Call of Duty is one of the most renowned first-person shooter video game franchises published by Activision, released back in 2003. The franchise has sold over 400 million copies throughout the years and the latest entry released is Call of Duty: Vanguard in 2021, with tepid sales that were one of the worst for the series since the launch of Modern Warfare 14 years ago. Call of Duty: Vanguard comes after the successful Cold War and Warzone and has many references to older Call Of Duty games. But, in the newer games, Activision is now building a sort-of universe for its games which gives rise to different connections across game titles and builds sales figures along with fulfilling the demands of fans wanting interrelatedness between characters and storylines.
Call of Duty: Vanguard significantly strikes a connection with Black Ops and Modern Warfare in numerous ways. Firstly, Taskforce 141(also known as “The One-Four-One”) is a multinational special operations unit that consists of members from Britain, Australia, America, Canada, and other countries. The members of “The One-Four-One” serve as the protagonists of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with the main objective of eliminating Vladimir Makarov, who is a known Russian ultranationalist. However, the task force’s demise takes place when its then captain, General Shephard, betrays the force. Now, the initial task force, Task Force One, is created in the Vanguard series and the story carries integral elements revolving around the same.
Task Force 141 And Inclusion Of WW2 In Shared Universe
The Task Force Vanguard, which is also known as Task Force One is the first military task force featured in Call of Duty: Vanguard. It was formed by Carver Butcher to foil “project phoenix”, a project led by Herman Freisinger, who is an avenger of Hitler’s death. He acts to strengthen the remaining Nazi forces and continue the war following the Battle of Berlin.
The four Special Forces characters of Call of Duty: Vanguard are based on real individuals who fought during World War 2. Arthur Kingsley is the leader of the Special Forces unit, a British Paratrooper, and part of the 9th Parachute Battalion. Lt. Polina Petrova is from the Soviet Union, part of the 138th Rifle Division. The third member of the Special Forces Division is Captain Wade Jackson, who is part of Scouting Squadron Six. The last of the Special Forces is Riggs is part of the 20th Battalion, from Australia, which fights in North Africa.
Actor Russell Richardson, who portrayed the role of Marcus Howard in Call of Duty: WW2 has also made his way into Call of Duty: Vanguard, playing the character of Lewis Howard. In the Call of Duty: Vanguard mission Numa Numa Trail, Lewis Howard mentions he has a "brother in Europe," this is a reference to Marcus Howard from Call of Duty: WW2. Another interesting fact about the character of Marcus Howard is that he was originally named Cormack, as a possible reference to the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare character of the same name, who was also voiced by Russell Richardson.
Many fans had expected a return of Captain Price in Call of Duty: Vanguard due to the teasing of Task Force Vanguard, obviously it's not possible for modern-era Price to be present in the WW2 game but die-hard fans of Call of Duty remember a Captain Price, who was an integral part of Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2 games. This Price is not the same as the current one, but their features are quite identical. However, after the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard, fans expecting the WW2 version of Captain Price were disappointed.
Throwback To World War 2 And Black Ops
One of the most significant links between Black Ops and Vanguard was revealed in a trailer before the release of Vanguard, which is when Adler, who is a deuteragonist to the antagonist (player-determined). He is a CIA agent charged with stopping the mysterious Soviet agent with an alias name of Perseus. Adler is often described as an American monster with a dark charisma. Adler and his team meet Butcher, he was first introduced in Call of Duty: WW2 and returned as the founder of Task Force Vanguard. In addition to this, Carver Butcher also makes an appearance in Call of Duty: Warzone where he serves as the announcer for all Vanguard operators.
The noticeable thing here is that it is unlike the last generation of Call of Duty games, the original Modern Warfare and Black Ops. Infinity Ward and Treyarch developed those games separately, and there was no visible connection between the two Call of Duty subsidiaries. One of the reasons behind this change could be that Activision has moved towards a more inclusive approach. This combined approach has had a major impact on the sales of the game. Activision has thus integrated the fanbase to sell games from various studios with much less effort.
Vanguard's primary dish, its multiplayer, puts probably the best ascribes of Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War's serious web-based contributions inside a WW2 setting. With a greater amount of accentuation on destructible conditions, the expansion of pacing channels, and a more receptive, focal center-like plan for Zombies mode, there's enough here to settle on the most recent Call of Duty online experience feel new. The prestige rewards also strike a resemblance between Call of Duty: Vanguard, Black Ops, and Modern Warfare as players receive complete military ranks ranging from 1-55 to start a new Prestige journey. The new Prestige levels can be unlocked across all the above-mentioned game variants and in Warzone as well. This integration of different Call of Duty games has been extremely successful according to the sales figures with Activision wooing fans of different franchises and gaining high sales with positive reactions around these changes from fans as well.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is now available to play on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.