Call of Duty: Vanguard has been out for over a month now, ensuring that most gamers that care about the franchise’s campaigns have had time to complete the latest singleplayer adventure. The campaign tells the story of the titular Vanguard, with the group being comprised of some very different allied soldiers and serving as the birth of special forces. During the campaign, players see them fight and defeat Hermann Friesinger, a rogue Nazi attempting to start the Fourth Reich.
Throughout the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign, players learn the backstory of each member of the Vanguard group, with a vast majority of the missions serving as flashbacks to their roles during World War 2. This is a unique storytelling approach for the series; while Call of Duty has jumped between playable characters many times, the fact that most of the campaign is comprised of flashbacks is an interesting change. However, while this approach allows for several well-written characters, its main downside is that gamers do not see them together for very long.
Why The Call of Duty: Vanguard Characters Deserve More Time
Call of Duty: Vanguard’s campaign centers around four memorable characters, and players see each of their backstories. Wade is a cocky American pilot who’s good flying helped make him a hero during the battle of Midway, while Lucas is an Australian demolitions expert that was treated poorly by the British military. Arthur Kingsley is a well-educated leader, while Polina Petrova is a Russian sniper who lost both her father and brother when the Germans invaded Stalingrad.
Each of these characters gets a few missions to shine, all of which are memorable. Players get to see Arthur Kingsley’s transformation from just another soldier into a brilliant leader, while Polina Petrova’s tragic story is made visible in her two missions. Wade learns a valuable lesson about respect, while Lucas proves that it is a bad idea to judge a book by its cover. As a result of these mini storylines, each character feels well developed.
This is a big deal for the Call of Duty series, as the campaigns have always struggled to deliver more than one or two memorable characters. Usually, players only grow attached to the character they are playing as, with the other popular character being a Call of Duty icon like Frank Woods or Captain Price. In Call of Duty: Vanguard, though, there are four main characters, each with distinct personalities and unique backstories that make them feel human.
This is a major strength for this particular Call of Duty game, and it is a good lesson for future campaigns as well. However, one big downside is that only the first and last missions take place in present day - meaning that players only have two missions where the whole group is working together in playable sequences. While this would be perfectly fine if Call of Duty: Vanguard sequels were confirmed to be in the works, it is currently unclear if the four protagonists will be making a return in a future game.
The final mission of Call of Duty: Vanguard’s campaign is easily the most memorable, as it shows the strengths of bringing four unique characters together. Players switch between each of them in this final mission, using Arthur’s command ability before scaling walls as Polina. They then move over to Lucas to blow up some enemy artillery before switching back to Wade to clear out a room using his Focus ability. All these switches have smooth transitions that make the campaign feel like a movie, and it would be a lot of fun to have a full campaign where players are constantly swapping between the four heroes to complete tasks with their special abilities.
Players simply do not get enough of the main characters together during the five-hour story, which is understandable since the campaign fleshes each of them out to make their final team-up more impactful. However, now that they are together, future Call of Duty games need to make the most out of all this setup instead of wasting it. Gamers have a reason to be attached to Polina, Arthur, and the others, so now they will inevitably want to see them interact more in future projects. Call of Duty: Vanguard feels like the beginning of a series, so Activision and Sledgehammer need to make that a reality.
The Interesting Setup From Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Ending
The interesting thing about a Call of Duty: Vanguard sequel is that there are several directions it could go in. After killing Friesinger and hijacking his plane, the Vanguard soldiers find several important Nazi documents that could hint at the sequel’s plot. The one Arthur ultimately settles on is a V2 rocket facility, something that would lead to a more grounded sequel where the remnants of the Nazi party is fought once again. However, the other two boxes are far more intriguing.
The first mentions Project Nova, a clear nod to the Call of Duty Black Ops universe. As shown by Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s inclusion of Imran Zakhaev, Activision is working to create a shared universe between Black Ops and Modern Warfare. Now, it seems like Call of Duty: Vanguard is part of that universe, as the deadly Nova 6 gas exists in the Vanguard timeline. A sequel could see Nova 6 being a focus once again, and characters like Viktor Reznov could join the Vanguard team to help cripple the project before it goes any further.
Even more interesting is Project Aether, a clear reference to the Call of Duty Zombies storyline. The Dark Aether is the alternate dimension that is crucial to the Zombies narrative, and the project’s name implies that the Nazis were looking into the concept – something proven to be true via Projekt Endstation. With a standalone Call of Duty Zombies game leaked, players could be looking at their four playable characters in Polina, Wade, Lucas, and Arthur. A proper, Zombies-focused campaign could feature these characters in starring roles, and they could then be playable in new round-based survival maps. No matter what direction Sledgehammer Games and Activision go in, though, these characters deserve to return one day.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.