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Over more than twenty years, Activision's staple franchise, Call of Duty , has deployed players into numerous warzones, maps, and spaceships, constructing intricate campaigns and enjoyable multiplayer experiences that have become iconic in the FPS genre. Taking inspiration from predecessors that dominated video games in the 90s, Call of Duty is easily one of the most recognizable games in the world. 


RELATED: Every Game In The Call Of Duty Series Ranked On Campaign Length (& How Many Hours They Take) 


Original creators, Infinity Ward crafted nine of the twenty main series entries, occasionally with the help of other studios such as Sledgehammer Games. There is no doubt that Infinity Ward is the finest of the CoD developers, but for every triumphant victory , there has also been an outing that received more mixed reviews. 


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Ghosts is one of the weakest entries in the Call of Duty franchise, primarily because it offers very little innovation. Built from the same components as Modern Warfare 3 , Ghosts strings together a series of mediocre maps and an uninspired campaign about the consequences of destruction in the Middle East. 


It didn't help that the multiplayer was a hollowed-out re-hash of more celebrated editions, and Ghosts suffered immensely from huge maps that felt empty when playing in 6v6 game modes. Extinction Mode was a small gem among the average of Ghosts , but it wasn't gripping enough to warrant appraisal of the game. 


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The unassuming average gamer might assume that Infinite Warfare is the weakest CoD entry, given its extremely poor initial reception. Upon the game's release, however, it wasn't as bad as most people thought; the problem was that it was, overall, an incredibly average entry. 


Infinite Warfare needed to be better than average. A space-faring entry that departed from the realism of previous entries and an intriguing antagonist in the form of Kit Harrington's Salen Kotch should have welcomed a new era of futuristic CoD games. Instead, it ended any chance of it being explored again. 


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The game that started it all. Infinity Ward's 2003 debut has all the drawbacks and errors that gamers would expect of a two-decade-old game, but being the first entry, it still offered a rigid framework for successors to build upon. 


Squad-based gameplay that revolutionized the FPS genre is a standout feature of the original entry and helped to set it apart from Medal of Honor and other war-themed contemporaries. Although it's gradually been outclassed by other entries in the series, Call of Duty is still a great game. 


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It might be the weakest of the three original Modern Warfare games, but Modern Warfare 3 is still one of the strongest CoD games around. It offers a satisfying conclusion to the classic Modern Warfare story and, although lacking in innovation, does focus on what the series had done best up until that point. 


RELATED: Best Call Of Duty Games By Sledgehammer Games, Ranked 


Multiplayer was also remade, creating a more challenging experience that was an acquired taste for Modern Warfare 2 veterans. Combined with the campaign, Modern Warfare 3 was a triumph for Infinity Ward, boosting the popularity of CoD whilst simultaneously delivering a satisfying video game. 


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Call of Duty 2 took and improved on virtually every element of the original game. A launch title for the Xbox 360, CoD 2 introduced the legendary multiplayer mode that would become a beloved component of the series whilst adding new functions, such as the regenerating health system. 


The multiplayer component's importance cannot be underscored, however; it was a gigantic expansion of the relatively limited arrangement in the first Call of Duty , and as a result, saw swarms of players joining and hosting in its 64-player maps. Call of Duty 2 might not be the titanic multiplayer experience it once was, but many look back on it with fondness. 


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It might not hit the heights of the original Modern Warfare 2 , but Infinity Ward's 2022 reboot still offers many excellent features that veteran Call of Duty fans will enjoy. The diversity of the missions, ranging from silent stealth activities to blockbuster-sized carnage , creates a modern entry that feels worthy of the name. 


Modern Warfare 2 's Warzone is also a strong addition to the Call of Duty multiplayer roster, standing strongly aside from the main campaign. It might be a little bloated with microtransactions, but Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone are both worthwhile games for any Call of Duty fan. 


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Whilst it was tentatively met upon the first announcement, Infinity Ward's 2019 reboot of the Modern Warfare franchise proved to be a great Call of Duty game with more than enough content to warrant its creation. 


RELATED: Call Of Duty Games With Underappreciated Single-Player Campaigns 


The decision to ditch the season pass in favor of a more user-friendly 'season' system meant that Infinity Ward steered somewhat clear of the ill-received microtransactions that populate modern games. It might not hit the highs of the original Modern Warfare franchise, but the 2019 reboot does improve over some of the series' least popular mechanics. 


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Modern Warfare 2 had serious expectations on launch. It had to build on and adapt elements from the critically acclaimed first Modern Warfare game whilst also being able to stand alone as a worthy entry into the overarching Call of Duty series. In both respects, it soared. 


Multiplayer was expanded, the campaign was incredible, and new technology allowed incredible set-pieces to dominate the once close-quartered nature of Call of Duty . There are flaws in the game, however, primarily relating to the game's length and the infamous airport sequence, but overall, Modern Warfare 2 is one of the greatest [[https://fpstipscentral.xyz/|FPS updates]] games in the modern era. 


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Simply put, Call of Duty 4 is one of the best games of all time. It is easily the best Call of Duty game, surpassing the highs of Modern Warfare 2 and the Black Ops spin-off to create a refreshing take on the gradually declining historical FPS war games of the early 2000s. 


It might not have changed many features from previous games, but it didn't need to; Modern Warfare simply changed the setting and introduced an engaging story of speculative catastrophe to create one of the finest first-person shooters ever. 


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