The first reviews for Call of Duty: Vanguard are now online, and it seems that Activision’s annual first-person shooter is a solid but unremarkable entry in the series.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is available now for #PS4, #PS5 (opens in new tab), Xbox One, Xbox Series X (opens in new tab)/S and PC available. It is the next installment in the Call of Duty series and is set during World War II. On PS5, the game has a Metacritic score of 79 after 10 reviews, which means that the game has a “generally positive” rating.

You’ll have to wait a bit for TechRadar’s verdict, but here’s what the rest of the gaming press has written about the latest CallofDuty.

GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw rated the game 7 out of 10, saying, “The innovations in multiplayer and zombies move the Call of Duty franchise forward overall, and the emphasis on diverse characters makes Vanguard’s story entertaining, but it doesn’t always mesh well with the series’ gameplay.”

Wesley Yin-Poole from Eurogamer (opens in new tab) considered Call of Duty: Vanguard to be a “fun stopgap that won’t be remembered for long,” but conceded that the game will undoubtedly sell well nonetheless.

Ian Boudreau from PCGamesN (opens in new tab) Rates Call of Duty: Vanguard 8 out of 10: “Vanguard goes for pulp fantasy instead of Spielberg’s reverence for the era, revitalizing the World War II setting and forging a new path.

In the first review of PC Gamer (opens in new tab) on Call of Duty: Vanguard, Shaun Prescott said that the game “doesn’t sound like a standout COD game” and that it seems to have “good multiplayer but a lackluster campaign.”

IGN (opens in new tab), whose review is still ongoing, describes the game’s campaign as “fun” and “really cinematic,” but notes that it “lacks variety.” Regarding the game’s multiplayer mode, IGN says [opensinnewtab)that Vanguard’s competitive modes are “fast, fun and, above all, familiar”.

Jordan Middler said, “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,” according to the VGC review.

War never changes

So the general consensus on Call of Duty: Vanguard seems to be that it’s the same Call of Duty experience that many crave every year, but there’s little to be excited about overall.

For some, that will be more than enough, but with Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite coming out on November 19 and December 8, respectively, the competition for Call of Duty’s crown has never been tougher.