Call of Duty: Vanguard – Playstation 5 Review

Call of Duty: Vanguard returns to the trenches of World War II for a personal – at at times surprisingly progressive – experience, courtesy of Sledgehammer Games.

Is it the return to form that so many are eagerly anticipating? Check out out Call of Duty: Vanguard review and find out!

 

Story

The single player story of Vanguard focuses on a global group of near-supersoldiers, tasked to recover a secret named ‘Project Phoenix’ from the clutches of a crumbling Nazi regime.

Using this narrative device to dig into each member’s unique backstory, the fragmented – and brief – campaign has no shortage of trademark bombast, but darting through time and across borders makes for a ‘greatest hits’ feel rather than a coherent narrative.

Action-packed, (if slightly long) movie-quality cutscenes permeate the campaign, filled with famous actors lending their likenessess to Allied and Reich alike.

As great as they are, you can sense a swathe of avid fans itching to get into some gameplay when some drag a little longer than needed.

However, this band of heroes are all lent time in the limelight – Russian expert sniper Polina Petrova’s story stands out, giving a rare change of pace to proceedings as her Stalingrad situation plays out at a measured pace, making the eventual explosion of her life all the more impactful.

These moments are few and far-between however, falling back into tropes which see iconic moments cribbed from great war movies and made playable.

 

 

One important thing to note is that Vanguard does take on (some of) the more unsavoury elements of the Nazi threat head-on, with their racism broached directly against Task Force One’s black leader at the outset.

However, one ham-fisted mission sees an Amercian fly-boy crash landing in Japan and meeting an all-black US infantry division – who become fodder for his personal growth – and is a little disappointing in its execution.

Credit that it topics of this nature are broached at all in a broad triple-A blockbuster, (and yet having a black leader is overlooked within their team), yet the ten or so missions go by in the blink of an eye and it’s not a spoiler to say that the campaign hardly ends in a neat bow.

So – aside from a thrilling opening – you rarely experience the impact or power of this single unit through gameplay, as so much of the game is focussed on their individual backstories prior to this point, a real shame and perhaps an clear (if a little presumptuous) setup for Vanguard 2…

When it comes to multiplayer, the persistent tale of the burgeoning Warzone mode flits into view, with trinckets and bonuses that span across multiple titles.

Characters and cutscenes from Vanguard’s campaign are sprinkled through the menus, but their ease of insertion only serves to highlight how much the main story is a series of self-contained vignettes rather than a full narrative.

 

 

Gameplay

Fans of the series will find the experience very familiar by this point, with Vanguard going for the twitchy, blink-and-you’re-dead pace that many entries in the series are known for.

Divisive gameplay, but the swathe of maps in the multiplayer and well constructed – yet rote – campaign missions lend a true sense of familiarity.

The campaign plays it very straight-laced and linear – disappointing after Cold War took things into wild directions with multiple endings, side quests and a secret-laden hub world.

Don’t come in expecting that, and you won’t be disappointed in the single player. You have a well-crafted sequence of missions and then the credits roll.

Looking at multiplayer, Vanguard delivers solidly on ‘boots on the ground’ gameplay – the bedrock of earlier entries.

Between destructible environements and the fluctuating number of players on the plentiful twenty maps, Vanguard does introduce a level of chaos previously the reserve of the Battlefield series, really making for intense firefights and thrilling battles.

Old maps from World at War are resurrected, new ones are impressively memorable – Hotel Royal an immediate standout – making for an interesting marriage to the modern additions in terms of sprinting and whip-sharp gameplay.

Those looking for something slower and more methodical will be disappointed in the inevitable bunny-hopping enemies and anarchic teammates…but it’s certainly the raw and unadulterated fun of Call of Duty once again.

 

 

Graphics

Visuals are an area where Vanguard excels, delivering a truly next-generation experience on the Playstation 5.

From the rain-soaked opening level as you inflitrate a trainyard to the searing hot sun of the Pacific bearing down on you in HDR, this game is a graphical showcase for advanced lighting effects in particular.

Once you realise it, every level seems to try to highlight the improvement in this area in different ways.

From the shadows of flares eerily sweeping the ground in a 1917-inspired sequence and searchlights dappling through leaves to heighten tension, to the sight of a huge burning windmill searing into your memory and dynamic shadows looming in hallways as you reclaim the streets of Stalingrad one building at a time – each segment seems hellbent on making a visual impact with light and dark.

At times apparent this is an experience that needs to cater to last generation hardware, yet Vanguard remains one of the best looking titles of 2021.

Summary

Call of Duty: Vanguard comes across as fresh and exciting in areas, despite the well-worn World War II backdrop.

The campaign is more engaging than innovative and shows some signs of growth in handling such sensitive subject matter.

The multiplayer is the annual grindhouse of perks, battle passes and playlists that we’re all familiar with, based on the Modern Warfare reboot’s impressive framework.

A solid if not spectacular entry, Vanguard holds the line in terms of fast-paced shooter action, and leads when it comes to impressive visuals.

Review code provided by Activision