Review | Call of Duty: Vanguard review: storyline, combat and sound all masterful as players take on Nazis in World War II

Released for PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PCs, Call of Duty: Vanguard is the latest instalment in the top-selling video game franchise

There are some pretty bloody battle depictions, but a “graphic content” setting can be toggled to tame down the effects

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A still from the Call of Duty: Vanguard video game, which drops players into deadly missions against the Nazis in World War II. Photo: Sledgehammer Games

Published: 9:15pm, 8 Nov 2021

Much has been made about the rich and inclusive story in this year’s edition of the popular Call of Duty video game franchise.

That may be, but Call of Duty: Vanguard, released for PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PCs wastes little time on exposition at the outset. Instead, the single-player story mode drops you right into the action of World War II.

You are part of a team of special forces soldiers trying to commandeer a German train buzzing toward Hamburg. It’s fast and frenetic fighting as you and your five teammates vault back and forth between the cars of two trains propelling ahead in parallel. You must dodge gunfire from Nazis on both rail lines and German military trucks buzzing between the set of tracks.

Your team, led by Sgt. Arthur Kingsley, a black multilingual British army officer, discovers that the Germans have some secret plan hatched, with the war winding down not in the Nazis’ favour. Their investigation leads to – semi-spoiler here – the team’s capture and sets up an intriguing story device.

Sgt. Arthur Kingsley is a black multilingual British army officer in the Call of Duty: Vanguard video game.

As the captured characters are taken in for questioning by a Nazi officer, we get each one’s backstory in flashback. This is a device that doesn’t always work in movies, books or games, but feels appropriate here.