Summary
TheCall of Dutyfranchise is one of the largest and longest-running gaming series of all time. The huge success generated by this series is often credited to the multiplayer and zombie modes, which have helped it retain players the whole year through until another game is released. Still, there are other elements which are often underrated in this franchise, particularly the campaign modes.
Through heartbreaks and great victories, explosive missions and diverse landscapes,Call of Dutycampaigns have given playersgreat memories and many of them are highly replayable. From massive World War 2 battles to fighting through streets and buildings in modern, or even futuristic settings, this series has sent players to every corner of the globe.
The grand finale to the adventures of Captain Price and Task Force 141 was long-awaited by fans of theCall of Dutygames. Many had been waiting eagerly for several entries by this time to see the death of Makarov, the terrorist who’d incited war between America and Russia.
The traditional heartbreaks were ever-present in this entry, alongside epic missions and storytelling involving Soap MacTavish, Captain Price and the newly playable Yuri. These three pick up the broken piecesafter the destructive ending of the second entryand gave the series a neat, worthy conclusion that included a hefty dosage of fan service.
It isn’t often that aCall of Dutyrelease is actually overshadowed by the campaign, but the epic story of the private military corporation Atlas gave fans much to get excited about, and the story effort didn’t stop with that great idea. The levels, the overarching story and the voice acting were all on a completely different level to the bog standard that many fans had come to expect.
Taking place over a number of years,Advanced Warfarefollowed Jack Mitchellas he was recruited by Atlas, given state-of-the-art prosthetics, and later turned against them when he uncovered that CEO Jonathan Irons has been manipulating global events in order to further his own corporation’s power. The story and characters were very much a one-off in the series, making the self-contained campaign all the more excellent to revisit.
After the might of the firstBlack Opscampaign, the sequel had one of the most challenging jobs aCall of Dutygame has had to deal with yet. It demanded risks and innovation, and there was plenty of both in the story, which spanned from the dying years of the Cold War to 2025,which hopefully won’t feature in real lifethe sort of tension between America and China which almost leads to another Cold War in the campaign ofBlack Ops 2.
Alex Mason from the firstBlack Opsreturns as the protagonist of the earlier timeline, trying to stop the rise of terrorist Raul Menendez. In the 2025 section, Alex’s son David tries to track down Menendez before his plan to pit America and China against each other comes to fruition. With great non-linear storytelling and the first cases of futuristic technology in theCall of Dutyfranchise,Black Ops 2has a long legacy and a lot of replayability as a campaign.
After covering the area fairly well in the series’ early entries, theCall of Dutyfranchisemoved away from World War 2for a long time. They returned after ten years and did another excellent job on the topic, focusing mostly on Operation Overlord and delivering some of the most iconic battles and moments from the western front of World War 2 in one sweeping campaign.
Focusing on the 1st infantry division which began by assaulting Omaha Beach and moving through Europe taking part in some major moments,WW2was a beloved return to form for theCall of Dutyfranchise, as well as a return to its roots. Sequences like the liberation of Paris and the Battle of the Bulge helped to make this one of the greatest and most definitiveCall of Dutycampaigns yet.
One of the most infamous cases ofCall of Dutycampaigns bringing true emotion and heartbreaking moments,Modern Warfare 2still features one of the greatest twists in gaming history. When Commander Shepherd betrayed Task Force 141 and killed off some of its key members, the entire world went into absolute shock.
The story of the chase against Makarov was epic and contained some wonderful missions, like the safe house assault, the Favela chase and the snowy mission deep behind enemy lines. But after the emotional devastation of Shepherd’s betrayal, the temporary forming of an alliance between the 141 and Makarov for a suicide mission attempt to kill Shepherd made for one of the best campaign finales to date.
Although it wasn’t the first time thatCall of Dutyvisited World War 2,World At Waris the game that many fans of the franchise grew up on, and it has definitive looks from the series at the battles of the Pacific and the taking of Berlin by Russian forces. The diverse cast and individually incredible missions make this an icon inCall of Dutyhistory.
From the sniping mission in Stalingrad to controlling tanks and planes, and running through Berlin at the head of a Soviet army,World At Warwas breathtaking. Featuring emotional deaths, grand finales in different parts of the world and characters who would go on to be more important than fans might have suspected, this is much more than simplythe game that introduced Nazi Zombiesas a game mode.
The firstModern Warfaregame was the one that completely changed the outlook of the franchise from simply one that was obsessed with World War 2. The first three entries covered much ground across that war, and it was important for the franchise to grow past that for storytelling purposes as well as find longevity in multiplayer modes since directly competing with other World War 2-focused series likeMedal of Honorwas only going to takeCall of Dutyso far.
The story of Soap MacTavish as he joins the 22nd SAS regiment and works with Captain Price to bring down both the dictator Al-Asad and Imran Zakhaev, leader of the Russian ultranationalist party. From the nuclear bomb going off to the incredible final chase against Zakhaev, Modern Warfare is great as a self-contained game and the first in this fascinating sub-franchise that has proven to beCall of Duty’smost beloved.
There are so manyCall of Dutygames now that it can be hard to keep track. However,Black Opsis one that wasn’t one of the very first, but itremains the best case of what aCall of Dutycampaigncan become. The story of Alex Mason being interrogated about the location of a numbers station set to deploy chemical weapons via Soviet sleeper agents was an incredible framing story for a campaign surrounding varied CIA missions behind enemy lines during Vietnam and the Cold War.
The campaign, with the enormous twist surrounding Viktor Reznov, as well as the voice cast which included Sam Worthington, Ed Harris, and Gary Oldman, was mind-blowing to the degree that it didn’t even need zombies or multiplayer to makeBlack Opsone of the defining games of theCall of Dutyfranchise, and it remains so to this day.
