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[Rymuth]

Modern Warfare or Blops 1


AVOID BLOPS3!

 

[Waaghals]

Modern Warfare 2.


Sure, the story doesn't make any sense, but it is varied, has mostly great missions and a kick ass soundtrack.

MW1 has several very memorable moments (Pripyat etc.) but if I have to actually play the game, I'd go for MW2 any day.

 

[GlamFM]

COD4

Black Ops 1

 

[Jangowuzhere]

Modern Warfare 2

In terms of cinematic scripted campaigns, this is probably the best ever released.

It also has the best soundtrack I've ever heard in an action game. Seriously, every track in that game is pretty damn memorable.

 

[Keasar]

Call of Duty 4, Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty 2 I would say are the best campaigns of the series. As someone who have played most games exclusively singleplayer (at least after MW2's messy-as-fuck multiplayer) those are the games I've enjoyed the most in the sense of best campaign structures, story and action.

Runner up is Modern Warfare 2, but that is mostly for the American missions in the US. Was pretty unique for the time and quite fun to fight in the suburban streets of America. The rest was meh.

 

[sammyCYBORG]

Modern Warfare 2
Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 2

All the others range from good to shit, but aren't really worth ranking. The original IW work was the best.

 

[DrD]

My top 3 would be:

Modern Warfare
2
United Offensive

I remember being so hyped for CoD 4. The jump to modern warfare after being WWII for awhile, it being on a new generation of consoles, that awesome trailer.

 

[Makoto-Yuki]

modern warfare 1 + 2. there is nothing memorable about the other games.

 

[Drippy]

World at War and Black Ops 1 are my favourite ones.

 

[RealityCheque]

4. By a distance.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Blops 2 had a lot going for it: the branching narrative and failable objectives helped make the story feel like it had some stakes, it had a strong villain (relative to the rest of the series), it was the first game to go with a semi-futuristic look which felt fresh at the time, the island-state level was really cool, etc.

 

[HBx2000]

The Call of Duty sale on Steam has me interested in returning to the series. I've played Call of Duty 2, 3, Modern Warfare, and Modern Warfare 2.

I'm looking at World at War as I've heard it's one of the better ones, but if I could only get one other what should it be?

Easy, get Black Ops. You get to fight in the Cold War, Vietnam War and WO II. Basically, this game has it all. Fantastic story you'll definitely wanna replay. It's also some kind of sequel to World at War.

Think of it as a movie, World at War is The Terminator and Black Ops is Terminator 2. Yeah, I think it is that good.

 

[Sojgat]

AW.

First post does it again.

 

[TGO]

The ones not made by Treyarch.
MW
MW2
AW
Ghosts
MW3

 

[cooldawn]

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

It's the only 3rd party campaign I've played more than once. Utterly brilliant and I'll be able to play it again, after many years, very soon.

Awesome.

 

[Keasar]

The Call of Duty sale on Steam has me interested in returning to the series. I've played Call of Duty 2, 3, Modern Warfare, and Modern Warfare 2.

I'm looking at World at War as I've heard it's one of the better ones, but if I could only get one other what should it be?

Advanced Warfare.

Unlike Treyarch's messy and giddy "VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE VIOLENCE" stories because holy shit are they fucking loving that part of warfare, Sledgehammer's campaign in Advanced Warfare actually told a story about being careful regarding giving military power to private people with their own personal agendas and goals having direct control of. It harkens back to Infinity Ward's own games before Modern Warfare 2 and 3 where things went downhill with regards to warfare where earlier games constantly reminded you about the horrors of them, later games almost revere war.

So I would skip World at War (which has almost a 1940's psychotic propaganda depiction of Japanese troops and just murder fun time of everyone) and the entire Black Ops series (MORE CASUAL VIOLENCE AND MURDER CAUSE BOY IS IT FUN, Hey! Wanna put a piece of glass in a man's mouth and beat him to get information? You get to do the fun part of it and we won't remind you or punish you for it ever! ). Treyarch are generally awful with their stories and depictions of war.

Sledgehammer were the first to create a CoD game since Call of Duty 4 that actually took a cautionary look at warfare. It still lets you have fun with guns and all, but it goes nowhere near as getting giddy with it as Treyarch.

tldr; Call of Duty 4 and Advanced Warfare at the better campaigns you haven't played. Avoid Treyarch's World at War and Blops series cause they are generally trash.

 

[MrAlwaysRight]

I think all of them are great in the Summer Blockbuster action movie type great, but Black Ops 3 was fantastic in 4 player online co-op, had great fun playing through that with friends.

The only one I've not finished is Black Ops campaign, done 2 and 3, but the first one just kinda dragged at one of those infinite spawns and instant grenade death corridors.

 

[Always-honest]

Modern? COD4
WWII? COD2
Futuristic? AW

exactly this.

 

[ShutterMunster]

The only correct answer is Modern Warfare...

But S/O to Advance Warfare. That game could have easily been my favorite COD since MW if the MP wasn't so meh...

 

[Kill3r7]

MW>COD>COD2

 

[Zombine]

World at War through Black Ops 2 was a roller coaster of a trilogy. I enjoyed watching the Mason family through the years and all of the psychological stuff. Black Ops 3 was a raging piece of shit and only related by name. Can't believe Treyarch dropped the ball that hard.

 

[SilentRob]

MW2! The story did not let up and kept me engaged.

Pictured: One of the most flimsy excuses for a story setup and all around embarassing attempts at being edgy in the history of video games. Man, that was terrible.

This is my list, from best to worst:

1. CoD 2
2. Modern Warfare
3. Advanced Warfare
4. Black Ops
5. CoD
7. World At War
...
Everything Else
...
99. Ghosts
100. Black Ops 3

 

[kromeo]

World at war is let down by the grenade deaths every 5 seconds. I'd say MW but it's probably just because it was the first one I played

 

[jsnepo]

Modern Warfare 3

I'd say Black Ops but I fucking hate the infinite enemy respawns.

 

[Emperor Bohe]

World at War through Black Ops 2 was a roller coaster of a trilogy. I enjoyed watching the Mason family through the years and all of the psychological stuff. Black Ops 3 was a raging piece of shit and only related by name. Can't believe Treyarch dropped the ball that hard.

Yep. World at War / Black Ops 1 / Black Ops II is the real trilogy considering that all three of them chronologically relate to each other. Black Ops III barely has any connections to those 3 games. Man, what a shitty campaign.


Anyways, my campaign rankings:
CoD4
MW2
Black Ops 1
Black Ops 2
Advanced Warfare
CoD1
World at War
CoD2
MW3
Ghosts
CoD3
Black Ops 3
(I havent played United Offensive, Finest Hour or Big Red One yet)

Keep in mind that my rankings would be completely different for MP, so I dunno if that's a factor in your purchase

 

[Tinúviel]

Story:
MW
MW2
MW3
AW

Set Piece:
MW2
AW
MW3
MW (But MW has single best mission.)

If one of them deserves to become movie its MW2 and it's soundtracks.

 

[StrongBelwas]

In my opinion the OG CoD was best.

CoD4 is probably the next best one. The rest are kind of meh.

 

[ResoRai]

Either MW2 or Black ops 2 for me.

Probably give it to Bo2. Branching story lines and optional missions (that could also affect the story) were really cool.
Also:

Really good villain.

 

[Already Torn]

Replaying Modern Warfare's campaign is like rewatching Rocky after seeing all of the Rocky sequels: it's sort of jarring to remember how damn good and well put together it is compared to everything that came after.

 

[Brerlappin]

Gameplaywise they're all fairly poor to be honest. But I can appreciate them from a dumbass popcorn action film perspective. I legitimately enjoyed MW1, Black Ops 1, and Kevin Spacey in AW. Blops 2 had it's moments too.

 

[Gorillaz]

Advanced Warfare was actually surprisingly good for a post MW2 story.

MW2 had good ideas mixed with unbelievable story beats. No Russian honestly doesn't age well when you look back at the entire plot.

 

[HyperCroutons]

COD 2

COD 4 MW

Both have some epic set pieces that I still remember.

 

[shinobi602]

Call of Duty 4 and the original Black Ops are my favorite.

 

[phil_t98]

have to say just do the Mw trilogy and you be pretty happy.

 

[Frostman]

have to say just do the Mw trilogy and you be pretty happy.

Have to agree with this, all of the MW campaigns are solid IMO.

BLOPS 1 was great as well, but 2 and 3 were both weak in comparison.

 

[DISSESHOWEDO]

Nothin till this day beats the mission in Prypyat! Heck I'll be buying IW just so i can replay that awesome mission, just hope that i will be able to sell IW and play MW without the disc! Want to put those money into Bishock and Tomb Raider.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Call of Duty. Like, the first one.

 

[etta]

Modern Warfare 1 and 2.

 

[heringer]

I'm also considering buying one. I'm between BLOPS2 and Advanced Warfare.

Do people still play them online (PC)?

 

[Dysun]

Most of them have good campaigns outside of 3 and Ghosts.

My favorites are probably MW, BO1, and AW

 

[zsynqx]

Call of Duty 4 was mind blowing when it came out. Definitely my favourite

I have a fondness for Black Ops 1 as well. It was dumb and over the top in the best kind of way.

 

[NexusGamer]

story wise, Black Ops 1

Gameplay wise, MW i guess

 

[Fury451]

Modern Warfare and World at War

 

[heringer]

I'm also considering buying one. I'm between BLOPS2 and Advanced Warfare.

Do people still play them online (PC)?

Since I'm at it, a few more questions:

The last COD I played was Black Ops. One thing I liked about it was how colorfull and full of particles it was, it made Modern Warfare 2 look like a bit sterile. How does the latest games compare?

I also do remember the AI being atrocious in these games, is that still the case with the more recent iterations?

 

[Arkanius]

Call of Duty 4 and Black Ops 1

I loved Black Ops 1 despite the whole ridiculous "AMERICA FUCK YEAH" ending.

 

[Kalentan]

Unabashed jingoism is the bane of this series, thanks to titles like MW2 and especially MW3 it's what CoD is known as to some people. Also shit like the POV sequence of torture in Black Ops where you put glass in the guys mouth and punch him is just a sign of Treyarch's excess.

MW and AW are the closest things CoD will ever have to a story with military type people doing their jobs without taking pleasure or nauseating patriotism in it. Also they have bad guys with clear cut motivations and minimal nonsense. Black Ops 2 thought that's what they were going for with Menendez but kinda fucked it up.

https://youtu.be/AvN51r1o1Nc?t=6466

I love the section on AW in Noah Caldwell-Gervais CoD campaign look over. Really explains it well!

 

[WadiumArcadium]

COD4. Some really memorable levels - All Ghillied Up, Shock and Awe etc.

 

[antitrop]

https://youtu.be/AvN51r1o1Nc?t=6466

I love the section on AW in Noah Caldwell-Gervais CoD campaign look over. Really explains it well!

This video is so good. Anyone that has 2 hours free and won't mind him slandering World at War should watch it all.

 

[Yawnier]

For me it's a tie between MW1 and World at War. The Black Ops 1 campaign would also be up there.

 

[QuantumSquid]

I'm also considering buying one. I'm between BLOPS2 and Advanced Warfare.

Do people still play them online (PC)?

Get ready to get matchmade into a hacked lobby and be perma-banned from the game with a nice red message on your Steam profile saying "1 game ban on record" if you play any older CoD game online. They're all hacked to shit, and you can easily get banned just by being placed into a lobby with them.