Call of Duty Game Campaigns From Worst To Best

Call of Duty is on the minds of many gamers right now thanks to reveal of Black Ops 6. The game promises not only lots of modes to play in, but a deep campaign set in a time of “truth and lies” within America. Given that, why not look back at the campaigns that came before and see what sticks out? Of course, no list is perfect, and your opinion will likely heavily differ from ours in some ways. I’ve seen others ranked these games differently and I’m sure you found some campaigns better than others in our list. So we’re waving the white flag here. These are just our personal opinions as we reflect back on this FPS franchise.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

In truth, I don’t think you can argue with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 being the worst campaign mode. After all…there IS NO CAMPAIGN MODE in the game!

This was the first title in the series that didn’t have a main solo campaign mode, and you all weren’t happy about that, even blasting the game before it came out. Ironically, it did do well in multiplayer, including the Blackout mode, but it just didn’t feel the same.

Sure enough, it sold well…but not to Activision’s standards.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

On the one hand, you have to praise Call of Duty: Ghosts for trying to do something innovative with its storyline. Heck, it lets you play as a dog! On the other hand, there’s a difference between trying to do something innovative…and actually succeeding.

In many ways, the campaign of Call of Duty: Ghosts felt like a mishmash of things that players had already done before and done better. To that end, the critical reception was not that kind, and this game typically ranks as one of the lower-reviewed entries in the series.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

Oh yeah, I have to put this one near the bottom, and some of you would likely argue that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 deserves to be lower on this list because of what the developer tried to pass off as “good.”

In many people’s eyes, including critics, the campaign was short, rushed, and didn’t feel like anything meaningful. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is one of the lowest rated game in the mainline franchise, and the only saving grace was its multiplayer.

When Christopher Judge blasts you at The Game Awards for having a short campaign, you know you screwed up.

Call of Duty: Vanguard

Here’s another interesting campaign to discuss. Call of Duty: Vanguard’s campaign focused on a diverse group of characters in World War II trying to stop a German plot and showcased their unique stories and perspectives.

The problem? It wasn’t accurate or realistic in the ways that matter, and people blasted it because it seemed like Blizzard was trying to fix its own sins through one of its video games. Not cool. Overall, we didn’t find the campaign experience to be as memorable as some of the title installments.

Call of Duty 2

Yeah, I’m going almost all the way to the series origins with this one! Call of Duty 2 was actually a launch title for the Xbox 360, if you can believe it, and it was the title that built up many features that we now have today.

While that’s all well and good, you probably don’t remember the World War II campaigns that much. To its credit, it was done from multiple perspectives to flesh things out, but it wasn’t as good as it could’ve been.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

As you’re about to see, when this franchise dives too far into the future, things tend to suffer. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 took the spinoff franchise into the year 2065 and dealt with cybernetically enhanced soldiers and various conspiracies.

However, it didn’t amount to much, and we felt that this was another case of the franchise ‘treading water’ versus moving things forward meaningfully.

Call of Duty 3

One of the problems with the last game was that the team at Activision felt that they could keep using World War II as a backdrop without issue. Well, there was an issue: we kind of got bored of the same setting.

Call of Duty 3 was seen as the final nail in that coffin in many respects. After so many campaigns with WWII, people were ready to move on. It wasn’t bad, per se, but you know when you’ve overstayed your welcome, and this was that case. Fortunately, the next main installment changed things up, but we’ll get to that later on in our list.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Yeah…we have to talk about Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare now, and you know why it’s so controversial, right? You know…because of a certain actor that became the literal face of the game? Uh-huh. Him.

I’ll push past that, though, because while he was in the game and helped elevate the campaign in certain ways, many called out the mode for its simplicity in plot despite the cool new gameplay mechanics they could’ve built around, like the exosuit. It was a step up from many of the games I’ve already talked about, though. Still with that said, we did have some fun with this one when it first came out.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

In truth, I arguably should’ve swapped this and Advanced Warfare around because while the last one was a bit predictable…and at least a certain someone came to play with his acting. In contrast, Kit Harrington and others who were in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare were accused of “lifeless acting,” and when fans found out that the franchise was going even FURTHER into the future…they basically revolted.

Sure enough, the game underperformed, and the series did yet another hard reboot to try and win them back. Go figure. However, if you were a bit tired of the typical settings and traditional war style games, this might have given you a nice break.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

It’s inevitable that once you have a nice concept, you’ll find the game can lose its luster if you’re just reiterating things you’ve done before. With the original Call of Duty Modern Warfare III from 2011, that’s exactly what happened in our opinion.

To us it felt a bit like the team was going for a more bare bones approach to the story, and in terms of the new series, this might have been the lowest point. Sure, the multiplayer was great, but at that point especially, they wanted a great campaign, too.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)

While not being the highest-rated game on our list, that’s not solely because of the campaign. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was the second attempt to recapture the “modern magic” of the franchise’s legendary past, and to the devs credit, they did mostly succeed.

It felt like a “greatest hits” kind of storyline, but in a good way. Clearly, people liked it, as the game was the fastest in the series to reach a BILLION in sales. This was also the sequel to the 2019 reboot of Modern Warfare so if you enjoyed that game, chances are you were all for picking this one up at launch.

Call of Duty

Behold, the original Call of Duty game. What’s important about this one, and part of the reason that it’s so high on this list, is that the campaign mode was the focus. Multiplayer modes hadn’t been fully fleshed out in 2003, and thus, you played it for the campaign.

With multiple campaigns to play from three different points of view, you couldn’t help but feel fully engaged in World War II and wonder what was going to happen next. Without this game, there wouldn’t be a franchise and for that we have to give this game credit.

Call of Duty: WWII

As the saying goes, moderation is best. Call of Duty: WWII came after Sledgehammer Games made Advanced Warfare, and they personally asked to bring things back to World War II. The difference between this game and the past ones was the focus on stories and characters beyond the battles and set pieces they were in.

They wanted players to truly “feel” for these characters, and it worked! The campaign was received well and the title sold quite a bit. This is certainly one of our favorites campaigns from the Call of Duty franchise that was set in the World War II setting.

Call of Duty: World at War

Setting is always a key thing in this series, and what Call of Duty: World at War did differently than all the other WWII-placed games is it took things to the Pacific battlefields between the United States and Japan. That alone is a nice change up when it came to a World War II Call of Duty game.

This was a big deal, and the game was praised for its accurate and violent depictions of those battlegrounds. Sure, it may not have innovated that much, but it was a hit with people who played it, and that’s what matters.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)

You can absolutely look at this franchise in terms of “cycles,” and after the huge backlash to Infinite Warfare, Activision decided to reboot things by making another game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Thankfully, this one was of high quality. They made a new engine for the game, delivered a fresh modern storyline, and even returned some fan-favorite characters. While it wasn’t perfect, it was great, and that’s half the battle.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

It’s actually ironic that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 didn’t inspire the franchise to mimic what it did…but then you realize that this is Activision we’re talking about here, and they’re more interested in multiplayer money than single-player innovations.

Regardless, what made this campaign so great was that it took place across two periods of time and built up its characters so much that you sometimes weren’t sure if the villain was truly a villain. Plus, the game had multiple endings, giving you more than one reason to play it again.

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War

The most recent game in the spinoff franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War once again took players to a turbulent time in history and gave yet another deep and compelling story for players to enjoy.

It was a huge hit and called the gaming version of a “summer blockbuster.” As the name alone suggests, you’re getting a storyline campaign centered around the Cold War. Here we’re fighting to ensure the Soviet Union didn’t get the upper hand. But much like other Call of Duty games there were a variety of epic over-the-top moments which deserves some praise.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Sometimes, you have to do something different to be fresh. For Call of Duty: Black Ops, this was the game that started a true spinoff franchise within a franchise, and as we noted in the intro, it’s still going today.

The game had a much darker tone that was also set during the Cold War and featured key innovations that would allow the series to continue. It was a Game of the Year nominee and a huge seller, so clearly, they did something right.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

How do you follow up a game that helped redefine your franchise? By making it as big and impactful as possible! Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the one from 2009, did its best to expand upon what its predecessor had done, and it worked more times than not.

The only bad things to say about this campaign are that it was too short, a sign of things to come, and it had a rather controversial airport level. Which I’m sure you are all familiar with. Everything else was exactly what you expected which leads us to our personal favorite installment.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Allow me to set the stage. Call of Duty needed innovation and a way to keep players interested. So, the team at Infinity Ward went and took things from World War II and dropped us instead in the real world time period of the 2000s. This was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The OG Modern Warfare was this franchise at its peak in both single-player and multiplayer modes in many respects. It had shocking campaign moments, big storylines, and the game won Game of the Year awards left and right.

In many ways, Activision is still trying to recapture the magic of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and you have to wonder if they’ll ever truly get there. This was our favorite installment of the franchise and maybe it has something to do with nostalgia, but we had plenty of fond memories playing through this game when it first came out on the scene.