Some of the best gunplay in the series dragged down by some of the worst scripted bullshit to date. Anytime you have a fun or tense gunfight it has to make up for it by filling twice as much time with a terrible gimmick or an insanely boring cutscene. Also, stop trying to put "boss fights" in these games. It does not work! It never works!

I don't mind the premise of a swashbuckling ww2 A-team, but the game does everything in its power to make everyone as annoying as possible. I don't like to rag on "dialogue" especially in a game as mindless as this but it's genuinely impossible to convey through text how fucking dumb it all is. I see a lot of complaints from the usual crowd about this game having forced diversity (it does to be fair) or how it disrespects the troops or yadda yadda yadda but the reality is that you can get away with all of that shit if you make anyone likeable to any degree whatsoever! They let you play as a silent guy in the beginning and then immediately kill him off so you can spend the rest of the game watching what is basically just a bad streaming drama occassionally interrupted by gameplay.

I feel bad saying this because it's clear through little bits like the environment and the sound design that there are so many genuinely talented people who worked on this, who work on all of these games, and all of their work is crushed under mountains and mountains of intrusive garbage that almost seems designed to make the game entirely disposable and forgettable.

That being said, the multiplayer is probably one of the most fun times i've had with one of these. Honestly has some of the best maps in the series.

I've played a lot of COD games, so I knew what to expect. What I wasn't prepared for was the cringe-worthy writing.

I won't dwell on the gameplay side of things - it's good old COD, and it's up to you to decide if that's a good or bad thing.

What sets Vanguard apart is its diverse cast of characters. You get to play as all of them at different points in the campaign. It's not a bad concept, but the absolutely terrible writing is what ruins it. None of the characters are likeable, and I couldn't care less about their clichéd backstories. In the instances where they are all together, they come across as childish, as if they were twelve-year-olds trapped in adult bodies. Whoever was responsible for writing the characters obviously has no knowledge of real human interaction.

The plot is no better. Without getting into spoilers, it's very similar in concept to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. If you've seen that movie, you know what to expect.

I have to give credit to the art team because the game looks really nice at times. It ran really well on the PC, even with all the settings maxed out. I didn't encounter any bugs either.

I had a chance to play the multiplayer a while back and had a lot of fun with it. The time to kill was incredibly short, and on meat grinder style maps the pace was insane.

Anyway, I'd still recommend this game to fans of FPS games or those who crave more COD.

Is it controversial to admit that I genuinely enjoyed the core gameplay design of this? If that is the case I'll take the shame for it.

Vanguard being the 18th main entry in the series also suffered the same tumultuous and rushed development cycle of cold war, 16 months of soul crushing work shifts just to have a new product once again for the yearly release schedule while giving it more time to develop to the favorite child of the company which is Infinity Ward.

Didn't played the campaign, simple as that.

The multiplayer while running on the same engine as MW19 (IW8) brought back the fluid gameplay feel to the series which is not a completely outlandish way to call this game "MW19 with a WW2 coat of paint". And in a way I definitely agree but Sledgehammer did added its own flavor to the mix, although a very bittersweet and questionable taste.

To put it shortly, there is no such thing as "balance", everything here is off the charts being simply absurd and too over the top, however. That brought the possibility of making everything work due to the massively inflated sandbox with so many elements that I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't even tested, and I don't blame them for it. Unfortunately due to the poor reception and general sentiment around it, Vanguard was turned into maintenance mode starting season 2 and it was almost completely abandoned for the sake of the next entry in the series.

Same thing happened to zombies, another new concept that nobody asked for, just 2 round based maps with a very disappointing gameplay tied to it. If you did the mistake of playing non round based maps I am sorry for you.

It's hard to recommend Vanguard on a general consensus, if you like the CoD multiplayer formula even if it is too cheesy or unbalanced but want to scratch that itch or want to play something different then go for it, but it's not the best option available unless you haven't tried it.

Not the best, not the worst, but I would lie if I say that I did not enjoyed the multiplayer for what it offered alongside bringing the best sights and reticles in the series even if it was in this entry that not a lot of people even bothered trying. Zombies as well was pretty disappointing but that comes as nobody's surprise given the tumultuous development.

The rating is 3/5 exclusively because I genuinely enjoyed its offering in terms of multiplayer design even if it was a disgusting grind to withstand sometimes, it should be a 2.5 for sure and even that might feel a bit high for some people.

Эту игру сделали за полгода.

Полная рецензия: Не думал, что когда-нибудь я скажу это снова, но Активижен смогли переплюнуть себя и выпустили худшую кампанию колды за долгие годы.

Калгуард - это какая-то тупейшая пародия на события второй мировой войны. Сюжет данного произведения можно описать так: "черный британец, русская девочка, сумасшедший австралиец и американский пилот зашли в бар в Берлине в 45 году и остановили 4 Рейх". Зачем, кто их собрал, почему они это делают, что происходит? Ответы на эти вопросы не получит никто, единственное что вы узнаете - это личную историю каждого из отряда по ходу игры, ибо вся история построена на спиралевидной композиции и флешбеках каждого из героев. Вообще, после просмотра концовки, становится понятно, что кампания является лишь приквелом к новому большому сезону в Варзоне, хотя жаловаться бессмысленно, ибо игру попытались склепать за годик, чтобы дать Инфинити Ворд больше времени на МВ2 (2022). Что по поводу геймплея? Стрельба стала намного хуже по сравнению с прошлыми двумя частями, импакт не чувствуется, отдачи нет, звуки игрушечные.

ИИ мобов стал максимально тупейшим, ибо они почему-то все всегда пытаются выйти с тобой раз на раз в рукопашку и с помощью этого ты можешь просто поджидать их за углом и расстреливать на подходе, максимальная шизофрения.

Из интересных уровней можно отметить первый (на поезде), а так же миссии за британца, которые были выполнены в духе той же WWII и старых колофдюти, а вот миссии других персонажей, извините меня, срань. Уровни с Леди Соловей являются каким-то подобием Дума в локациях Сталинграда и полностью просирают всю атмосферу восточного фронта и Сталинградского подвига, создавая из этого какой-то невозможный сюр. Главная героиня прыгает, бегает как сумасшедшая, паркурит и косит пачки нацистов в соло просто так, ужас. А финальная битва с генералом СС, где тебе надо его захуярить 3 раза ножом в спину и только тогда он умрет - просто нет слов. Игра за америкоса начинается с унылейших леталок на истребителях, где тебе нужно просто повторить одни и те же действия два раза (а все это еще на полурельсах), а заканчивается пехотной миссией, где сначала предлагают максимально всратый стелс, а потом копирку миссии на Кубе из Блек Опса 1. За австралийца же мы должны сначала подорвать 3 точки на большой локации, а потом просто держать точку от толп волн противника.

Абсолютное отсутствие каких-то крутых постановочных моментов или чего-то кроме пиу пиу. Тут даже не пытаются разнообразить шутерную механику, а если пытаются, то выглядит это максимально всрато. И да, не забывайте что почти всю игру вас будут кормить агрессивной повесточкой на всевозможные актуальные темы.

Из плюсов можно лишь записать хороший саундтрек и в меру приятный визуал, который иногда будет выдавать довольно красивые кадры, но не более.

The story of Vanguard, whilst not the worst CoD campaign out there, is a fairly generic one that hits most of the expected highlights of World War II (ex: Normandy, Stalingrad, the Pacific) but does little to differentiate itself from other WWII shooters outside of its framing device, and even that isn’t all that interesting, especially when compared to the likes of Call of Duty: World at War. The setpieces are as enjoyable as ever though & the score (composed by Bear McCreary of God of War (2018), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. & AMC’s The Walking Dead fame) is grandiose & epic in a way that suits a WWII story like Vanguard’s. The acting is good, but with actors like Dominic Monaghan & Laura Bailey, it shouldn’t be surprising.

Overall, Vanguard’s campaign is enjoyable enough, but is nothing remarkable, especially when compared to Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War’s campaigns.

Multiplayer:

Much like the campaign, Vanguard’s multiplayer is very by-the-numbers by Call of Duty standards & is especially very similar to Modern Warfare (2019). You have all the standard modes like Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, Domination, & Search and Destroy, along with killstreaks and the same progression system seen in other recent CoD games like Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War.

Also carried over from Modern Warfare (2019) is the Gunsmith loadout system. This system allows players to customize their weapons with a set of attachments and see the changes to the gun in real-time. The problem with this system is that it necessitates a lot of attachments that didn’t exist during World War II and is ill-suited to an era where there was little in the way of personalization of an individual soldier’s gun like there is these days. Even in Black Ops: Cold War, it made some sense given that game’s focus was on elite soldiers & spies in a time when that kind of customization was already common amongst that group. But in a World War II game like Vanguard, it just makes no sense.

As for new stuff, there isn’t much here. The operator system from Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War has been expanded, with each operator having their own levels now. There are a couple of new modes, but none of them are that unique. Control is just Hardpoint but the Hardpoint moves & Arms Race (added post-launch) is just Sledgehammer’s take on Ground War or Combined Arms (from Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War, respectively).

Much like Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War, Vanguard integrates with Call of Duty: Warzone and with how consistently the guns from this game are powerful and amongst the best weapons in Warzone, people who are into that game and want to have all “meta” guns levelled will feel highly compelled to check out Vanguard.

Due to Vanguard’s connections to Warzone, it is monetized like a Free to Play game, with plenty of cosmetic bundles available for purchase via an in-game store (accessible in both Vanguard & Warzone, the latter of which also shows Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War cosmetics in its shop) that requires you to convert your real money into a virtual currency called CoD Points. The problem with this storefront is that there are a lot of cosmetics & even a couple of operators (ex: The Terminator, the T-1000 & Snoop Dogg are in the game due to limited-time events) that look and feel out of place in a WW2 shooter.

Another problem inherited from Modern Warfare (2019), Warzone & Black Ops: Cold War is matchmaking. The recent CoD games (Vanguard included) all use a system called Retention Based Matchmaking (RBMM), where the game looks at your last 10 matches & determines what kind of lobby you will be placed in, with skill & connection being minimal factors. Oh, and lobbies are disbanded after every match and you are put into new lobbies every time unless you just quit. This causes a situation where all it takes is a couple of matches of you performing well for the game’s matchmaking to place you into lobbies filled with tryhards who want to play in the Call of Duty League (yes, that’s a thing) someday. The community has complained for years about this, and yet it still persists, with no evidence to indicate anything will change in future games (although said community still calls this matchmaking system Skill Based Matchmaking (SBMM), which I don’t think is really an accurate term for how this system works).

The last noteworthy thing Vanguard borrows from Modern Warfare (2019) & Cold War is the telling of a post-campaign story in multiplayer cutscenes that coincide with the beginning (and end in the case of Cold War) of every Season, with Vanguard having 5 in total. Problem is that Vanguard’s multiplayer story is incomprehensible. The opening cutscene claims that this is about hunting down the remaining Nazis after the end of WW2, but there aren’t that many Nazi deaths actually shown & the last two seasons give up on this thread entirely. Season 4 makes the decision to have all of the game’s operators turn on each other and split into disparate mercenary groups fighting over Nazi gold & season 5 just goes for nostalgia dollars by focusing on the returns of classic CoD villains like Raul Menendez from Black Ops II & Khaled Al-Assad from CoD 4. Meanwhile, Modern Warfare had a serviceable enough plot for a first attempt that did enough to keep the game interesting between seasons & Cold War actually had a pretty good multiplayer story that built off stuff from Black Ops 1 & its own campaign to tell an interesting story that really solidified Russell Adler as one of the most iconic Black Ops characters.

Apologies for constantly bringing up the previous CoD games in this section, but it is almost impossible to talk about Vanguard without mentioning just how much it borrows from them, especially given how much time I’ve put into Modern Warfare (2019), Warzone & Cold War.

Overall, if you’re into CoD (especially Warzone Caldera given how powerful Vanguard’s guns are in that game), hate modern military shooters & love World War II and/or Sledgehammer’s other CoD games, then Vanguard will probably be a fun enough time for you. Otherwise, I’d suggest skipping it. Especially with Modern Warfare II now released.

Zombies:

This mode, developed by Treyarch, is bad. It is a barebones mode that lacked most of the CoD Zombies staples at launch (ex: round-based mode, easter eggs that advance the story) and even now it is a lacklustre experience that is a step back from Black Ops: Cold War in almost every way except maybe visuals (and that’s just due to the engine).

Miscellaneous

The graphics are pretty good but fall short of Modern Warfare (2019) in terms of detail & the noticeable lack of real-time ray tracing support on PC when Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War had it (although I’d say that on the whole Vanguard is a slightly better-looking game). The general audio for the guns is good, falling between Modern Warfare (2019) & Black Ops: Cold War for me.

Conclusion:

Vanguard isn’t the worst COD game ever. But if you aren’t into COD already and/or a BIG fan of World War II shooters willing to swallow some out-of-place weapon variants and cosmetics, I’d suggest just buying Modern Warfare II instead of playing Vanguard at this point.

Ratings:

Creative score (story, gameplay, voice acting, art direction): 7.5 out of 10

Technical score (graphics, audio, performance)): 8.5 out of 10

Business Practices score: 4 out of 10 (respectable Battle Pass system, but out-of-place cosmetics & especially Activision-Blizzard’s general greediness and mistreatment of employees knocks this score all the way down here)

Overall score (my thoughts on a game’s overall quality, doesn’t consider the business practices unless they are detrimental to the experience): 7 out of 10