Call of Duty and a World War II setting may sound like a “match made in heaven”, but honestly, the first announcement from Activision or the developers at Sledgehammer Games about “Call of Duty: Vanguard” then left me pretty cold. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War” was by no means a big hit, but at least the scenario was somewhat refreshing. The fact that Sledgehammer Games only started in 2017 with Call of Duty: WW2 presented a World War II rehash also left me feeling less than confident: How do you actually bring some more originality to this scenario? But the more burning question is probably: Does Sledghehammer want to bring something new here at all or is “Call of Duty: Vanguard” just a lukewarm rehash of well-known CoD mechanics? Of course, we’ll try to find the answer in this review.

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Call of Duty: Vanguard – Our impressions of the campaign

The campaign also takes us to Normandy again Photo: Activision

In any case, what has not changed compared to its predecessors is the three-way division of “Call of Duty: Vanguard“. Besides the obligatory multiplayer part, this time we get served a “fresh” zombie mode and of course the spectacular single-player campaign, which we have to focus on first. On the rails around Hamburg, where the setting seems pretty damn interchangeable as the current inhabitants of the Hanseatic city, we meet our Vanguard special unit for the first time: a ragtag squad of elite soldiers who want to really wear down the Nazis at the end of the war. The squad has learned about a secret plan called “Project Phoenix”, which is to be implemented around the Nazi leader Hinrich Friesinger. By the way, the latter captures us right at the beginning, which gives the authors the opportunity to introduce the individual members of our elite squad with so-called hero missions.

The narrative gimmick is unfortunately extremely cheap, precisely because we never really learn how our Vanguard squad got together in the first place. Still, it gives the “Call of Duty: Vanguard” executives a chance to sprinkle in some of the most iconic settings in war history, such as the assault on Stalingrad with our confident sniper Polina at the center, the battle for Midway and the fight in the Pacific with aviation expert Wade Jackson, or else the dangerous mission before the Normandy invasion with Arthur Kingsley. “Call of Duty” fans naturally expect spectacular set-pieces and unforgettable moments from the single-player campaign, and “Call of Duty: Vanguard” delivers them, at least in part. In addition to the different settings, it’s pleasing that those responsible also sprinkle in some gameplay variety alongside countless baller passages, such as sneaking into the enemy hinterland in Normandy, escaping through the attacked Stalingrad, or even classic vehicle and flight passages.

Nevertheless, the wow factor remains after the as always quite short, barely five-hour campaign then out after all: On the one hand, this is due to the very forced narrative, as already indicated, even if it is equipped with really excellently staged cutscenes, in which the realistic character models are particularly inspiring. On the other hand, the basic-debilitary AI opponents repeatedly tore us away from the immersive combat experience: It’s a pity that there simply isn’t much more to it in 2021 than shooting like in a bad shooting gallery. Basically, CoD fans get a solidly staged campaign with the typical epic locations and battles, but it lacks any real surprises and leaves us with a ciffhanger that leaves a bit of a stale aftertaste.

Call of Duty: Vanguard – Multiplayer – WW2 in fast motion

If you’re looking for epic tactical battles on gigantic WW2 maps, you’re definitely wrong for the multiplayer of “Call of Duty: Vanguard”. The series has always stood for quick battles on manageable maps in multiplayer mode, and that doesn’t change in “Vanguard”. In general, we almost had the impression that the game speed was increased again: Most of the time we already had enemy contact shortly after respawning. Especially in the Blitz modes, the encounters are incredibly chaotic, wild, but also quite fun. In general, the shooting mechanics actually seem very well-tuned, even though we had the feeling that machine guns definitely have big advantages, especially in the predominantly rather tight maps. And to some extent, the respawns in some maps need to be reconsidered: In a 12 vs. 12 match in “The House”, our opponents had us so cornered at some point that we could hardly rush forward a meter without landing in a hail of grenades or being cut down by machine gun salvos.

As mentioned, the 16 maps still offer a relatively large amount of variety, good hiding spots, and a solid mix of small and slightly larger maps. A total of two new game modes have made it into “Call of Duty: Vanguard”: In Champion Hill is a tiny map game in which teams of two or three compete with opposing teams. You earn money for kills and can buy new weapons and equipment after every three rounds – similar to the classic “Counter-Strike”. However, each team only has a pool of twelve respawns. Once this is used up, the team is eliminated. In fact, “Champion Hill” also brings its own twist to the MP formula due to the limited respawns, as well as a bit more excitement. “Patrol” is then again more of a classic mode, where we have to take a certain point as a team and stand in it as long as possible to take points. However, the zone moves over time, which ensures that we are always moving into new danger zones. Again, the gameplay is extremely chaotic and hectic at times, but fun if the teams are well balanced.

Basically, the multiplayer mode of “Call of Duty: Vanguard” also offers few innovations, but celebrates incredibly fast-paced battles on generally good maps thanks to the increased tempo. Those who have devoured the last CoD multiplayer modes will also have fun with Vanguard’s MP.

Call of Duty: Vanguard – Our impressions of the zombie mode

At its best, “Call of Duty: Vanguard” tries to take a stab at Nazi-zombie persiflage like “Iron Sky” or “Indiana Jones” and serves us Nazis who come into possession of a powerful artifact that brings back the dead. Unfortunately, this year’s zombie mode quickly shows that it isn’t finished yet: Vanguard will probably only add the main quest in zombie mode with – Season 02 of “Call of Duty: Vanguard”. Until then, we’ll be shredding our way through countless zombie hordes, but unfortunately without any real goal (other than landing on a leaderboard), which quickly “buries” the game’s fun.

Call of Duty: Vanguard – Technique

Technically, “Call of Duty: Vanguard” really delivers on a high level, even if we have to do without RayTracing support from “Black Ops Cold War”, for example. Especially the single-player campaign impressed us with an absolutely smooth presentation with nice lighting and fire effects, good character models, very nice explosions and smoke clouds as well as a strong performance. On our test PC with Geforce RTX 3090 and a WQHD monitor we could see in 1440p resolution on ultra settings We were able to play at the full refresh rate of 144 Hz almost continuously. Even in hectic 24 vs. 24 multiplayer battles, the frame rate was stable above 120 FPS. In multiplayer mode, the game’s graphics look much more subdued than in the campaign, but at least the network code and the actual gameplay are absolutely flawless and geared towards fast and competitive battles.

In addition to the PC version, the PS5 version was also available to us for testing. Here, too, we were impressed that the PlayStation 5 the game in can display dynamic 4K resolution at a squeaky clean 60 frames per second.. As the colleagues from “Digital Foundry” have noted, the game is upscaled to 4K – but almost without any noticeable loss of image quality. Sledgehammer Studios has really done an excellent job here. The use of DualSense with haptic feedback as well as the inclusion of the haptic triggers is also well done. From a technical point of view, there is nothing to complain about in the PC and next-gen version of Call of Duty: Vanguard.

Call of Duty: Vanguard – Conclusion

The overall package of “Call of Duty: Vanguard” is solid overall: The campaign again offers five hours of bombast entertainment with partly spectacular locations and battles of World War II and can rely on its good staging, even if the underlying story somewhat cheaply only supports the busy location hopping and hardly offers any substance. The multiplayer of “Call of Duty: Vanguard” offers extremely fast and technically spotless braids on solid maps. Here, too, there is a lack of real surprises, even though I can hardly conceal the fact that I really had fun especially in the “Patrol” mode and in the classic Team Deathmatch. The zombie mode is currently the weak point due to the missing main quest, even though it can still offer a few hours of fun with friends.

So the overall package is okay, but as unimpressive as “Call of Duty: Vanguard” seemed this year, the new game from Sledgehammer Studios will probably be forgotten very quickly. The series urgently needs new impulses in all areas, and the proven recycling of successful elements, like in “Vanguard”, will only suffice in the short term.

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