Call of Duty Vanguard has arrived. Like clockwork, a new Call of Duty has been released for the year. For Call of Duty fans, it's a quick buy with no hesitation. But for everyone else who is still on the fence, we've gathered Call of Duty Vanguard‘s review scores from different game reviews outlets. Check out the scores below.
Call of Duty Vanguard Review Scores: 81 on PC, 76 in PS5 on Metacritic
Call of Duty Vanguard review scores have been positive so far, but it's not universally acclaimed. Gameranx‘s Before You Buy video for the game described it as “an in-between game.” It's not the strongest in the franchise, but it's also not the weakest. Just par for the course and the exact game they need to tide through the year, especially considering how the year has been for publisher Activision.
User scores are also generally lower than the critic scores, which says a lot on how the public perceives the franchise right now.
The highest score Call of Duty Vanguard received was for the PS5 review by Digital Chumps. They gave a Call of Duty Vanguard review score of 9.5/10. They say:
“Call of Duty Vanguard seems like a complete and fun package from campaign to multiplayer. Sledgehammer and crew did a fantastic job of bringing some intense WW2 action to the franchise through its campaign, while also balancing out the MP experience for everyone to enjoy. As you know from past Call of Duty experiences, that can be tricky for some developers to do.”
The praises for the game show that Call of Duty Vanguard, as a stand-alone game, can give players a fantastic experience. However, compared to its peers, and compared to other entries in the franchise, Call of Duty Vanguard lags a bit behind. Millenium‘s PC review, which had a score of 75/100, reads:
“Call of Duty Vanguard is between modern and traditional. We still find our favorite game modes and some new ones that will please players. The weapons are well thought out with a configuration that is not unpleasant after reflection. The balancing is not bad and the TTK is really satisfying. The Campaign mode and the Zombie mode are unfortunately the black spots. The Zombie mode seems unfinished and the Campaign mode could have had a few more hours to dig a little deeper into the story of Vanguard. But we're not immune to additional missions for the campaign and the secret will finally be able to enjoy its secret by the first season.”
As already mentioned multiple times in the reviews quoted above, the game's Campaign is the game's make or break segment. If Call of Duty games will feel similar year in and out, it's the Campaign that will justify the game's appeal. Sadly, this year's campaign has had a mixed reception. There were reviewers, such as PC Games, who were sucked in by the game's campaign, saying:
“That the campaign convinced me was not surprising, the short, action-packed story mode picks me up in almost every Call of Duty. But my first impression of the multiplayer is also extremely positive.”
Game Informer, on the other hand, didn't feel the same:
“Call of Duty: Vanguard’s campaign misses the mark, but multiplayer and Zombies do the heavy lifting to get the title to a good place. If you’re most invested in the single-player experience, you can pass on this year’s entry, but if you’re into the other modes, Call of Duty remains an excellent choice for some shooting, looting, and zombie executing.”
As already mentioned above, the game still shines in its Multiplayer and Zombies game modes: staples of the Call of Duty franchise that fans of the series would already expect from every entry in the series. That these modes are fantastic is already to be expected, but it bears noting that this part is as essential to the game's success as anything else. Had these modes flopped, no amount of excellence from the campaign would have saved Call of Duty Vanguard‘s review scores.
More mixed results came in for the PS5 version of the game. The lowest score came from VGC. Giving the game a 3 stars out of 5 rating, VGC‘s review reads:
“At launch, Call of Duty Vanguard feels like a solid step-up from Black Ops Cold War, but falls short of the benchmark that was Modern Warfare 2019. Together, Vanguard‘s three pillars make for a game that we’re frankly surprised is as cohesive and enjoyable as it is.”
VGC didn't appreciate the short campaign, even though they felt the WW2 setting is already overdone at this point. They also criticized the game's poor AI.
Playsense also gave Call of Duty Vanguard‘s review scores a 6/10 rating, with a review that says:
“Call of Duty: Vanguard contains a single-player campaign that is very promising on paper, but lacks the exciting finesse of previous Call of Duty games. On the other side, the multiplayer is fun and has a lot of good designed maps. The Zombies mode misses the mark completely with re-used assets being used from the rest of the game, simple to be filled with zombies, lacking any intriguing parts what makes zombies worthwhile. The whole game is technically a mess, but luckily the online part is fun.”
Conclusion: Is Call of Duty Vanguard worth your time and money?
Call of Duty Vanguard may not be the seminal entry in the series, but it's still a solid addition nonetheless. It speaks levels for the franchise's staying power that Vanguard had such a strict barometer for success, but it still doesn't excuse the game's own shortcomings. For Call of Duty fans, this is a must-buy, but those who could care less could pass this game up for something that would interest them more.
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