It’s an argument that will withstand the test of time.
For over 10 years, gamers have argued with each other about one of the most successful franchises in the history of entertainment. With yearly entries for well over a decade, there’s a new source of discussion every few months.
The question remains, as it has for years: What is the best Call of Duty game?
Everyone has their own opinion about it. While one game might have slapped for one player, it could have been “dog” for someone else. It comes down to personal preference, but there are a few games that were great and will be remembered as great for as long as games are played.
Here are our picks for the greatest Call of Duty games of all time.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Treyarch gave us the best Call of Duty title of all time—and it’s not really even up for debate.
BO2 featured everything you could want from a CoD title: a good campaign, a stellar Zombies experience, fantastic multiplayer, and League Play. CoD has yet to reproduce BO2’s competitive experience since then.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
CoD 4 is arguably the birth of the modern FPS as we know it. The original Modern Warfare brought the series to the forefront of pop culture, beginning CoD’s overhaul of Halo as the first-person shooter and social platform of the future.
CoD 4 brought us some of the best maps of all time and is likely a memorable experience for many gamers who are old enough to remember it.
Call of Duty: Warzone
The original CoD battle royale paved the way for so much in the series. The first-ever free-to-play title in the franchise, Warzone reached incredible heights in terms of player popularity. It has since been renamed to Warzone Caldera and had its famous Verdansk map retired and moved to mobile, but it will go down as one of the most popular games in recent memory.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
“The numbers, Mason. What do they mean?”
They mean that Black Ops 1 is one of the best CoD titles ever. BO1 brought in some of the best multiplayer maps in CoD history, like Nuketown and Firing Range, and a wide variety of fun, useable weapons.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
Infinity Ward’s follow-up to CoD 4 pushed the boundaries with a shocking campaign and some stellar multiplayer. While it had some balance issues (One Man Army, anyone?), MW2 furthered CoD’s push into the mainstream in incredible ways.
Many gamers hope the new Modern Warfare 2 that came out in 2022 is just as good as the original, if not even better.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Likely the most controversial listing, Advanced Warfare is here for the sole reason that it bucked the trend. After seven years of annual releases, CoD began to get stale. AW took a chance with its Exo Suit system, allowing players to boost jump around the map. It was a breath of fresh air.
The cycle continued for a few years, but players got tired of boost-jumping and wall-running and eventually begged for boots-on-the-ground gameplay. But Advanced Warfare deserves to be commended. Uplink also was an amazing game mode.
Call of Duty: Mobile
Purists will hate this pick, but CoD: Mobile deserves its place on this list. The CoD playable on mobile phones everywhere offers a slew of multiplayer maps and weapons from across the series as well as its own battle royale and zombies modes. It’s the definitive CoD experience, albeit plagued with the standard mobile game issues.
Arguments can be made for other games in the series, such as Modern Warfare 3 (2023) and its vast multiplayer offering or Black Ops 3’s well-rounded support. What say you, CoD fan?
