In 2020, the popular Call of Duty game series turned 20 years old. During this time, the company has offered us quite a lot of products – not only games for computers and consoles, but also a full-fledged mobile shooter that is now even used for eSports competitions. During the existence of the series, several key studios have worked on the game – Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games, and Raven Software.
During its existence, the computer shooter has managed to take us to the battlefields of World War II and tell the epic story of the beginning of World War III, not without conquering space.
Today we would like to highlight the worst and some of the best games in this series, as well as tell you in what order you should play the games.
In what order to start playing Call of Duty
The easiest option is to start playing the games in the order they were released. This way, you can personally trace all the stages of the series’ development – from a simple World War II shooter with a minimal set of missions to the full-fledged Modern Warfare trilogy with modern graphics and a lot of unusual features. The advantage of the release order is that you will switch from developer to developer and will not get tired of the gameplay formula. While Infinity Ward is characterized by straightforward games, Treyarch uses more experimental tools to immerse players in the story.
The second option is to start with any of the sub-series. If you are interested in modern warfare, the Modern Warfare series is a good choice. If you want to learn more about secret service operations, play Black Ops. In the Infinite Warfare series, you will have to take part in the war between Earth and Mars.
Another option is to start with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. In 2019, the entire series was literally restarted, and all events began to unfold in a single universe.
The worst Call of Duty game
Let’s start with what game from the entire Call of Duty series we would put in the last place. We are talking about Call of Duty: Ghost, which was released in 2013 and had a duration of about 6 game hours. The best episode is the attack on the space station, it lasts about 6 minutes, and that’s it.
Not only we didn’t like the game, but many players around the world criticized this part for being as primitive as possible. The beginning was really noteworthy, but then everything slipped into another tired militaristic plot with obvious and predictable details.
Відео про Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
The best games in the series
Now, let’s talk about the best Call of Duty games that are worth paying attention to. Keep in mind that the rating was based on personal opinion, and our opinions may not coincide.
3rd place – Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
The approximate duration of the game is 7 hours, and one of the features of the game is that the technology in this part is far ahead of time – everything that happens in the shooter is only becoming more relevant with each new year. The story is set in 2025, when the world is on the verge of the Second Cold War.
The plot is built around David Mason, the son of the protagonist of the first part, who is hunting for the terrorist Raul Menendez, who once killed his father. The game is built between the present and the past, which is played in the form of flashbacks. The game is not just in third place – it has raised the bar of quality to unprecedented heights. The developers set out to give players maximum freedom of action – there are spacious levels, you will always have the opportunity to choose a route of advancement, and not follow the beaten path.
Another innovation is the non-linear storyline – now the player’s actions and choices can completely affect the end of the game. Another difference was the addition of the Zombie mode to the multiplayer, which allows players to still run online.
2rd place – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
The game was released in 2007, with an approximate duration of 4 game hours. The plot is basically built around Russian ultra-nationalists who are dissatisfied with the excessive influence of the West on the country. The leader of the nationalists, Imran Zakhayev, organizes a coup in the Middle East to distract the public and start a civil war in the country. The US and UK intelligence services join forces to stabilize the situation in the world.
One of the features of the game is that for the first time the developers decided to avoid the formula of the classic series – the whole plot was transferred to modern geopolitics. Here, ideological confrontations are on par with the threat of a massive nuclear strike.
Another advantage of this part is the cinematic approach to the plot. It stopped being a classic first-person shooter and turned into a real blockbuster.
1rd place – Call of Duty: Black Ops
This part of Call of Duty was released in 2010, and the total time to complete the main story will take about 7 hours. The game is set in 1968 – CIA agent Alex Mason is interrogated by unknown persons. They read out combinations of numbers and demand to explain what they mean. The protagonist does not understand what exactly is happening – now he will have to dive into the past and recall a number of key events from the assassination attempt on Fidel Castro to the incident on the island of Revival in the Aral Sea.
Call of Duty: Black Ops can easily be called a Hollywood blockbuster adapted to the video game format. You will constantly be in the center of the action and participate in the most spectacular scenes. There are no protracted missions here, any episode can be completed the first time. In this part, you will be able to fully experience the essence of the Cold War – widespread paranoia accompanied by total control and espionage at every turn.
Answers to frequently asked questions about Call of Duty
The Call of Duty series of games is developed by the American company Infinity Ward in cooperation with other studios such as Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games.
Most of the games in the Call of Duty series are dedicated to military conflicts and military themes, including games set during World War II, the Cold War, and modern or future military scenarios.
The Call of Duty series offers a variety of game modes, including a single-player campaign with a main story, a multiplayer mode in which players compete against each other or fight as a team, and a cooperative mode that allows players to complete special missions together or survive in battles against waves of enemies, including zombies.