call of duty modern warfare 2

call_of_duty_ww2

What did you think of our assessment of part one?  Fair?  The first list was the lower ranked games, which means it can only get better from here on out.  You might also be surprised to see that the new World War II game falls on this list, and not closer to the top.

9. Call of Duty: World at War (2008)

World at War was the series last main attempt at exploring a World War II setting and was dubbed the prequel to the later Black Ops entries.  World at War had a solid and expectedly glossy campaign, but it suffered from the comparison to the previous year’s classic – Modern Warfare.  The game tried a bit too hard to come across as gritty and horrific.  The end result wasn’t what you expected.  What did we get with this game?  Nazi Zombies and the delightful co-op mode that has become a mainstay of the series.

8. Call of Duty: WWII (2017)

Well, here it is.  Activision’s long-awaited return after a few years of diminishing returns with futuristic and sci-fi storylines.  So did it live up to the hype?  Yes and no.  Yes, because it’s an amazing game, but no because it doesn’t rank higher on our list.  There’s no way that it would ever have had the same impact of the series influential earlier entries, but it does a good job of reviving the Call of Duty 2 formula.  And it adds a bit more modern flash.  The boots on the ground action make this more appealing than it has been in years.

7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

How do you follow up two of the most beloved and acclaimed shooter games of all time?  Well, you simply make another one. Which is what happened with Modern Warfare 3.  It lacked the impact of its predecessors, but as a game, there isn’t much bad to say about it.  It has lots of big set pieces and exciting moments. It’s streamlined and extremely intense.  It’s also more consistent than Modern Warfare 2.

6. Call of Duty (2003)

You might have missed the original Call of Duty, as it was initially only intended for PC exclusive and wasn’t yet a world-conquering franchise.  But Infinity Ward’s debut laid the foundation for the series’ later brilliance.  It does seem rough around the edges now, but it did come out 14 years ago.  A lot has changed since then.

5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Modern Warfare 2 might not have had a real chance of surpassing the now-iconic original, but it went hard trying to do so.  And, it turned out to have one of the top storylines of the entire series.  Do you remember the “No Russian” mission?  The rest of the game was a bit up and down.  It was still a lot of fun to play though, and the multi-player component built upon its predecessor added further depth and some of the series best maps to date.