Call of Duty Vanguard review: A bombastic, battling return to form

(Pocket-lint) - Some things ne'er alteration and Call of Duty periodically returning to its archetypal roots is 1 of those.

World War II holds a fascination for the bid that conscionable won’t spell distant and the latest entry, Vanguard, returns to its good trodden paths erstwhile more. But, for each the lurking familiarity, it besides brings immoderate invited changes.

So, portion this mightiness look a spread twelvemonth for COD purists, tin it clasp up to the Modern War and Black Ops franchises, possibly adjacent go a 3rd regular series?

It surely gives it a shot.

A beginning

If the Second World War itself is 1 of COD’s repeating fascinations, different is the murky satellite of peculiar forces operations, truthful bombastically explored by entries acceptable aboriginal successful the timeline. It makes sense, then, that Vanguard takes a look astatine the situations that gave emergence to these secretive units, operating by a antithetic acceptable of rules.

Arthur Kingsley is simply a British combatant tasked with bringing unneurotic a globe-spanning squad of operatives successful Vanguard. As it is acceptable towards the extremity of the war, the Third Reich is connected its knees. However, prime Nazi leaders are already plotting a comeback and a Fourth Reich, which needs stopping.

The run sees you question astir the war’s fronts, recruiting caller members, and this lends it a bully consciousness of variety. You’re not confined conscionable just the trenches oregon war-torn cities, but besides get to spot the Pacific and different colourful locales.

Vanguard admirably tries to absorption its communicative much connected the characters making up Kingsley's team, with the likes of Polina Petrova getting immoderate bully characterisation. A informing though, it besides has a bittersweet inclination to termination radical disconnected earlier we truly get to cognize immoderate of them. There is besides immoderate uneven pacing.

Stealth sections are clumsy, and aerial missions consciousness similar a diversion. The run is astatine its champion erstwhile offering run-and-gun combat successful messy environments with particulate and shrapnel flying. That said, the absorption of cut-scenes and in-engine communicative moments is simply a large upgrade connected Black Ops Cold War, with bully framing and colour.

When your boots are connected the ground, you won’t beryllium blown distant by the originality of what’s connected connection - you’ve rather virtually done astir of this before. But, for galore (us included), that’s much than enough. It's large amusive and doesn’t outstay its welcome. It besides primes you nicely for the rigours of multiplayer. 

A acquainted representation well-painted

Visually, Vanguard looks astir arsenic bully arsenic you’ve ever seen a Call of Duty game. Playing connected PS5, the prime of lighting and effects successful the run truly are impressive, with precocious resolutions maintained and a rock-steady 60fps to support things truly smooth. There's adjacent a 120fps enactment if you person a compatible display, though you bash person to instrumentality a deed connected the resolution.

The summation of highly destructible environments, which besides play a large relation successful multiplayer, makes battlefields consciousness lived-in and realistic. Shrapnel and fragments of walls and furnishings alert astir you during frenetic gunfights. 

You'll get to spot vibrant jungles and war-torn cliffsides, the demolition of Stalingrad unfolding implicit time, and arid godforsaken scenes, to boot. It's awesome to spot each looking arsenic existent and vivid arsenic the last, wherever backmost successful the time a COD would beryllium acceptable successful 1 of these fronts astir exclusively.

Character models are besides elaborate and expressive, albeit a small cliché-ridden. COD has taken awesome strides successful dependable plan successful caller years, too, and again that’s evidenced here, with booming explosions and punchy gunfire (sadly this doesn't use to multiplayer, wherever the clarity of footsteps and shots is an contented astatine the clip of writing).

However, we’re inactive waiting for a crippled successful the bid to lucifer and eclipse 2019’s Modern Warfare, successful each honesty. Not lone did that rubric dependable phenomenal, it had a realism to its lighting that was jaw-dropping astatine times, adjacent contempt older hardware. 

Gameplay and multiplayer

Where Vanguard shines most, though, is successful its mechanics. While past year’s Black Ops Cold War was cheerful enough, we had a bony to prime with its simplicity. An older crippled motor meant nary limb mounting and reduced mechanical complexity successful multiplayer - dropping into Vanguard and being capable to unfastened and adjacent doors again lone underlines however silly that dumbing down was. 

Vanguard iterates connected Modern Warfare instead, making limb mounting much versatile, reinstating doors and, successful general, feels similar an existent measurement forward. You’ll inactive occasionally get spawn-trapped and repeatedly destroyed by killstreaks you’ve ne'er managed to gain yourself, of course, but that’s portion and parcel of the acquisition astatine this stage. 

With a meaty 20 maps to play connected astatine launch, there’s a large consciousness of assortment arsenic you larn the ropes. Yes, 4 of those are acceptable successful Champion Hill, a azygous round-robin mode that is truly much similar 1 large map, but determination are besides chilly Russian municipality squares, destroyed countryside areas, airfields and subject bases to tally around, each with their ain routes and secrets to learn.

A caller combat pacing strategy lets you queue up for games with either tactical squad numbers (a classical 6v6) oregon bigger teams for much frantic timings - sticking 24 oregon adjacent 48 players connected a tiny representation tin lend a brainsick consciousness to affairs. For us, tactical pacing volition ever consciousness similar the halfway experience, but it’s chill however developer Sledgehammer Games has embraced the community’s tendency for some carnage and easier limb grinding. 

In purer gameplay terms, guns present person a batch of recoil and things are reasonably demanding, with a caller gunsmith strategy offering up to 10 attachment slots to fto you customise things. While this does permission you loads of control, the magnitude of clip it takes to marque a limb genuinely competitory is simply a spot of a drain. We’re not definite determination was thing incorrect with the five-attachment past. 

As we mentioned above, the dependable settings are inactive a small off, too. Footsteps tin beryllium inconsistent and determination is simply a weird consciousness of dullness astatine times. We fishy Sledgehammer volition proceed tweaking things connected this side.

Still, we’ve had a blast connected multiplayer truthful far, to a greater grade than with Black Ops Cold War. This gives america anticipation that the hardcore assemblage volition embrance Vanguard successful a mode that the past crippled didn’t merit. 

On apical of each that is Zombies - a mode that is usually associated with Treyarch's Call of Duty titles, but has been made successful practice with that workplace this clip out. While the main mode volition get successful aboriginal December alongside afloat integration with Warzone, the horde mode presented present is bully arcade fun.

It isn't each that new, but to person it successful the bundle is welcome, and progressively makes COD look similar a beauteous bully portion of worth each year, with its 3 afloat modes to explore.

Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Editing by Rik Henderson. Originally published connected 5 November 2021.