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    Call of Duty

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    Originally starting as a World War II-themed first-person shooter, the Call of Duty franchise now incorporates other time periods and conflicts and can be found on virtually every modern platform.

    Never played a Call of Duty game, where to start?

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    Helluva

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    #1  Edited By Helluva

    I've never played a CoD game. Any recommendations for what games to start with?

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    JJOR64

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    Seems like the newest one is well liked. Not a bad place to start.

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    noizy

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    #3  Edited By noizy

    Probably wait for Black Ops 3. Black Ops 2 is still the most popular [steamcharts], and it came out before Ghost and Advanced Warfare. That's an endorsement in my book. If you don't want to wait, I'd try to get a hold of a cheap key for BLOPS2 (or used disc or whatever your platform is).

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    frymillstrum

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    @jjor64: Not really because it would be hard to work back from the fastest games in the series to the more slower paced movement of all the other games.

    I'd say Black Ops 1 then MW1 the Black Ops 2 and whatever after that. And ignore ghosts if at all possible.

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    Oscar__Explosion

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    Wait for Black Ops 3 in November.

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    BabyChooChoo

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    cat_herder

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    The original Modern Warfare is one of my favourite games of last generation, I would recommend it over any CoD game made after.

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    BigBoss1911

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    #8  Edited By BigBoss1911

    There's a couple great ones like Call of Duty 2, Modern Warfare 1 and 2, World at War, Big Red One. They haven't been worth a shit since Black Ops honestly however. I have absolutely zerohype for Black Ops 3.

    Also I might add those games I listed have great campaigns, not just talking about multiplayer. Call of Duty 2 is easily my favorite campaign wise, followed by Modern Warfare 1.

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    newmoneytrash

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    #9  Edited By newmoneytrash

    Anything from CoD 4 onwards, I'd say. My personal favourite is the first Black Ops, but Advanced Warfare is also pretty great. If you're just looking for multiplayer I would say Advanced Warfare of Black Ops II.

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    etpc

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    COD2, COD4 and the first black ops are kind of the best ones imo but YMMV

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    BradBrains

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    advanced warfare is a lot of fun. the most fun since cod 4

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    Justin258

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    So how many people are still playing Modern Warfare 1? Does that game still have a sizable enough player base that isn't full of hackers?

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    456nto

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    @believer258: I'd assume that the multiplayer is entirely swamped with hackers at this point. Even when Modern Warfare 2 was newly released, there was a sizeable community of hackers and you'd run into them every few games. I never played Call of Duty after MW2 so I'm not sure if this was improved in later iterations of the franchise.

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    kasaioni

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    I would say CoD4, but I wonder how fun that game would be for people who don't have any 2007 nostalgia of it. Maybe just go with Advanced Warfare or wait for Blops III.

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    AngryHobo321

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    While Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is my personal favorite, I imagine the online community had moved on to other games aside from hackers and modders. I would recommend you wait on Black Ops 3 as the online community for these games tends to migrate every year to the next game. Or, as others have stated, pick up Black Ops 2.

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    mike

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    @helluva: I edited your thread title to be more descriptive - from the rules:

    1. Vague thread titles: The reader should be able to tell what your topic is about without clicking on it. Topics with intentionally vague or misleading titles are subject to editing or deletion.

    Also moved this to the Call of Duty franchise page.

    Thanks

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    deactivated-58513b27f2513

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    I would start with Call of Duty 4.

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    Marz

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    if by chance you just wanna roll through at single player campaign then Call of Duty 1 was pretty fun (probably a bit dated). If you just want mp, may as well just go with the flow where the current playerbase is, which is pretty much the latest installment to the series.

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    LocoRocker

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    Call of Duty 2 and then Call of Duty 4 followed by Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops 1 and 2

    I would recommend these for the quality of their campaigns and the mechanics they introduce from one game to another.

    That way the older games in the series probably won't feel as dated.

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    gunninkr

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    #20  Edited By gunninkr

    Call of Duty 2 is the best by far.

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    ThePhantomnaut

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    #21  Edited By ThePhantomnaut

    I would start off with the original Call of Duty and the United Offensive expansion. Compared to the modern iterations, the campaigns for the original iteration are a disconnecting yet different beast. To a certain degree I would recommend playing the first part of Medal of Honor Allied Assault.

    Call of Duty 2's campaign is relatively similar so I wouldn't recommend it but I would just go straight to Modern Warfare after.

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    monkeyking1969

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    #22  Edited By monkeyking1969

    Well do you want to play the campaign or the multiplayer?

    If you want to run through a great campaign there is nothing better than Call of Duty 4.

    If you want to do multiplayer, it is always best to go with the most recent one.

    I think most people would agree CoD 4: Modern Warfare is a great story and a interesting campaign that is still well worth playing. I think the second best story is CoD: BLOPs #1 Both of those exist in separate universes and are not attached story wise. All the Modern Warfares are in the same universe and all the Black Ops are in a another. I guess Ghosts in in Modern Warfare universe...but that story stinks! Advanced Warfare (the mosts recent one) is in its own universe as well or it own time shard.

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    FacelessVixen

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    Intentional necro since I too have never played CoD and I'm looking for an entry point. But there are some specific things that I'm looking for.

    I want something in a sci-fi setting more than a "modern" or historical setting, so none of the World War II games, Modern Warfare, Ghosts, or Black Ops at the moment. (Yes, I know that Black Ops III is futeristic, but I'm not one of those monsters who starts a trilogy with the third entry.) Piloting a mech suit, or being a partial mech suit is pretty cool. I'm down big action set pieces and a dumb plot that are directed with the most amount of Michael Bay. And I don't care about multiplayer.

    So, it seems like I'm basically asking which is the best fit for me: Advanced Warfare or Infinite Warfare?

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    arkham_91

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    @facelessryan: When you text back someone 5 years later like only 5 minutes have passed lol

    To your question though, Advanced Warfare is a better game than Infinite but from what your looking for I think you’ll like Infinite more. Secret real answer is Titanfall 2 though

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    Justin258

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    #26  Edited By Justin258

    @facelessryan said:

    Intentional necro since I too have never played CoD and I'm looking for an entry point. But there are some specific things that I'm looking for.

    I want something in a sci-fi setting more than a "modern" or historical setting, so none of the World War II games, Modern Warfare, Ghosts, or Black Ops at the moment. (Yes, I know that Black Ops III is futeristic, but I'm not one of those monsters who starts a trilogy with the third entry.) Piloting a mech suit, or being a partial mech suit is pretty cool. I'm down big action set pieces and a dumb plot that are directed with the most amount of Michael Bay. And I don't care about multiplayer.

    So, it seems like I'm basically asking which is the best fit for me: Advanced Warfare or Infinite Warfare?

    The game you're looking for is Titanfall 2. I know it's not a Call of Duty game, but I can't imagine someone looking for your criteria being disappointed in TF2. EDIT: Titanfall 1 and 2 were helmed by the people who started Call of Duty in the first place, so the feel is similar. And Titanfall 1 was multiplayer only - the first (and sadly only) Titanfall campaign is in 2). /EDIT

    For anyone looking to get into Call of Duty campaigns, Modern Warfare 1 is hands-down the best one and a campaign I'd recommend to this day.

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    lapsariangiraff

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    @facelessryan: Will echo the Titanfall recommendations -- Advanced Warfare was a fun, dumb ride with cool toys, though I'm concerned how that campaign has aged. Looks great, awesome setpieces, but some of the encounter design is... not great.

    Some bits of it, Sledgehammer made, and other bits of it, Raven made. And the Raven bits were the good ones :P

    Infinite Warfare is just straight up one of the best campaigns in Call of Duty in recent memory though. If you're only playing the singleplayer, getting IW on the cheap would be a good call. There are side missions, lots of interesting twists on the gameplay in the mission design.

    To say something that other people haven't already said, I know you don't want to start in the middle of a trilogy, but I would make an argument for Black Ops 2. Black Ops 2 goes hard. While 3 gets so far removed with its sci-fi and concept it kind of goes up its own rear, Black Ops 2 has some pretty cool future toys (the second mission starts with you Mission Impossible 4-ing up a cliff with future gloves, swinging from bit to bit, only to wingsuit into the enemy base you were scouting) while also having honest-to-god player choice, multiple endings, and not just in the obvious ways ("Press X to Kill / Press A to Spare")! Sometimes there are mission objectives you can fail that lead to new outcomes, sometimes you'll miss intelligence by not doing a side objective. And there's one really crazy, lore-breaking thing you can do that doesn't pay off until the end of the game.

    Only downside is those damn RTS missions. It's not hard, but it's also best played by taking control of individual units and shooting guys, at which point you're playing a multiplayer bot match as part of the campaign. Ugh.

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    glots

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    I remember basically nothing of Advanced Warfare, except that one thing everyone else in the world also does and Kevin Spacey. While I can't say that I remember Infinite Warfare all that well either, I do at least recall liking it and being disappointed that it ended so quickly.

    So yes, probably play Infinite Warfare out of those two (or Titanfall 2).

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    bobafettjm

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    @facelessryan: I would also say Titanfall 2 is what you are looking for here. If you want those things in a Call of Duty game I would go 100% with Infinite Warfare. That is probably my favorite campaign in the series (although it had the WORST multiplayer).

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    JJBSterling

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    From what's been brought up already, speaking only for the singleplayer experience, it's Titanfall 2>Infinite Warfare>Advanced Warfare.

    As mentioned also, Black Ops 2 is a semi-futuristic setting and is one of the best whole packages for a CoD because the multiplayer is easily a top 3 for the franchise. The campaign is also excellent but for playing in 2021 it might be a little dated. If that doesn't bother you then I'd recommend that too.

    Don't play Black Ops 3. It has one of my personal favourite multiplayer of the franchise but the campaign is completely lackluster.

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    Humanity

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    @jjbsterling: Another recommendation for Infinite Warfare as a phenomenal single player CoD campaign. Boots on the ground my ass, that game got so much hate for being arguably the most interesting that Call of Duty has ever been. Absolutely loved the setting and the near future tech feel of it all. There are even some genuinely good story moments.

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    infantpipoc

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    #32  Edited By infantpipoc

    Guess this is my chance to say that Infinite Warfare for its campaign. Just beat Star Wars Battlefront 2's campaign because the game is free on Epic. All the way through, I was just thinking that COD IW is the better military shooter set in space, zero g stealth and what not.

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    FacelessVixen

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    I had a feeling that Titanfall 2 would be mentioned. It isn't a part of Humble's sale like to CoD series is at the moment, but I got it for an agreeable price along with Infinite Warfare, and I have a pretty good idea of how I'll navigate though CoD if Infinite scratches my itch for schlocky military shooters.

    Thanks duders.

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