The presentation of COD Vanguard which took place on the sidelines of the COD Warzone event confirmed the return of the series to its most representative scenario, that of the Second World War. Let’s retrace the history of Activision’s FPS saga to discover all the other chapters with the same setting.
Since its origins, the playful and narrative path traced by Infinity Ward to shape the Call of Duty shooter experience has indelibly followed the veterans’ account of the most frightening battles fought on the western and eastern fronts of the Second World War. From the first two chapters by Infinity Ward to the experiences signed by Treyarch and Sledgehammer, here is the complete list of video games in the COD series set during the Second World War:
call of Duty
The debut title of Activision’s FPS epic was launched on October 29, 2003. Developed by Infinity Ward, the game immediately attracted the attention of fans for its cinematic approach to the story of the battles fought by infantry soldiers and by the tank pilots of the allied armies, with a focus on the stories told by British and American veterans. The great success achieved at the launch and in the following months by Call of Duty prompted Activision to actively support the title with several expansions that have expanded its authorial and playful enclosure, up to involving “non-canonical” ports like that of 2004 for the now almost forgotten Nokia N-Gage console.
Call of Duty 2
The Call of Duty sequel was released in October 2005. The title, also developed by Infinity Ward, allowed the Activision subsidiary to take advantage of the experience gained with the original chapter and the increased power of consoles like Xbox 360 to make the gaming experience even more immersive and profound. The main campaign focuses on the bloodiest battles of the Second World War to narrate the heroic deeds performed by the soldiers of the British Army, by the troops deployed in Europe by the United States and by the soldiers of the Red Army. Also in this case, the incredible commercial success of Call of Duty 2 spurred Activision to create versions for mobile phones, Pocket PCs and for the very first generation of smartphones with color monitors and advanced graphics capabilities for the following months.
Call of Duty 3
The last chapter of the original COD trilogy, published in November 2006, saw the Infinity Ward team alternate with that of Treyarch, thus giving life to a sort of “videogame relay” that will continue in the following years. Also destined to conquer the market with millions of copies sold on the most disparate platforms (but not on PC, for the first time since the beginning of the series), Call of Duty 3 has allowed players to try their hand in a series of missions of cinematographic style interpreting, from time to time, the elite soldiers of the American, Canadian, Polish and British armies, as well as the members of the French Resistance in the Pocket of Falaise after D-Day.
Call of Duty WWII
After the “classic” trilogy, the Call of Duty series left the historical setting of World War II for the next ten chapters, only to return in November 2017 with Call of Duty WWII. Released in November on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the game brings fans back to the western front to tell the deeds accomplished by a special team of the First Infantry Division, engaged in the historical events of Operation Overlord. At the helm of the title we find Sledgehammer Games, the development house to which Activision, also thanks to the success achieved internationally with the COD WWII project, will entrust for the following years the development of Call of Duty Vanguard, the game that will be available from November 5, 2021 on PC, PS4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S.