When it comes to rating any franchise, especially one as large as Call of Duty, there are a lot of things to bear in mind. Gameplay, story, stability, nostalgia, the amount of content and how much it costs, etc. Plus, there are few franchises with the number of blockbuster titles that Call of Duty can boast, from its Modern Warfare series to Black Ops, to Ghosts and Infinite Warfare. So, when it comes to determining whether Modern Warfare is the best Call of Duty game, or indeed, whether it pales in comparison to past releases, it’s far from easy.
Of course, as with any ranking, there’s going to be a lot of subjective factors. However, in this article, I’m going to do my best to assess those factors to determine what really rates as the best Call of Duty; whether that’s Modern Warfare, or some previous entry in the franchise.
Call of Duty Ranked: What Reviewers and Fans Think
To start with, we can look at how Call of Duty: Modern Warfare scored among reviewers compared to past additions. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to get a similar sense from the general audience by this metric, as several of the games have been review-bombed for one reason or another on sites like Metacritic. From a purely professional basis, Modern Warfare was relatively well-received by critics. However, it’s far from being the best-reviewed in the series. On Metacritic, Modern Warfare’s average score is around 81, but many others score higher. In fact, it scores almost exactly in the middle of the franchise:
- CoD 4: Modern Warfare – Average Score 93
- CoD: Modern Warfare 2 – Average Score 91
- Call of Duty – Average Score 91
- CoD: United Offensive – Average Score 87
- CoD II – Average Score 86
- CoD: Modern Warfare Remastered – Average Score 86
- CoD: Black Ops – Average Score 84
- CoD: Black Ops 4 – Average Score 84
- CoD: World at War – Average Score 83
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Average Score 81
- CoD: Modern Warfare III – Average Score 81
- CoD: Advanced Warfare – Average Score 81
- CoD: Black Ops II – Average Score 80
- CoD: Black Ops III – Average Score 78
- CoD III – Average Score 78
- CoD: WWII – Average Score 77
- CoD: Infinite Warfare – Average Score 76
- CoD: Finest Hour – Average Score 74
- CoD: Ghosts – Average Score 73
So, by that metric alone, then of course Modern Warfare isn’t one of the best Call of Duty games of all time. It’s not even in the top 5! However, there are a few things to bear in mind here. One factor is that the opinions of reviewers and ordinary fans don’t always align. Another is that the earlier games have a tendency to be better-reviewed because they were more original in their own time. Nowadays, of course, the format of Call of Duty is very well-known (and even staid), meaning that some reviewers may mark it down for originality. However, this is something which core fans may not care as much about.
The Record of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Although it’s next to impossible to determine fan ratings for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, between unreliable metrics vulnerable to review-bombing and reactionary takes on social media, we can at least get a limited sense of fan engagement by looking at the game’s sales. In this area, Modern Warfare does perform better. The game was the most-downloaded game of 2019 on the PS4, for example, and made over $600 million in its first three days. However, it didn’t outperform some of the past entries in the series.
Modern Warfare did enjoy the biggest PC launch in Call of Duty history, as well as the biggest launch of any Call of Duty game on Xbox One or PS4. However, Activision did specify that its launch was not the largest ever on consoles in general, just the largest on the current console generation. That suggests that entries from the Xbox 360/PS3 area (or even earlier) may have outperformed Modern Warfare at launch. This would align somewhat with reviewer scores; several releases from the last console generation also rank among the top-rated entries in the franchise.
One area where Modern Warfare is standing out, beyond sales, is actually in player engagement. The average time which players have been spending playing Modern Warfare is up considerably over past releases. In its first 50 days, the game accrued more hours played than any other Call of Duty released on this console generation. (In this case, it’s unclear whether it lags behind last-gen releases, or whether Activision didn’t track such data on the older consoles.) It also scored the highest amount of average daily players, and the highest amount of average hours per player. All of this suggests that the game’s core audience is highly-engaged (a good metric for suggesting that many players rate it highly) and that Modern Warfare is perhaps the best Call of Duty game of all time.
Advancement vs. Nostalgia and Other Factors
So, now we come to the question. Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare the best Call of Duty? Ultimately, the answer may be yes and no. If the question were whether Modern Warfare is the best Call of Duty of this console generation (or even of this decade), then there’s a good argument to be made that it is. Although Black Ops 4 scored slightly higher among reviewers, Modern Warfare has sold better and kept players more engaged; all good signs that the game’s audience rates it more highly.
However, it’s clear that some of the older Call of Duty games, particularly the first two Modern Warfare titles, performed better overall. Of course, objectively-speaking, the latest Modern Warfare has more advanced controls, gameplay, and multiplayer functionality. Indeed, from a purely mechanical perspective, it might well be considered the best game. However, nostalgia plays a big role in determining players’ opinions, and may well outweigh these technical advancements among many. As such, fans who remember playing those older titles might well feel that they were actually the best Call of Duty games.
Of course, those older games were also often devoid of things like micro-transactions and other live-service elements; another factor which could influence opinions. Although Modern Warfare’s live-service model has demonstrably been good for player engagement, it does remain a divisive topic among gamers. As such, older players may well prefer the relative simplicity of those older releases too.
So, is Modern Warfare the Best Call of Duty?
At the end of the day, every fan is going to have their own opinion. Indeed, everybody has certain factors which matter more to them and less to others. Modern Warfare has unquestionably been a commercial and critical success. However, it exists in a franchise full of such success stories, and so faces a high bar. What can be said without too much controversy, I think, is that Modern Warfare is one of the best Call of Duty games that fans have gotten in quite some time; one that does perhaps hearken back to the glory days of the original Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2. Fans can only hope that Activision learns from its success when it comes to the future of the series and keeps taking the franchise in the right direction.