Published on: 29/12/2021

Call of Duty Franchise: All Games Ranked From Worst to Best

Since 2003, Call of Duty has been the most popular FPS franchise in the world, effortlessly beating out the competition. It’s an enormous franchise, which by 2021, boasted more than nineteen main iterations in the series. Every year, hundreds of millions of players flock to Call of Duty, but unfortunately, they don’t always have a happy experience. In this post, we’re here to lay out a list that features all Call of Duty games, ranked from worst to best.

Where does your favourite Call of Duty game land on the list? We’ve used Metacritic to help us put this list together, taking the top score of each respective title, regardless of platform.

All Call of Duty Games, Ranked

Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021) – 74%

Released late in 2021 in a completely broken state, Vanguard is easily considered the worst Call of Duty game of all time.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020) – 76%

Black Ops Cold War received the shortest development window out of the entire franchise’s history, lasting just five months.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016) – 78%

Despite boasting an all-star cast, featuring the likes of Kit Harrington and Conor McGregor, Infinite Warfare was a considerable failure.

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Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013) – 78%

Ghosts was a standalone title that was abandoned almost as soon as it launched, never to be revisited.

Call of Duty: WWII (2017) – 79%

While WWII is considered as having one of the best esports platforms in franchise history, it ultimately fell short of being a total success. The 2021 WWII-themed Vanguard was completely disconnected from this WWII epic.

Call of Duty: Warzone (2020) – 79%

Looking at all of the Call of Duty games ranked, it seems surprising to see Warzone so low down the list. This revolutionary battle royale title redefined the genre and drew in hundreds of millions of players, but too many bugs and far too many hackers besmirched the game’s name.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015) – 81%

Black Ops III was altogether quite unremarkable, offering nothing more than an expansion on the Black Ops story.

Call of Duty: Mobile (2019) – 81%

CODM is a rather unique COD offering, bringing mobile-based gamers the traditional experience in the palm of their hand. However, a somewhat limited platform means that this particular Call of Duty game ranks quite low.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) – 81%

The 2019 remake of the Modern Warfare sub-franchise was considered a remarkable commercial success, but according to fans, it could have been much better.

Call of Duty 3 (2006) – 82%

This was one of the last PS2 Call of Duty titles, and one of the final World War II-themed games in the franchise.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014) – 83%

Advanced Warfare was the introduction to the ‘jetpack era’, which was equal parts loved and hated by the general Call of Duty community.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018) – 85%

Black Ops 4 introduced Blackout, the first-ever Call of Duty battle royale. However, a total lack of a campaign left Black Ops 4 feeling somewhat empty.

Call of Duty: World at War (2008) – 85%

World at War was the last World War II-themed Call of Duty title until WWII launched in 2017 – and the last Call of Duty game to release on the PS2 console (in a way).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) – 88%

Modern Warfare 3 was the closing episode of the much-loved Modern Warfare sub-franchise, but it wasn’t the best of the bunch.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010) – 88%

Black Ops kicked off a five-part sub-franchise that would become a staple of the Call of Duty universe, and it’s considered to be the best of that series.

Call of Duty 2 (2005) – 89%

The second game ever in the franchise took what the first game had created, but it just about managed to not improve on the formula.

Call of Duty (2003) – 91%

The old games were built to last, and the first-ever iteration of Call of Duty stands proudly near the top of the table.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) – 94%

Modern Warfare is considered one of the best FPS sub-franchises of all time, and that’s reflected in the score for Modern Warfare, which was the first iteration in the series.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) – 95%

It is often considered to be the greatest Call of Duty title of all time in every aspect possible. It boasted the most enjoyable and balanced multiplayer, it gave way to the development of Call of Duty esports, and it had an immersive, intense campaign mode. Furthermore, it boasted a fantastic ‘Spec Ops’ mode, introduced for the first time, and a stacked development window. It’s easy to see why, out of all the Call of Duty games ranked, MW2 takes the top spot.

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