There have been eighteen main-series Call Of Duty games. The franchise started life in fierce competition with the likes of Medal Of Honor and Soldier Of Fortune as a realistic and enjoyable WWII FPS. Things progressed rapidly, and soon after the success of Modern Warfare, COD became the definitive first-person shooter, whether set in the midst of a real war of the past, or a crazy robot-filled future.
Taking sixteen of the COD games into account (Black Ops 4 and Warzone don’t have campaigns), from the first one back in 2003 all the way until the brand new Modern Warfare, gamers have been treated to some fascinating global firefights packed with intrigue as well as boring conspiracies full of predictable and clichéd plotlines.
Updated December 2nd, 2020 by Hodey Johns: With the release of Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War in 2020, it felt like a great time to play through those games and address them appropriately. Of course, the first entry does not have a campaign as it is a battle royale game, but the latter took some huge risks and fully invested in the 1980s time period. This list has been expanded to reflect these newcomers.
16 Call Of Duty: Ghosts
Widely regarded as the worst Call Of Duty game of all time across the board, Ghost comes in at the bottom. Despite sharing a name with one of the most popular COD characters ever, he isn’t involved in the campaign. Players do get a dog called Riley, though. Aside from the dog, nothing is built on from any previous games and players are simply dealt a lot of boring and repetitive gameplay.
15 Call Of Duty 3
Zooming all the way back to a pre-MW world, we have COD 3. After an impressive first two games, the third entry into the WW2 storyline (which was the only war the franchise had covered at this point) was a little lackluster. It gave players the option to play as a variety of allied countries, but this seemed mostly like a coverup for the lack of variety in the campaign itself.
14 Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3
The world was fairly excited for another entry in the critically acclaimed Black Ops sub-series, but the campaign of Black Ops 3 was a big disappointment. This comes down to the fact that COD players don’t want robots, but COD keeps giving them robots.
What’s especially disappointing is how grounded the first Black Ops was. After this game, many fans felt that Black Ops 2 was one of many games that got a sequel that should have never been made.
13 Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Speaking of robots, Infinite Warfare was the most dramatic leap away from Call Of Duty 1 the game could have made, bringing the combat into space.
As a game, it’s actually quite brilliant and keeps you gripped until the end, but it’s hard to truly class it as a COD game– it doesn’t really feel like one and the campaign is simply too alien.
12 Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
The criminally underrated Advanced Warfare multiplayer has been looked back on poorly despite changing the COD landscape and filling it with futuristic fun. It was, admittedly, incredibly divisive and, like Infinite Warfare, it’s hard to view as a Call Of Duty game.
The campaign fell immensely short, however. It was repetitive and filled with robotics that understandably led to the game’s poor reputation.
11 Call Of Duty: WW2
One of the most recent entries in the franchise, Call of Duty: WW2 called back to the franchise’s early days when World War II was COD‘s predominant setting. While the story’s emotional stakes are high and the combat makes for a great experience, the core campaign isn’t even long enough to clock in at five hours. COD campaigns aren’t known for their length, but WW2 doesn’t offer enough.
10 Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2
Following the success of Black Ops, the sequel was the first to introduce futuristic weaponry, developing on the previous game and setting a precedent that many series veterans could have done without. Black Ops 2 relied on these new weapons instead of truly giving an updated playing experience, resulting in a campaign that was as gimmicky as it was off-putting.
Fans might think about skipping this one, but they shouldn’t, there are details in the latest game that only make sense after playing through all of the Black Ops games.
9 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The conclusion of the Modern Warfare trilogy was a lackluster finale in comparison to the fantastic first two games, but as a game itself, it was still excellent. It kicks off immediately after MW2 and continues the hunt for Makarov, delivering emotional blows along the way.
The story itself doesn’t quite play out how it should, but the level design and gunplay are as tight as ever.
8 Call Of Duty: World At War
Released the year after Modern Warfare had blown the minds of fans, unexpectedly another WWII title, World At War, took them straight back to old school action. The campaign is an addictive tour through a variety of iconic wartime locations where players genuinely can’t help but gasp at points. In many respects, World At War feels like the last hurrah for a long-gone era of COD.
7 Call Of Duty
It’s hard to make a modern-day judgment on the first Call Of Duty game simply because it’s now so incredibly dated. It’s still a game that players will recognize as having all of the signs that the franchise has since expounded upon.
Difficult, graphically rather poor, and clunky are just a few words that come to mind when comparing to the sleek, fast-paced COD of today. However, this is the revolutionary game that started it all and it has a charm that often missing from modern-day AAA shooters. The age is a barrier, but the campaign is worth one playthrough as the story and intensity still holds up rather well.
6 Call Of Duty 2
Call Of Duty 2 continued the winning formula introduced back in the first game, developing & building on the core design by expanding levels and allowing players to approach certain objectives or shootouts in whatever order they wanted. It’s still far harder than the COD of today, but it was a mind-blowing game at the time and the level of freedom is almost unseen in COD campaigns.
5 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
Players will have to overlook the fact that this game literally chose a name that already exists– it’s the sixteenth game & they’re reusing the exact same name of one of their most popular games– and focus on the fact that this is a fantastic, graphically-advanced masterpiece.
The story pushes morality to its limits, allowing the current trajectory of darkness in video games to continue. The plot has holes, to be sure, that the meme-makers have pounced on, but it is forgivable because the team clearly made an effort to keep it interesting.
4 Call Of Duty: Black Ops
The first Black Ops game is technically a sequel to World At War and the first to push gamers into the expansive world of Alex Mason, a CIA operative whose memories we have to navigate in order to progress. It’s a clever way to approach a story and a fantastically fun gameplay experience. The Cold War makes a particularly compelling setting.
3 Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Players had every reason to go into the latest installment of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with a lot of doubts. The campaign is the shortest in the entire series and it abandons playing as fan-favorite Alex Mason for the mysterious “Bell.”
Those doubts were quickly put to rest, as the environments were dynamic and stunning. There’s a huge plot twist that is very well done and multiple opportunities to make huge, impactful choices that change the outcome of the game. And it’s incredibly deep; players are still missing details in the campaign, so it merits multiple playthroughs.
2 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
After newfound success with Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward knew exactly what they needed to do: keep going. They continued the story set out in the first game, maintaining a very similar gameplay style (but it worked) and adding twists & turns to a surprisingly emotional storyline that only raised the stakes.
1 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)
Gamers know this title. Maybe from having played it and loved it, maybe from one of the sequels, and maybe from the hilarious memes it inspired, but, one way or another, they know the game as a phenomenon.
While MW2 was almost the perfect game, it’s hard to compete with a game that actually was perfect. The first Modern Warfare revolutionized both the approach taken by COD as well as that taken by just about every other FPS game. It told a continuous, addictive story and brought a variety of new mechanics that made the modern-day warfare a realistic experience.
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