united offensive

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18. Call of Duty: Black Ops III – 2015

At this point in time Call of Duty had already gone way off the deep end and the futuristic warfare and yearly releases were becoming a joke. Black Ops III has the absolute worst campaign in the entire series and the multiplayer is a joke. While zombies are quite enjoyable, it’s not enough to justify a purchase. The AI is insanely stupid, there’s zero challenge, and the environments, story, characters, and weapons are all generic, boring, and poorly designed. The cinematic moments are gone, the maps are stupidly generic, and it feels so bloated and on life support.

Best Version: PC

17. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – 2011

The last entry in the Modern Warfare timeline was a huge disappointment. The campaign was a boring generic slog, the multiplayer had lame maps, and it didn’t distance itself enough from the last two games. It was the same weapons, the same type of maps, menus, and multiplayer setup. There just wasn’t enough here to make the series stand out anymore and this marked the beginning of a steep decline for the series. While it’s playable, it’s not fun or memorable at all.

Best Version: PC

16. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory – 2007

While enjoyable for sure, the game is very rough around the edges and was released during the end of the tiring World War II craze that ran for over 10 years. Everyone was tired of it, Modern Warfare was about to come out, and the PSP wasn’t a great system for shooting games. It was a very generic and forgettable Call of Duty experience and wasted the portable opportunity. At least it had some fun online multiplayer but was short-lived.

15. Call of Duty: Black Ops II – 2012

Black Ops II dropped the ball for this new timeline. The first game was amazing with great cinematic moments, fun multiplayer maps, and a whole new Vietnam War feeling to it, but Black Ops II tried to shoehorn a silly story into generic gameplay and some very boring multiplayer maps. It was a huge disappointing mess and marked the end of this timeline. It’s playable, but there’s no redeeming value to this game that makes it stand out.

Best Version: Wii U

14. Call of Duty: Finest Hour – 2004

The very first console Call of Duty game. I remember getting this for Christmas in 2004 and was so incredibly excited. Console gamers could finally play Call of Duty, however, Finest Hour was far from the series’s finest moment. There were huge technical problems, the game felt like a step back for the series, and the campaign was generic and forgettable. It at least had some fun online multiplayer, but it was a good effort.

Best Version: Xbox

13. Call of Duty 3 – 2006

A surprising console-only release, Call of Duty 3 was the third game in the original timeline and was better than most people expected. While it didn’t look that great it played fairly well, felt like classic Call of Duty, and was fast-paced and fun. It was very forgettable, however, and was at the tail end of the WWII craze that everyone wanted to die. There was something strange about this game as it felt dated, yet somehow still cinematic and fun, and had decent multiplayer as well.

Best Version: Xbox 360

12. Call of Duty 2: Big Red One – 2005

Riding on the financial success of Finest Hour, Big Red One turned out to be a much better game, yet didn’t get as much attention. It had a cinematic and well-thought-out campaign and was much more enjoyable this time around.

Best Version: Xbox

11. Call of Duty: Ghosts – 2013

Ghosts was a more boots-on-ground return to the series and felt a little closer to the original Modern Warfare series, but was too little too late. The additions of canine partners and some great cinematic moments just weren’t enough, including the first game in the next-generation cycle of consoles. The multiplayer was decent, but it felt like it was stuck in limbo and trying to be two different games at once.

Best Version: PC

10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – 2014

Advanced Warfare tried pushing big-name actors to sell copies, and Advanced Warfare had some awesome cinematic moments, but the story and characters were garbage, and the multiplayer was extremely unbalanced due to the jetpacks and weird futuristic gameplay. It looked really good, as it used a brand new engine for the series, but it was just too weird and too much of a departure from what fans loved.

Best Version: PC

9. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – 2016

Infinite Warfare has received more flack than any other game in the series, but it’s not the worst. For a series receiving so much resistance and backlash, it did some different stuff in the campaign that was quite interesting. Some of the characters were actually quite interesting and I cared about them a little which was odd for the series. The multiplayer was a generic feeling, as usual, but the campaign was a nice change of pace and the experimentation was a breath of fresh air for the series.

Best Version: PC

8. Call of Duty – 2003

I never got a chance to play this until much later after release, but in 2003 this game was a graphical powerhouse, extremely cinematic, and set the standard for historic shooters. The campaign felt realistic, varied, and had some memorable moments. It was later released on consoles but remained exclusive to PC for nearly a decade. It gave PC gamers a proud reason to be so as this game would have crippled consoles back in the day.

Best Version: Xbox 360

7. Call of Duty 2 – 2005

Being a port for Xbox 360 from a 2-year-old game was risky, but this game helped sell Xbox 360s and looked fantastic on the system. On PC, as it was exclusive for, was a great sequel to an already great game. It pushed hardware to its limits, had some fun exciting cinematic moments, and was decent multiplayer. It took everything everyone liked from the first game and expanded upon it, but it was a little more forgettable this time around.

Best Version: Xbox 360

6. Call of Duty: United Offensive – 2004

United Offensive is one of the best games in the original WWII storyline as it was intense, extremely cinematic, felt varied, and kept you on your seat. I played the campaign straight through and I usually don’t do that in this franchise. The game had an incredibly cinematic and tense campaign, probably one of the best in the entire series, and was highly overlooked. Everyone was gearing up for CoD 2 and United Offensive was sort of mulled over, sadly it was never ported to consoles.

5. Call of Duty: World at War – 2008

World at War was a call to long-time fans and something to really look forward to. They made a huge risk by bringing you back to WWII, in the Japanese theater, and somehow creating one of the best games in the entire series. It was really looked over and a lot of fans never played this because of the WWII roots, but the campaign is spectacular and had some awesome moments as well as weapons and beautiful locales.

Best Version: PC

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops – 2010

Black Ops was the one and only good game in that timeline. The campaign was exciting, cinematic, had a crazy story and characters, and the multiplayer had some fantastic maps and great new era weapons. The brand new Zombies mode pretty much kickstarted a whole new series in the timeline and became the most popular multiplayer mode in the entire series. It’s seriously the last amazing game in the series and playing this reminds us why.

Best Version: Xbox 360

3. Call of Duty: WWII – 2017

Another great risk, and desperate attempt to get people back into the series, the game followed Battlefield’s step and went back to its roots. WWII was a fantastic attempt at everything from a beautiful new next-generation engine, cinematic gameplay, and interesting characters. While the campaign lost steam partway through, it’s more enjoyable than most of the games in the series and reminds us what Activision can do when they are actually inspired and put some thought and love into a game.

Best Version: PC

2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – 2007

The game that really started it all. It revolutionized first-person shooters on consoles as well as multiplayer that almost every military shooter has copied since. The careful detail to level design, cinematic moments, characters, and pacing was something Infinity Ward was masters at. The multiplayer is also something everyone has copied for the last 10 years and it’s clear why. The maps are perfectly designed, memorable, and a blast to play.

Best Version: PC

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 2009

Why is this the best in the series? It took everything that made CoD4 amazing and stacked on top of that, plus the series hasn’t done something like that since. It’s sad to see a series lose steam too fast, but MW2 took risks and controversy proudly and even made some of the best multiplayer maps ever created in a game. It was perfect with well-balanced weapons, a fun and fast-paced campaign, and a multiplayer mode that hasn’t been as good since.

Best Version: Xbox 360

History of History: World War II Shooters: Call of Duty Series

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/27/2013

Posted in: Blogs, History of History: World War II. Tagged: big red one, call of duty, finest hour, history, Nintendo, playstation, playstation 3, ps2, ps3, psp, roads to victory, Sony, united offensive, world war ii, wwii, xbox, Xbox 360. Leave a comment

From the late 90s to the late 00s we were bombarded by the game after game reenacting World War II in various ways. From heavy hitters like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor to simulators like Silent Hunter and Microsoft Combat Simulator. There was even a slew of strategy games like Hearts of Iron and Company of Heroes. Not all of these games were good, in fact, a majority of them were very bad. Towards the mid-2000’s everyone was tired of the WWII genre yet they still kept coming. The Medal of Honor series fell flat early on starting with Rising Sun, Call of Duty kept making the same game over and over again. It became deja vu when it was the same game with just better graphics, sound, and which series could push the dating consoles the most. I want to give you a bit of history about these games of history starting with the shooters. There were many of them, but what about the bad ones too? Were the little guys any good? Could they stand up to Call of Duty and Medal of Honor?

Call of Duty

Release Date: 10/29/03 — PC

GameRankings: PC: 91%

PS3: 78%

Xbox 360: 72%

Sales: Unknown

Almost 2 years after Medal of Honor: Allied Assault blew PC gamers away, Call of Duty came out. A lot of people were weary because the WWII onslaught was already in full force. What could Call of Duty do that Medal of Honor couldn’t? It pushed PCs to their limits at the time and delivered a fully cinematic experience that Allied Assault didn’t quite bring. It was a fantastic game with solid mechanics and played through some of the most memorable moments of the war. This was a game that started a revolution in the WWII series and would go on to be one of the most hated series in gaming history. In 2009 an HD remake was made for PS3 and Xbox 360 but received lukewarm reception because the game just didn’t age well.

Call of Duty: United Offensive

Release Date: 9/14/04 — PC

GameRankings: PC: 86%

Sales: Unknown

After PC gamers heard that the next game in the series is going to be for consoles only they were furious. However, anger resided when the expansion was slated just a few months before the next release in the series. United Offensive was fantastic, probably even better than the original. Following Paratroopers this time as well as some highly cinematic events, United Offensive was solid and spectacular. While Medal of Honor was starting its quick descent into mediocrity Call of Duty was still holding strong. United Offensive remains one of my favorite Call of Duty games.

Call of Duty: Finest Hour

Release Date: 11/16/04 — Xbox, PS2, NGC

GameRankings: PS2: 77%

NGC: 75%

Xbox: 73%

Sales:

PS2: 2,890,000

Xbox: 1,210,000

NGC: 40,000

Finest Hour wasn’t Call of Duty 2 but was a highly anticipated spin-off until the sequel came. I remember being very excited about this because I didn’t have a PC that could run Call of Duty at the time. I remember watching all the preview videos on the OPM demo disc every month. Then I finally got it for Christmas that year, it was one of the most memorable World War II shooters I ever played. My only issue was that the grenades bounced around like rubber balls and the physics were awful, but it looked damn good. The game was highly cinematic and I had a blast and spent countless hours in the multiplayer. While this was the first Call of Duty game I played, critics were slamming the game for being another WWII shooter (which it was) and had technical issues. With that aside, it’s still worth a playthrough and is very fun.

Call of Duty

Release Date: 11/23/04 — N-Gage

GameRankings: NGE: 67%

Sales: <10,000

While Finest Hour was at the top of sales charts, Activision thought it would be cute to help support the hot new phone: The N-Gage. This was more of a toned-down shooter and phones really weren’t that powerful back then. Java games on phones were the hot new thing. Porting the original PC game to the N-Gage was a huge mistake and suffered many technical issues that were expected. The game looked good for the N-Gage but suffered from draw distance issues and the character moved too fast. With that aside, it shows that games just can’t be dumbed down this much.

Call of Duty 2

Release Date: 10/25/05 — PC

GameRankings: PC: 87%

Sales: Unknown

Here it is! Even though everyone was sick of World War II shooters by now and Medal of Honor kept digging a deeper grave, Call of Duty 2 was a must-have for PC owners. It was a new benchmark game that sold graphics cards and pushed hardware to its limits. It had high-resolution textures and great lighting effects, but could it stand up to the last game? Not really. It turned out to just be more of the same and lacked the cinematic moments of the first game. It didn’t do anything different at all but did show us some new sides of World War II that other shooters didn’t touch. It did have a strong multiplayer following for a few years until it died after everyone finally got tired of the genre.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One

Release Date: 11/1/05 — PS2, Xbox, NGC

GameRankings: PS2, Xbox: 79%

NGC: 78%

Sales:

PS2: 2,670,000

Xbox: 1,120,000

NGC: 330,000

With the next generation about to kick off with the Xbox 360, previous generation consoles were concerned about the Call of Duty series and how long it would last on these consoles. With just Finest Hour console owners were given a side game of Call of Duty 2 which was highly anticipated for Xbox 360 and was just released for PC. Big Red One was really fun but was given criticism for being so short and having mediocre multiplayer. I remember playing this and enjoying the large variety of missions and weapons, but you could beat it in about 5 hours. This would actually be the last Call of Duty to grace the GameCube due to Nintendo’s abandonment.

Call of Duty 2

Release Date: 11/17/05 — Xbox 360

GameRankings: Xbox 360: 89%

Sales: 1,830,000

While the Call of Duty releases bombarded the holidays of 2005 Call of Duty 2 was one of the most highly anticipated shooters of the year for future Xbox 360 owners. It was one of the best launch titles for the system and garnered higher praise than its PC counterpart. It went on to sell millions and nearly every 360 owners had a copy. The only issue was that the game reduced multiplayer in half down to 8 players, but was still fun. The graphics were intact and looked just as good as the PC version.

Call of Duty 3

Release Date: 11/7/06 — PS3, X360, Wii, Xbox, PS2

GameRankinsg: Xbox, PS2, X360: 82%

PS3: 81%

Wii: 69%

Sales:

X360: 2,620,000

Wii: 2,180,000

PS3: 1,390,000

PS2: 1,070,000

Xbox: <10,000

Call of Duty 3, is the sequel no one asked for. By the time the end of 2006 rolled around everyone just wanted WWII to die already. Call of Duty 2 was fine and dandy, but Activision wanted one more hoopla for next-gen consoles and, surprisingly, PS2-era consoles. It pushed previous consoles to their limits and was praised for being a solid shooter. The next-gen versions were fantastic and featured amazing visuals. I remember playing this and being blown away by the rain effects and how great the textures looked. It looked way better than Call of Duty 2 even did on PC. This also pissed PC fans off because they never got to see Call of Duty 3, but they didn’t really care. Despite all the criticism, the game was still solid and had really fun multiplayer. Call of Duty’s sales were weird with this being the best-selling game in the series so far at almost 8 million copies. The push of the next-generation consoles helped and surprisingly the Wii version was the second best selling.

Call of Duty: Roads to Victory

Release Date: 3/13/07 — PSP

GameRankings: PSP: 64%

Sales: 2,060,000

The PSP was going strong in 2007 but still hadn’t received a Call of Duty game. nearly 3 years after the handheld’s release Roads to Victory comes out which was a modification of Call of Duty 3. Being released on its own, and near the tail end of the WWII Call of Duty run, it didn’t have anything left to offer. Roads to Victory was mauled by game sites claiming it was too short, was the same thing yet again, and was way too short. It also suffered technical issues but had some really fun multiplayer. I personally enjoyed the game when it came out because FPS games on the PSP are scarce and 99% of them aren’t very good (Coded Arms). Roads to Victory is worth a look at if you are curious about this entry on PSP. The game sold surprisingly well and was a huge success on PSP despite the poor reviews. However, it didn’t quite sell as well as Medal of Honor Heroes.

Call of Duty: World at War

Release Date: 11/10/2008 — PC, X360, PS3, Wii, DS, PS2

GameRankings: PS3, X360: 85%

PC: 84%

Wii: 83%

DS: 77%

PS2: 67%

Sales:

X360: 6,930,000

PS3: 5,000,000

Wii: 1,870,000

PS2: 1,720,000

DS: 840,000

PC: 80,000

Activision had a lot of guts doing this. The World War II shooters were finally phased out, Medal of Honor became a laughing stock, and Call of Duty had several good entries even late in the genre’s life cycle. Here comes Treyarch digging the genre up again, but to everyone’s surprise, it actually does something different. Building off the success of the Modern Warfare series, Treyarch takes you to the frontlines in Japan. This was a theatre of the war that was never really touched. The engine was based on the Modern Warfare one so long gone was the old Call of Duty engine. The graphics were fantastic and the multiplayer was addictive. People welcomed this older timer with a warm embrace, but no one else followed suit, no one had the guts. World at War was very cinematic and highly enjoyable. People who hate the genre should actually give this one a spin. Surprisingly, the series was still on PS2 (deemed Final Fronts) even in late 2008, however it was considered nearly unplayable, was extremely ugly, and was just no fun at all. World at War was the best-selling game in the WWII series and the best-selling WWII game of all time at 16 million copies. The game sold surprisingly well on PS2 for being the worst version of them all, and did well on DS as well with almost a million copies sold. It did the worst on PC.

Call of Duty Classic

Release Date: 12/3/2009

GameRankings: PS3: 78%

X360: 72%

Sales: Unknown

While World at War signified the end of the series’ World War II games, Call of Duty Classic tried to reignite that flame, maybe to test the waters for a whole new game? Classic had many technical issues and the first game just doesn’t hold up like it used to. Everyone was so sick of the series by this point that a remake of the first game was not a smart move. World War II shooters are a touchy subject with gamers, and unless you do something like World at War they won’t care what highly acclaimed classic your remake. A WWII shooter is a WWII shooter.

Call of Duty’s WWII series has sold over 35 million copies making it the best-selling WWII series of all time. It sold a few million more than Medal of Honor thanks to World at War making up nearly half the sales. Despite having fewer games they were of higher quality and that’s what gamers wanted. 6 long years of constant Call of Duty releases with 2005 being the strongest. It had some highs and lows but was also the most successful World War II series ever made. Its rival Medal of Honor didn’t do so well despite running for a longer streak, however, no one knows if Call of Duty will return to World War II again, hopefully not.

Call of Duty: United Offensive – 7 Years Later

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 09/12/2011

Posted in: Mac, PC Reviews. Tagged: activision, call of duty, expansion, fps, multiplayer, pc, shooter, steam, united offensive, wwii. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Gray Matter

Release Date: 9/14/2004

Also Available On

Another World War II game, but wait this came out 7 years ago during the sub-genres peak. Why should I play this? It’s just another Call of Duty. Before you go making drastic decisions Call of Duty started out as a WWII series way before the Modern Warfare explosion. Call of Duty was known for its great cinematic atmosphere, tight gunplay, and excellent storytelling. United Offensive is the expansion of the award-winning debut game in the series. Offensive is just superb and even holds up on all levels today.

The game has three campaigns that run between America, England, and Russia. You play as three different faceless soldiers, but the environment is the main character here. Each campaign has an amazing opening scene as well as some memorable moments like the escape on a Jeep in the American campaign, the gripping plane scene in the England campaign, and the tank scenes in the Russian campaign. There is never a dull moment in Offensive and everything from sound, great voice acting, and realistic-sounding war effects bring together a riveting experience that I truly have not found in any other WWII game (even in later CoD games).

Instead of trying to pack every scenario into one game (including weapons), we get some long battles that feel challenging, but not terribly hard. Some scenes can last up to 20 minutes (like the plane scene in the British campaign), but it holds you out just enough to make you feel the terror of war and a little helpless. Some battles require waiting a certain amount of time before reinforcements arrive and then a wonderful orchestral soundtrack picks up and makes it that much more intense.

The gunplay is solid and feels great with favorite weapons like the MP40, M1 Garand, MP44, and the Springfield sniper rifle. We’ve used the weapons dozens of times but each weapon feels different which includes power, accuracy, and mechanics of the gun. I feel the grenades still have no weight, but there is a variety of them. Each level and scenario feel different and gripping, but you never get attached to any characters because the environment is the main attraction.

Multiplayer would keep you coming back, but due to the age, there is no one playing online ever so you have to stick to LAN. War games just aren’t like they used to be, and United Offensive shows how to put the feeling of war as well as realistic feeling weapons. United Offensive stands up graphically as well thanks to tiny details. The only thing dated is the low poly models, low-resolution textures up close, and some static lighting. Most of the time you won’t notice because you’re sucked into the experience too much. If a game from 2004 can suck you in after playing modern war games then that really shows how much a game stands up.