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Call Of Duty: Vanguard (campaign) review: war, war never changesWe’ve been here before
We’ve been here before
Story Trailer | Call of Duty: VanguardWatch on YouTube
Story Trailer | Call of Duty: Vanguard
Although I wouldn’t say the story runs quite as smoothly as a Marvel film. As Task Force One inches towards its goal in the present, you’re reeled into each team member’s origin story at regular intervals. Without these flashbacks, the game wouldn’t last longer than 30 minutes; the past makes up the bulk of the story.
I’d like more of these quiet moments in future COD games.
Vanguard’s campaign is at its best when it’s mixing things up with stealth sections and vehicular combat. Moments of quiet also help to humanise characters like Polina, her family, and the ordinary people trapped in the horrors of war. There’s this bit where you share some coffee with her family. One where you scramble across rooftops and bump into friendly neighbours. Another has you stalk a Nazi leader with just a knife in-hand, as you dip between broken book shelves and discarded mannequins.
Speaking of which, each member of Task Force One actually does have a ‘superpower’- I wasn’t kidding. Polina moves faster when crouched and can climb stuff well. Wade can activate a “Focus” mode that slows down time and auto-aims to enemies. Others like Riggs can swap between different explosives, and Kingsley can order soldiers to distract or attack things. They’re okay, just not that exciting, really.
Occasionally, the game gives you options. You can either go stealthy and backstab people, or you can go all guns blazing. But that’s as far as the game will let you push its constraints. This is a campaign that’s as linear as it gets. There’s no light backtracking or optional objectives or even collectibles to find here. I’m all for a smooth ride, but this is one that has you buckled in too tight. The environments are genuinely beautiful, and yet it’s a shame they don’t let you explore them. At times I was ahead of the objective marker, waiting for my allies to catch up. It was like I’d caught the earlier train.
My RTX 2070 ran the game just fine at 1080p on Ultra settings. The game looked gorgeous as a result.
And even when Vanguard’s mixing things up, it’s doing them in ways we’ve seen countless times in past Call Of Duty games. When it wants to slow things down, your character will get caught in an explosion and awaken to a soldier dragging you to your feet. Or you might have to follow someone’s lead as you skulk around some enemies. If there’s a budding bromance, it’ll likely end with your mate taking a bullet to the chest. Tick, tick, and tick.
This is a shame, as Call Of Duty has shown it can deliver interesting twists on military missions.Call Of Duty: Modern Warfarehas that brilliant Clean House level, which transforms an ordinary home into a tense exercise in trigger discipline.Black Ops Cold Warhas a branching story, with key decisions that lead to different endings. Vanguard seems disinterested in taking on the baton, if anything, it’s comfortable skipping the race entirely.
