The best Call of Duty games of all time: Every COD ranked

22. Modern Warfare II (2022)

When the original Modern Warfare 2 first dropped in 2009, it became one of the greatest COD games ever made and remains the greatest bar none in many players’ eyes. The revamped killstreak system, incredible original maps, and iconic weaponry made it a generational success.

When the classic was rebooted in 2022, Infinity Ward hoped to capture that same love and upward trajectory as before – but unfortunately, they failed miserably with 2022’s MWII.

Movement was extremely slow compared to its predecessors, which had a negative impact on Warzone. And those maps… the quality of your playground is one of the most important aspects of any first-person shooter, but these lacked flow and featured zero excitement.

For us, it’s the worst Call of Duty game of all time.

21. Call of Duty 3 (2006)

Call of Duty 3 characters aiming at building

For the first time in Call of Duty’s then-short history, Activision got it wrong. This was Treyarch’s first game in the franchise, and it failed to meet expectations. To be fair, senior producer Noah Heller claimed his team only had eight months to develop it, but we’re not handing out sympathy points on this list.

It wasn’t all terrible, with CoD 3 featuring some impressive sound design and the franchise’s first-ever version of Ranked Play, but in an age where single-player campaigns were king, Call of Duty 3 was a step back from its predecessor. Its lack of atmosphere and the mediocre storytelling were particularly disappointing, leaving it as one of the most forgettable entries to date.

20. Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013)

Ghosts was good for Search & Destroy, and Blitz was a fun new game mode that the devs should consider revisiting. Still, it just didn’t have any of qualities of the games that came before it, such as MW2 and Black Ops 2, nor did it move the needle in terms of important new features.

The killstreak system that MW2 nailed was far less exciting in Ghosts, it didn’t have the incredible map design of Black Ops 2, it didn’t even provide anything super fun such as the party games and Wager Matches from Black Ops 1.

Even worse, the color palette was bland, the meta was stale, and the gameplay overall didn’t really feel super exciting.

19. Call of Duty (2003)

The original Call of Duty kickstarted the legendary franchise over 20 years ago, going head to head with EA’s Medal of Honor. Needless to say, it won. This was in large part due to its innovative squad-based gameplay and the ability to ADS using iron sights, neither of which were standard features of the time.

These additions, as well as its diverse campaign featuring American, British, and Soviet forces, made Call of Duty a massive hit. By today’s standards, it is fairly primitive, which makes it difficult to rank ahead of the modern titles that have more to offer. Regardless, in 2003, this newcomer took FPS games to another level, and we shouldn’t forget its legacy.

18. Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021)

Call of Duty: Vanguard was always going to struggle for a variety of reasons. The setting, for one, immediately put people off: the World War II theme had already been played out far too much in Call of Duty.

Unfortunately, the maps lacked fluidity, and the destructible walls and doors meant too many open lanes and strange routes. The TTK was also far too quick, and it wasn’t anywhere near as visually appealing as some of the games that came before it.

But, to its credit, it was actually better than what most fans anticipated by the end of the year. Maps and TTK problems aside, the weapons were very good as were most of the killstreaks.

17. Infinite Warfare (2016)

CoD Infinite Warfare gunfight with lasers

The third and final jetpack game, Infinite Warfare, came at a time when players were desperate to return to boots-on-the-ground gameplay, but the development cycle had ticked on a little too long for things to change too drastically.

Infinite Warfare’s trailer became the most disliked in the history of the franchise, and players were already angry before it launched. The game had its moments, with fun gunplay and the specialist abilities making for some cracking outplay potential (running Overdrive in Uplink was about as fun as COD can get).

Not just that, but some of the maps, such as Throwback and Retaliation, were severely underrated, though it could just never crack the overall playerbase to really truly enjoy it.

16. Call of Duty: World War II (2017)

World War 2 was the first post-jetpack Call of Duty game and brought with it a mountain of expectations that it ultimately failed to live up to.

It simply wasn’t a fun game. The weapon balance was pretty poor, and the level design was uninspiring, if not downright bad. However, for many, it did bring back the nostalgic feeling of playing older Call of Duty titles. Not only that, but the COD HQ system was very enjoyable and should be replicated at some point.

To give the game its flowers, things improved greatly halfway through the year with the promotion of Aaron Halon to Studio Head. There were drastic changes to sprint out times, perks, and more to make the flow of the game significantly better, but unfortunately for many players, the damage had been done.

15. Call of Duty 2 (2005)

Call of Duty 2 was everything a sequel should be. It built on the original’s success by implementing new ideas that would become staples of the franchise. This included regenerating health, the incoming frag grenade indicator, and an overhauled HUD that told players everything they needed to know at a given moment.

It also added multiplayer for the first time, albeit only on the PC version. This was limited and didn’t have any progression, but it laid the foundations for what was to come. However, it was the campaign that really elevated this game, with it telling one of the most compelling stories we’ve seen in the franchise, telling the experience of WW2 through four different soldiers. To this day, it’s still worth playing for any fans who never got the chance.

14. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014)

To this day, some fans believe that the first of the three jetpack titles, Advanced Warfare, is a top-tier Call of Duty title.

You can see the appeal, too: the movement was fun, the guns were decent, albeit not super varied, and the competitive gameplay was extremely enjoyable.

Unfortunately, similar to Ghosts, it suffered in that it was the game that followed Black Ops 2 (after Ghosts itself, of course). And sadly, after such a fantastic offering, Advanced Warfare, ironically considering the jetpacks, felt like it brought Call of Duty back down to Earth after blasting into the stratosphere.

13. Call of Duty: World at War (2008)

Picking up where its predecessor left off, World at War was basically CoD 4 in WW2. It played similarly, looked alike, and borrowed a lot of ideas. Even though it wasn’t overly original in this regard, Treyarch’s second game was still great in its own right and made two massive changes that can’t be overlooked.

Firstly, it featured a co-op campaign, something that we’ve only seen since in Black Ops 3. More importantly, it was the first game to include Zombies, which has gone on to feature in 11 more titles. Alongside multiplayer and Warzone, this was one of the most significant innovations ever made in the series, and World at War gets the credit for adding it.

12. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)

Yes – before you send us angry messages – we’re aware of how good Warzone is. We are not counting Warzone in with Modern Warfare 2019, as the battle royale hit has taken on a huge life of its own.

If you simply look at MW2019 for what it was as a standalone title, it changed Call of Duty significantly, and not necessarily for the right reasons. TTK was abysmally fast, footstep audio made it impossible to make a sneaky play, and the decision to remove the minimap was one of the worst in COD history.

That said, even without Warzone, it did help to breathe new life into the franchise. Gameplay was faster even than during the jetpack era, and the flow of the game was such that you were almost always in an engagement, making it non-stop for whatever hours you put in. The game has developed a cult following, and many still play it to this day, so for that, it’s 12th in our list.

11. Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020)

CoD Black Ops Cold War operator in front of burning building

Black Ops Cold War immediately followed Modern Warfare 2019 and wasn’t received brilliantly by the players who had rediscovered their love of COD through that game.

It was a bit stale at times, the movement was less fluid, and it didn’t really do anything to reinvent the wheel for the FPS franchise.

However, it did feel more closely aligned to traditional Call of Duty titles than MW2019 did, making it far more of a solid and well-rounded title. With it, Treyarch took the complaints that the playerbase had of the previous title and implemented changes to immediately fix the problem.

They removed the bad from previous years and restored a style of game that fit much more in the golden years of COD than MW2019 and other games since. The pacing was readable, gunfights felt more fluid, and the minimap was back to normal. At its core, a great COD title.

10. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

The latest entry to the franchise, Black Ops 6, has been heralded as one of the greatest Call of Duty games in recent years, and for good reason. While the maps are a serious concern, the general flow of gameplay is near-flawless from Treyarch.

Omnimovement feels like a huge step forward for COD, and the gunplay feels incredibly smooth. Unfortunately, the map problem is a pretty significant one, with one pro player even telling Dexerto that it was the worst set of launch maps in COD history.

Despite all that, Black Ops 6 was voted as Dexerto’s Game of the Year in 2024, so while its still relatively early days, you know we’re really enjoying it.

9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)

COD MW3 campaign mission with Riot Shield on Resistance map

Perhaps a controversial pick, but the strengths of the second version of MW3 are very similar to Cold War’s a few years prior. Possibly due to it remastering every original MW2 map, it felt more closely aligned with a traditional Call of Duty game, except with the improved movement system introduced in MW2019.

On top of that, devs Sledgehammer Games provided what is probably the best run of post-launch content COD has ever had, with a whole slew of fresh maps, weapons, and more to keep things entertaining right through to the very end. It may not earn too many plaudits, but MW3 is quietly one of the best Call of Duty games we’ve played in the last decade.

8. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2019)

After the disappointing World War II year, Black Ops 4 felt like a great middle ground between the frenetic advanced movement of the jetpack years and the boots-on-the-ground gameplay players had been clamoring for to return.

While some players took umbrage with the Specialists system, BO4 delivered a fast-paced Call of Duty game that felt fresh, had good maps, and a nicely balanced meta where just about any playstyle could thrive. A seriously underrated gem.

7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

There’s a serious argument to be made that CoD 4 is the most influential Call of Duty game ever made. Its campaign was solid and started a memorable trilogy, but the multiplayer is where this game innovated in ways no one could have imagined. It genuinely changed the landscape of FPS games forever.

This entry saw the introduction of leveling, prestige, killstreaks, loadouts. Even its setting was revolutionary, as its competitors were mostly WW2 shooters, so an FPS set in the modern era was a big deal. It later got remastered, with Activision needing a big hitter to sell Infinite Warfare after a rough marketing campaign. A decade after its launch, CoD 4’s legacy meant fans were still willing to pay, showing just how legendary this game was.

6. Call of Duty: Warzone (2020)

Call of Duty’s second attempt at battle royale, Warzone launched in March 2020 and immediately flew. While 2018’s Blackout was fun, Warzone was free to play and delivered a superior BR experience on just about every metric.

For many, Warzone was what helped get them back into COD, and the regular slew of changes from one game to the next have kept it fresh, fun, and one of the biggest battle royale games in the world.

5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)

The original Modern Warfare 3 sometimes flies under the radar because it dropped slap bang in the middle of the very best COD games ever released, but there’s no denying that it is right up there when we speak of the best.

It followed Modern Warfare 2 fairly closely, despite many big names from Infinity Ward dipping to work on Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall, Apex Legends), with some all-time classic maps and really fun general gameplay.

It felt like what players wanted from a Modern Warfare game, rounding out the original trilogy with fun new features like the Spec Ops mode and Specialist perks killstreaks.

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)

A game that had a lot to live up to when it followed the original Modern Warfare 2 – however, the first iteration of the Black Ops series had some of the greatest maps and guns in the history of the franchise.

Nuketown and Firing Range are all-timers; the guns felt fantastic, and the introduction of Party Games like Gun Game and One in the Chamber really brought the fun to COD.

The campaign and Zombies were both enjoyable, too, and while it didn’t exactly get its plaudits at the time, it really did hold its own in what is considered the Golden Era of Call of Duty.

3. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (2015)

Undoubtedly the best of the three jetpack games, Black Ops 3 managed to break into the upper echelon of elite COD games with a genuinely fantastic experience.

The movement was far smoother than in Advanced Warfare and the maps flowed brilliantly, with inventive routes and a decent spread of action-packed areas mixed with quieter areas to recoup and replan.

The Dark Matter camo – the first of its kind – was revolutionary for players who wanted a real grind in COD beyond just leveling up and prestiging, and the introduction of Prestige Master made it difficult to put down.

2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

The debate over which of the two best COD games deserves the number one spot may never die down, but for us, Modern Warfare 2 just comes second.

It blew up Call of Duty beyond what COD 4 had just two years prior, introduced the killstreak system that thrives to this day, and even gave us the Tactical Nuke, something that only the best players dreamed of earning back in the day.

That’s without even mentioning the maps – arguably the best launch maps COD has ever had – or the iconic weapons like the Intervention or UMP45, which players still get excited to see return to this day.

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012)

It’s hard to argue against Black Ops 2 being the best Call of Duty game – it served just about every community and playstyle with perfection.

The competitive scene blew up, sniping blew up, content creators blew up, all off the back of what is arguably a perfect COD.

Maps like Raid, Standoff, and Slums are all-time greats, and have been frequently remastered for that reason. Weapons such as the Ballista, DSR, and M8A1 were iconic but not completely running the meta. Everything felt like it ran smoothly between multiplayer, Zombies and the campaign too.

Treyarch provided a blueprint for what every COD title should strive to do going forward, and while there have been some greats since, not one has truly lived up to the expectations it set. No matter which game you personally think is the best, you would struggle to argue against anyone putting BO2 at the top of their lists.

Every Call of Duty game has its own legion of diehard fans that hold it in their heart as their favorites, all the way from Black Ops 2 to Warzone to Infinite Warfare (maybe).

Such is the beauty of the franchise that no matter which is your favorite, it has provided decades worth of memories, and will continue to for years more.

If you’re looking for more great games like Call of Duty that you can play now, why not check out our list of the best multiplayer games on Game Pass?