Vanguard has been out for a few weeks now, with a number of updates hitting our PCs and consoles already. Whether you’re a fan of the series, or you like casino games or something more relaxed, Vanguard could still be the game for you.
Taking place during World War 2, you have access to all the old-school weapons, characters with detailed backstories, and of course, numerous World War 2 inspired maps for you to explore and dominate.
Gameplay
Vanguard plays out like most Call of Duty games. You have the medium-sized, three-lane maps, the classic map Shipment makes a comeback, and a couple of much bigger maps are used in the Vanguard version of Ground War.
The maps are also filled with many more pieces and assets that can be fully destroyed, something the developers have taken from the Battlefield series. There are also cars and barrels that can be blown up, putting your opponents on the back foot.
Weapons
The weapons selection is a place where Vanguard shines. There is a wide selection of rifles, SMGs, sniper rifles, marksman rifles, and pistols. There are 43 weapons in total, including melee weapons and a shield.
Some fan-favorites include the STG, the Automaton, the STEN gun, the Owen gun, the MG42 LMG, and the KAR98 sniper rifle. Even though there are a few stand-outs, the weapons feel balanced; you feel like you can win any gunfight no matter what you or your opponent has.
Progress and upgrades can feel slow at times, with one flaw being the fact that many new attachments you unlock don’t seem to make any difference to your weapons stats, compared to very few that make a massive difference. Not having a middle ground can be annoying.
Multiplayer
People buy and play Call of Duty for the multiplayer. Vanguard doesn’t disappoint in this aspect. With almost two dozen maps to play on and three-player and two-player modes, the multiplayer aspect is fantastic.
Many players had a problem with Cold War and MW 2019: how easy you could camp on almost any map. Vanguard has improved spawns and made UAVs easy to get, meaning even if you do camp, it is only a matter of time before you’re dispatched.
The maps also have a nice flow. This was another complaint with Cold War and MW, where the maps sometimes felt cagey and too small. Vanguard has opened them up, has better lanes and alleys, and you feel like you can get anywhere quickly.
Campaign
The campaign aspect of the game is fun but always seems to fall to the wayside, considering multiplayer is what everyone wants. The story follows you and your team as you complete missions to infiltrate and destroy the German army.
The stages are really well designed and can be fun, but it also feels like it isn’t completely finished and added purely for the sake of a campaign. While Battlefield has proven that removing the campaign is a massive mistake, COD could have done better with this one.
While Cold War had its faults, its campaign was engaging and had a great storyline that crossed over in Warzone in some ways, and into the zombie’s mode.
Zombies
Speaking of Zombies, this is where Vanguard has failed its fans dismally. Cold War Zombies reinvigorated the mode with multiple game types, easter eggs, items to collect across all stages, which together built the story of what happened with the deadly experiments that caused the zombies.
However, Vanguard Zombies is anything but detailed and story-driven. There are a couple of maps, barely any background story, and straightforward objectives. Yes, it can be a decent way to gain weapon XP, but no one is jumping on to play zombies outside of that.
It is tedious, very repetitive; there are barely any stakes involved, hardly a story to speak of, and is easily one of the worst modes to come out of a Call of Duty game for a very long time. If you were wanting to play Vanguard for Zombies, save your money and get Cold War or one of the older Black Ops games.
Overall, Vanguard is very enjoyable to play, has a ton of promise, and is only going to get better as the months go on. Considering we will have a new COD by October of this year, Vanguard is a decent way to pass the time until the next release.
