The Best Call of Duty Games

Ranking the franchise.

In 10 years the Call of Duty franchise has taken us behind-enemy-lines in World War II, into space, and nearly everywhere in between. But which of the 10 mainline Call of Duty fizzled, and which best delivered on the series' promise of fun, fast-paced, cinematic FPS action? We put the heads of our resident Call of Duty experts together to find out. This is IGN's rankings of the 10 core Call of Duty titles, as chosen by their overall quality and current stature.
Special note: For clarity we have included only the 10 main-line Call of Duty games. The various handheld spin-offs and offshoots all have their merits, but to keep this ranking focused, they were not eligible for inclusion.

Call of Duty 3 is the only mainline Call of Duty that wasn't released on PC. This might explain why the game felt so much more simplistic compared to the rest of the series. There's no kill cam. There's no real radar or minimap. The campaign features far too many scripted quick-time events. Some gamers enjoy 3's diverse campaign, but as the third CoD story focused on WWII, it just doesn't feel fresh or feature any real stand-out moments. Call of Duty 3 is just... forgettable. - Justin Davis

Kiefer Sutherland's star power couldn't save Treyarch from its next-gen sophomore misstep. World at War was certainly superior to Call of Duty 3, but in the wake of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, returning to World War II felt almost like cowardice, a fear to follow up on the terrific innovation of Infinity Ward's genre-changing shooter. World at War had its moments, for sure, but in the grand scheme of the franchise, it felt safe and weak at the same time. But it was the last time Treyarch would let us down. - Mitch Dyer

Part 3 is the least memorable of the Modern Warfare sub-series. It suffocated somewhat under the weight of its own spectacle and the self-imposed need to outdo itself. Bigger isn’t always better. There were still memorable sequences, like protecting the Russian president aboard his private jet as it encounters moments of weightlessness or chasing terrorists on the London Underground. But MW3's absurdity began to outweigh the thrills. Meanwhile multiplayer didn’t add anything truly new to the experience – it was about refinement, not reinvention. - Daniel Krupa

Though it's ten years old, Infinity Ward's first Call of Duty set the model the series has followed ever since. First was its emphasis on the soldier's experience as part of a squad, which was in stark contrast to the lone-wolf approach of most military shooters. It also established the "you are there" experiences through the trigger-driven set pieces that have defined every subsequent game in the series. While it was soon eclipsed by its sequels, particularly those that moved beyond the World War 2 setting, the original set a direction that is still being followed today. - Steve Butts

Black Ops moved Call of Duty into the Cold War, and in doing so, paved the way for some of the best storytelling the series has seen yet. Alex Mason’s CIA missions through Cuba, Soviet Russia, and Vietnam in search of an experimental weapon feel like a gritty take on a classic Bond story. Aside from a stellar single-player campaign, Black Ops might be best known for its Zombies mode, and evolution of the cooperative multiplayer suite that was introduced in World at War. Players found themselves assuming the roles of JFK, Nixon, Castro, and Robert McNamara, the four of whom were tasked with protecting The Pentagon from an undead hoard. Zombies was just insane enough to become a multiplayer classic. Black Ops felt fresh and risky. - Marty Sliva

Modern Warfare 2 followed very closely in the footsteps of its predecessor. Call of Duty has always been known for its spectacular action, and Modern Warfare 2 began to ignore the demands of realism with increasingly preposterous scenarios, whether it was leaping across a frozen ravine or escaping from a crumbling gulag. Multiplayer was made more accessible, with Copycat Deathstreaks and a wealth of play and clan customisation. Despite all this, the game’s most remembered for one mission: No Russian. It makes you complicit in a horrific massacre – you’re not forced to shoot but you are compelled to watch. It was at odds with most of the game’s gung-ho, adventurous tone. In this context, it was too graphic, too sensational, and has overshadowed the game ever since. - Daniel Krupa

Call of Duty: Ghosts drops you behind enemy lines as a special force operative. In between the regular ground battles Ghosts tries to tell a more character-based story, but it doesn’t quite gel with the crazy action (space fights!). But let's be honest - you don't play Ghosts for the single player. You play it for multiplayer. By taming down the killstreaks, Ghosts smartly brings the focus back to gun fights, and it totally works. Some gamers feel that Call of Duty doesn't change enough from game to game, but Ghosts' rock-solid multiplayer is proof that a few small tweaks to a winning formula can keep us coming back for round after round. - Alfredo Diaz

When Call of Duty 2 landed in the Fall of 2005, the WWII shooter genre was fully saturated, and seemingly headed for irrelevance. Despite the fatigue setting in with shooter fans, CoD 2 convinced armchair soldiers to load up their M1 Garands one more time. Where Medal of Honor had approached the period as a gung-ho, US-centric shooting gallery, Call of Duty 2 treated it with a respect that was far more fitting, even as it tweaked its mechanics to provide a faster, more fluid shooter experience. Intense, well-designed line battles encouraged intelligent use of cover and flanking maneuvers, and were punctuated – never dominated – by scripted sequences that drove home the horrors faced by not only US forces, but the Russian and British contingents as well. This would be the last time such well-tuned shooting would be married to a somber tone before the franchise took a turn into less thoughtful, more action-movie oriented waters. - Vince Ingenito

Black Ops II truly feels like a kitchen sink Call of Duty. Alongside an evolution of the stellar multiplayer portion is Tranzit, a story-based take on Zombies mode that provided a wealth of intense survival moments and some Cabin in the Woods-inspired mysteries. Black Ops II also continued the story of the original, this time focusing on both Alex Mason during the Cold War as well as his son David in the year 2025. The story featured branching pathways and true moments of choice that resulted in players experiencing different endings, a first for the series. Virtually every element of Black Ops II's expanded scope fully delivers - from the twist-filled campaign to the clever and complete zombies experience.- Marty Sliva

Infinity Ward quite literally changed everything about shooters with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Its multiplayer suite expanded on Call of Duty 2's marvelous potential, achieving new and unexpected heights with player progression and mid-game variables. Perks, Kill Streaks, and the custom class system's RPG elements ended up inside almost every multiplayer shooter that followed Modern Warfare. On the campaign side, its blockbuster movie production values and intelligent and tense mission design proved there was plenty left for FPSs to explore, and struck a perfect balance between spectacle and playability.