+3) Multiplayer at launch was better than I expected. Seems like they have tuned down their controversial and "rage-inducing" skill-based matchmaking (at least, from my perspective). Players are now rewarded more often and penalized less. A solid step-up from Black Ops: Cold War, where in that game, everything would not be able to go along together in the right direction.

    (+1.5) SUPPORT BOTH NVIDIA DLSS AND AMD FIDELITYFX SUPER RESOLUTION.

    (+1.5) Visiblity is an improvement here compared to Modern Warfare (2019). More colors are visible and you can still see characters in certain dark areas.

    (+1) Maps were well-designed, with balances between "predictable lanes" and "encourage camping." They allowed for a more wider-range of engagement, dynamics and balance of gunfights. Covers and destructible environments make this even more intriguing.

    (+0.5) Tons of settings to play around.

    (0) I wish the campaign was longer and go through the beginning of World War 2.

    (0) Despite using IW 8.0 engine. There are NO ray-tracing options in the game. A slight let down, but it really does not matter since a game like this demanded quick reaction and fast frames, and the game still look beautiful without ray-tracing.

    (0) Don't expect historical accuracy from this game.

    (-0.5) No factions. This can cause confusions during an intense gunfight.

    (-0.5) Sniper rifles take forever to aim. But I think they were intended to preserve their true roles to support from long range and not going in aggressively.

    (-1) Grinds take too much time. Even with Double XPs enabled, you can level up your weapon on average - 3 to 4 levels per match.

    (-1) Cheaters are in the game already! They got everything unlocked before they even play their first match! (Still not widespread, though.)
    [New anti-cheat is coming. I hoped that it will deal a major blow to them.]

    (-1) Some bugs were seen, hopefully they will fix them in the future.

    (-3) Zombies were a let down. It feels unfinished for a reason.    … Expand
  5. TraviSops
    Nov 27, 2021
    6
    Meh, feels like a re-skinned MW 2019 set in WW2. It bothers me that there are no factions. I am pleased with how many maps Sledgehammer released at launch. For the most part, the maps are good. I do appreciate the couple of remakes paying homage to WAW.
  6. IRFAN_12388
    Nov 7, 2021
    5
    Nice gameplay but all the gunplay are very similar to Modern Warfare graphics are very poor,not upto the expectations...Campaign has some good Music it will be like you are watching some movie,disappointed with COD Vanguard they should have worked more hard on the same...

    We cant even identify the person,so for me its a failure...
  7. SaintBooker
    Nov 8, 2021
    5
    Wow these reviews are all over the place. Tons of people who refuse to see any wrong or good in CoD, and tons who refuse to acknowledge that a review has nothing to do with Battlefield no matter how good or bad that game might be.
    Call of Duty Vanguard is a fairly average shooter, it plays decently well and can be fun at times for sure. But I figure that it would be fairly easy to do for a    Wow these reviews are all over the place. Tons of people who refuse to see any wrong or good in CoD, and tons who refuse to acknowledge that a review has nothing to do with Battlefield no matter how good or bad that game might be.
    Call of Duty Vanguard is a fairly average shooter, it plays decently well and can be fun at times for sure. But I figure that it would be fairly easy to do for a company that has been spitting out one a year for the past 2 decades. If you like CoD you'll probably like it, if you hate CoD you'll probably hate it.
    It's not historically accurate but I think everyone already knows that at this point. It doesn't honestly matter or really increase or devalue the game play, just a new coat of paint on the past handful of WW2 era shooters Activision has made. Multiplayer and Zombies is just more of the same, slightly better graphics and enough changes to label it "different".
    But in all honesty if you're really considering this game and you already own Cold War and Modern Warfare and aren't a massive World War 2 enthusiast I would take a pass. It's not that the game is necessarily bad but to pay 60-80 bucks for it is just downright wasteful. If you don't own either Cold War or Modern Warfare there's definitely value in having the newest CoD. But if you can, I do recommend holding out for maybe some sort of sale (maybe it'll drop to 40 sometime in the next 10 years, thank you Activision). But seriously this is a hard pass otherwise. Hold out for next year's CoD this one is definitely gonna die off quick.
    In all honesty though if you own Modern Warfare and Cold War I truly think your money would mo    … Expand
  8. Nerevarinho
    Nov 23, 2021
    7
    Multiplayer: Blurry on Series S, Modern Warfare on PS4 Slim was not blurry. Boring challenges, you will unlock them by playing as normal, so no working through specific challenges anymore, MW was designed better here. Battlepass GUI is low-quality 30FPS, like in Black Ops. Dog killstreaks are way to overpowered, dogs are literal bullet sponges and does one-hit kills. No Ground War thisMultiplayer: Blurry on Series S, Modern Warfare on PS4 Slim was not blurry. Boring challenges, you will unlock them by playing as normal, so no working through specific challenges anymore, MW was designed better here. Battlepass GUI is low-quality 30FPS, like in Black Ops. Dog killstreaks are way to overpowered, dogs are literal bullet sponges and does one-hit kills. No Ground War this time, neither an alternative, which feels like a rip off. MVP voting system is wasting too much time, and having to watch the uninteresting operators with the animations is boring and annoying. I still have fun with the multiplayer, but I really miss long-range big battles like Ground War from MW.

    Gampaign: Cool, entertaining, but superfical. Finetuning is missing. Stutterings and lags between loading areas. Enemies that shoot and kill me while being in a non-cancellable conversation with an NPC due to the main story. Enemies spawn in out of nowhere. Some enemies are infinite until you trigger a specific action. Enemy AI not taking cover. Corpses dissapear very fast. High quality cinematics and music.

    Overall, its a WW2 reskin of MW that already had a good foundation. But it still needs finetuning and a Ground War alternative.    … Expand
  9. gunsgunsguns
    Nov 6, 2021
    7
    Could be way more and way better, but it is what it is i guess. Better than many previous cods if that says anything...
  10. RedCollins
    Dec 24, 2021
    5
    Campaign is a huge retrogression from previous games, lack of ammos, fractured plot and ridiculous ending just make it tedious to play.
    Zombie is not even complete without round- based maps.
    Multiplayer feels chaotic but fun to play. Most guns are overpowered with the shortest time to kill of the whole franchise. Maps are designed to avoid camping with enormous wooden pranks. Without    Campaign is a huge retrogression from previous games, lack of ammos, fractured plot and ridiculous ending just make it tedious to play.
    Zombie is not even complete without round- based maps.
    Multiplayer feels chaotic but fun to play. Most guns are overpowered with the shortest time to kill of the whole franchise. Maps are designed to avoid camping with enormous wooden pranks. Without constant packet burst and abysmal spawn logic it might be a rather solid one to play.    … Expand
  11. FMeloLeGiO
    Nov 16, 2021
    5
    Mais do mesmo , só mais um jogo para lucrar e mais nada . Campanha interessante , mais cansativa
  12. PrThKi
    Nov 19, 2021
    7
    Call of Duty: Vanguard is a breath of fresh air. The first Call of Duty title with great multiplayer in many years. The game definitely needs some polishing, but I'm mostly very impressed and quite frankly surprised with how fun Vanguard really is. The campaign on the other hand, not so good. Solid entry.
  13. KITCHEN123456
    Nov 24, 2021
    6
    The game is not nearly as bad as most people say it is. It's review bombed for no reason, mostly people that disliked CW and are continuing that hatred onto this game. It is, for a few parts, very good; I found weapon customising very interesting as there's a lot to unlock, but hardly any of that is worth grinding out 70 levels for. The maps are interesting, and the graphics are strong.The game is not nearly as bad as most people say it is. It's review bombed for no reason, mostly people that disliked CW and are continuing that hatred onto this game. It is, for a few parts, very good; I found weapon customising very interesting as there's a lot to unlock, but hardly any of that is worth grinding out 70 levels for. The maps are interesting, and the graphics are strong. The issues are that, in classic COD fashion, one weapon class is so much stronger than the others that there is no reason to use those other weapons. The killstreaks are a little strong, not for damage per se but for how much they make the screen shake. I'll try to snipe and have my scope thrusted around every 4 seconds on shipment. As for campaign, I just don't care to try it, so this review is specifically for multiplayer. Zombies is technically an MP mode so I am including it. Long story short, (coming from a huge zombies fan) it is vile. This mode is horrid for every reason imaginable. So little content that I realized after completing all three objectives that I had done everything it had to offer, and exfilled on round 8 or something like that. I have one game played, and until (if is a better word) a round based arrives, it will stay one game. To conclude, Vangaurd is a solid game; the MP is fun and interesting, but just copies the MW formula and doesn't add anything. This is a huge issue but it's saved by the fact that almost everything about MW is a great game. All in all, the game is solid, but doesn;t try to change anything about the franchise. It is the first game where the argument "its the same game" actually works. So, 6/10, while being a bit generous, is the final verdict from me.… Expand
  14. Techn
    Dec 6, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. عالی ..优秀..ExcellentActivision was very good at depicting World War II Only Captain Price's seat is vacant… Expand
  15. cchenders40
    Oct 19, 2022
    6
    First off to the people giving this anything below a five stop. At a base level a game this pretty, this polished, with this many modes, that runs this smooth gets at least a 5. Tell me you haven’t played broken or bad games without telling me you haven’t played broken or bad games…

    This game is fine. Here are some positives and negatives. Positives - Polished - graphically sunning - good    First off to the people giving this anything below a five stop. At a base level a game this pretty, this polished, with this many modes, that runs this smooth gets at least a 5. Tell me you haven’t played broken or bad games without telling me you haven’t played broken or bad games…

    This game is fine. Here are some positives and negatives.
    Positives
    - Polished
    - graphically sunning
    - good performances in the campaign
    - runs at a smooth 60.
    - generally fun

    Negatives
    - The multiplayer experience just is not on the level of a black ops or MW.
    - The campaign while fun has a boring story that feels aimed at casual gamers who like lots of cursing, bad humor, and explosions.
    - the progression is mid.
    - the hero shooter elements suck.
    - zombies is legit terrible but I am glad the option is there.

    In a gaming industry where releasing broken, unfinished games with little content and few modes this breaks the mold, it just does nothing to stand out.    … Expand
  16. Sab1nX
    Sep 8, 2022
    7
    I had a good time playing Vanguard, both single-player and multi-player. The multiplayer managed to keep me engaged for about 20 hours max.

    I played on Series X and the game ran perfect. The Good: -The game looks gorgeous -Campaign was pretty good, not the best, not the worst. -Loved the gunplay The Bad: -Zombies was decent, but not a lot of replayability -Laser guns in    I had a good time playing Vanguard, both single-player and multi-player. The multiplayer managed to keep me engaged for about 20 hours max.

    I played on Series X and the game ran perfect.

    The Good:
    -The game looks gorgeous
    -Campaign was pretty good, not the best, not the worst.
    -Loved the gunplay

    The Bad:
    -Zombies was decent, but not a lot of replayability
    -Laser guns in multiplayer...
    -Microtransactions    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

44
#44 Best Xbox Series X Game of 2021
14
#14 Most Discussed Xbox Series X Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Malditos Nerds
    Dec 16, 2021
    80
    Vanguard not only brings a whole lot more launch content and improvements than previous Call of Duty titles, by dint of a superior multiplayer experience, a solid and spectacular campaign and a more accessible but just as fun zombie mode.
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  2. Generación Xbox
    Nov 22, 2021
    73
    Vanguard has one of the best campaigns of the series and a very fun multiplayer. However, a boring Zombies mode and other technical problems make it below the level of the previous ones.
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  3. ZTGD
    Nov 22, 2021
    70
    The biggest problem is CoD: Vanguard feels like the least innovative Call of Duty in years. I think a lot of that has to do with Warzone, and the fact that developers HAVE to ensure that their game can be compatible with that battle royale. The fact that so much has to go into making sure it all works together; I just feel like it has to be hampering the developer’s creativity. In my opinion Call of Duty as a whole need to take a year off and regroup, come back with something as memorable as the original Modern Warfare was when it launched. If it’s a matter of money (and I doubt that it is) developers could lean into Warzone, they already are making a killing on all the microtransactions but just update Warzone like Epic does for Fortnite. Then after a year surprise people with something fantastic… I know this will never happen, but a man can dream.
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