Let's goooo:
Best
COD2- I put this up in here because when I think of the quintessential above and beyond the CALL OF DUTY experience, this game sells it even better than the rest of the series did after it (even 4 to an extent). This was the chaos of WWII all around you and you were right in the meat-grinder. No, we don't get anything on par with the bigger moments of COD1 (i.e. the Russian campaign), we still have our car chases, Rhine crossing, and D-Day catastrophe happening on screen to the point when it became overwhelming you were thankful you didn't have to fight this bullshit in real life. COD2 takes a step up from the original with regenerating health and really sells the slogan of "No one fights alone" better than the CODs that came after it.
COD4- Despite being initially skeptical pre-beta, COD4 kept what made COD2 great and expanded on it through both the multiplayer and campaign. Through both modes in this single game alone it not only infected the rest of the series, but video games to this very day are still trying to capture aspects of it and make it great on their own with little success. The story mode blew everyone away (lol) with it's unforeseen treatment of the player along with the game's many political statements about US Foreign Policy and Nuclear Proliferation. It took the set-pieces and house cleaning of the previous titles and brought it into the more familiar modern world and still holds the best final act of the series with the momentum moving from level to level as the tension rises at each turn. Yeah, you're still saving the world, but the grounded nature of it feels less ridiculous than what came after it. It was also the last COD where the player was treated as they should be: be quiet and let the professionals handle it until we need you. You were still SAS and 1st Recon, but that never felt like the clumsy "Super awesome squad unit" that we fill in for the rest of the series. Even in the incredible "All Ghillied Up" you're still the guy who follows orders and is only called upon when things go wrong. And even then you're still taking orders. There's a certain "reality" (lol again) that this game had that even its sequel lost and that's why COD4 will remain one of the best, if not the best, in the series.
BOII - Almost tied with Black Ops which was truly a mindfuck (even if a bit predictable), but BOII's campaign added so much more by giving the player agency in the story through choices and decisions (not all of them obvious and none with obvious foreseeable outcomes, either). Standout villain, multi-generational story with player input, fun characters and most important of them all: FUN to play. For both historical and future sections, neither were limited by the time period and allowed for great set-pieces. Don't get me wrong, it's still silly and the Freudian excuse for the villain is super weak (mainly because it feels like we jumped between the defining incident in his life to how he's suddenly a megalomaniac), but it was far more entertaining than it had any right to be.
Worst
BOIII - Fuck this piece of shit, I cannot believe the same studio that made WAW-BOII made this horrid campaign. Yes I get it, but you know what COD had a great plot-twist moment and didn't need an entire Reddit community to figure out? Black Ops.
Ghosts - The dog was the best part, maybe next to Rourke, anyways, who was also the only dude who seemed like he was having fun in the story mode. God damn, the campaign was so lame, I mean now we can say it was better than BOIII, but that still doesn't take away from how dull the environments, story, characters, and levels were. The only parts I remember being genuinely thrilling were the tank assault and the prologue mission in space. The mid-credits ending made my eyes roll so far back I could see where exactly in my mind the game's narrative was rotting my brain.
MW3 - Honestly, while I'd place it as the bottom of the worst 3, it's the biggest offender for me due to how... average it is. MW2 brought some innovation or at the very least more creative set-pieces and events in the campaign. There wasn't very much new in the campaign that wasn't already done before. It felt like everything was recycled. The story was really middling as well for a plot was really leading up to WORLD WAR 3 in MW2 and here we are, MW3 and in the first two missions America repelled the attacks? Why? Isn't the common thread across both COD4 and MW2 supposed to be America getting spanked because it keeps making dumbass decisions? It played "Murica Fuck Yeah!" straight (as DELTA FORCE of course) and it's mind boggling. Even the god damn point of MW2 was about the dangers of nationalism and patriotism (as demonstrated by both Shepard and Makarov) and yet here with MW3 there's no semblance of a message beyond "The Will of a Single Man, bro" which ends up being both contested against and played straight by both parties. Then we have fucking YURI. I don't give a rats ass about this dude. Game should've had you in the shoes of Soap to bring it all full circle (as the game wasn't shy about referencing or bringing back COD4 characters and events, which was admittedly cool). Ultimately, MW3 is a serviceable campaign, it's honestly not anywhere near being terrible compared to Ghosts and Black Ops fucking III, but it hurts to see this being the campaign that follows up COD 4 and MW2 and doesn't bring much to the table, and at worst, ends up being the very identity that COD up to 4 tried to escape. A mindless shooter where 'Murica, bros, and sub-tier Micheal Bay action replace any potential the campaign could've had to make this one of the best trilogies in gaming.
It's a sad life playing COD for the campaign.
I really enjoyed Blops 1 and 2)
