Editor's Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard through the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the organization has involved in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. Detailed information from the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information opens up.
Call of Duty: Vanguard brings the franchise back to world war ii after 4 years away, but the new customization options undermine the classic setting. Vanguard is produced by Sledgehammer Games, developers of 2022's WWII and 2022's Advanced Warfare. The sport gives players a brand new multi-perspective campaign set during WW2, a brand new zombies mode co-developed by Treyarch, as well as the classic CoD multiplayer mode.
Vanguard may be the 19th main entry within the series and the fifth Call of Duty game occur WW2. The planet War Two setting has produced some of the most popular games within the franchise's history, with Cod 2 using a critically acclaimed campaign and introducing the first online multiplayer mode within the series. Recent fans of the franchise might be shocked looking at Cod 2's multiplayer, as its weapons were divided up by faction and there wasn't a create-a-class system.
Vanguard, however, has one of the largest and most complex create-a-class systems ever seen in Cod. Weapons are now able to have up to ten separate attachments on them, without using a perk or wildcard. Furthermore players can also use three perks and 2 pieces of equipment. Compare this to 2012 and Black Ops II's much-loved pick-ten system, where players only had ten points to experience guns, attachments, perks, and equipment. Cod: Vanguard's gunsmith customization options show just how far the series originates, but reaching this scale inside a WW2-era game doesn't feel right.
Vanguard's Weapon Customization Contrasts Using its Environment
The customization options in a World War Two-era shooter could make or break the sport otherwise done correctly, and there are examples both good and bad that Vanguard might have learned from. Battlefield 5 was a stream of disappointment because it launched in 2022 – fans were instantly frustrated with the game's insufficient authenticity, the drastic changes to time-to-kill, and making the weapons more difficult compared to what they ought to be. Battlefield 5 played like arcade FPS set in WW2, and never an effective WW2 shooter.
Compare Battlefield 5 and Vanguard to a game like Hell Revealed, produced by Black Matter and published by Team17, which launched on consoles in October 2022. The sport has very realistic weapons, maps that are to-scale and highly detailed, and realistic roles to experience within the multiplayer. This stuff make Hell Let Loose's multiplayer more immersive than CoD or Battlefield, as intel is limited and players need to depend on their teammates to perform specific functions. Hell Revealed won't get as numerous players as Vanguard, but it's had the opportunity to carve out a successful niche like a historically-authentic WW2 shooter.
The customization options in Vanguard don't make sense with its World War Two setting and have hurt the game's success overall. The game feels stuck between trying to be considered a WW2 shooter and as being a modern Call of Duty game that actually works with Warzone. Consequently, there is little change to set the sport in addition to the previous titles and gamers haven't been buying Vanguard consequently, possibly because they are fed up with World War Two shooters. Call of Duty: Vanguard must have taken its WW2 setting more seriously, or otherwise have been a WW2 shooter at all.
