There’s no denying the fact that Call of Duty is a franchise that stands as the face of the FPS genre. Whether you absolutely love it or despite it, one can’t disagree that this franchise has remained consistently fun to jump into throughout the years while still retaining its fast-packed action, making us come back year after year to experience.
What’s interesting is that not every Call of Duty is crafted equally, with several different development teams getting their best shot at the franchise. While this formula has given us generational hits, sometimes things can get wacky for the player base. A few games in the franchise have missed the mark in the past, and caused a massive uproar in the community.
Let’s take a look at the worst of the worst when it comes to the long-running and successful Call of Duty franchise.
3. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Due to being set in the far future, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was a subject of more criticism than almost any other title in the series when it was initially revealed. The majority of the fanbase felt that the series had deviated too far from its roots with this one.
The game does lean quite hard into its sci-fi trappings. In the main campaign, you’ll face more robots than human soldiers and various futuristic weapons, but the combat still doesn’t feel like Call of Duty at the core.
What’s even worse is the game’s multiplayer. Thrust and rigs make it feel like a slightly improved Black Ops 3, which wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea to begin with.
The only saving grace for Infinite Warfare was that its most expensive versions were packed with a remastered version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. However, this remaster was also plagued with loot boxes, reselling of old expansions, and new weapons, which killed the nostalgia of the original game.
2. Call of Duty: WWII
Coming right after the phenomenal launch of Advanced Warfare, Sledgehammer Games decided to direct back to the series’ old formula with Call of Duty: WWII. Well, unlike Infinite, WWII isn’t a massive disappointment. The problem is that it’s too ambitious for its own good, which ultimately leads to its downfall.
Between the Headquarters failing to work, the brand-new “War” game being a massive bust, and the campaign just not reaching the height of previous entries, the game was plagued with various issues that restricted its incredible potential.
On top of all of this, the multiplayer mode was despised due to unbalanced weapons and constant technical issues that never received the proper fixes. It was incredible to revisit the setting of World War II, but Sledgehammer should’ve managed to nail everything it wanted to achieve.
1. Call of Duty: Ghosts
Boosting the newest generation of consoles at that time was none other than Call Of Duty: Ghosts, which was Infinity Ward’s most ambitious project after they moved on from the Modern Warfare trilogy two years prior. Everyone was excited to see what their new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles could achieve, and they unexpectedly got hit with the worst installment possible.
Ghosts simply couldn’t recapture the essence which made Infinity Ward and their classic Modern Warfare games special and unique. Its lackluster campaign was uninspiring and boring, which made the storyline fail to stand out. It felt like Infinity Ward forgot what it had learned in the past for Ghosts‘ multiplayer and made major errors by featuring poorly designed maps ruining gameplay.
The majority of the fans felt that the game hadn’t evolved on Call of Duty and couldn’t stand out from its competitors. When you add technical hiccups and outdated graphics, even on the next-gen consoles, to the mix, it makes sense why Ghosts is one of the worst-rated entries in the franchise.
What do you think is the worst Call of Duty game? Let us know in the comments below.
