Call of Duty Tier List: Ranking All COD Games [2024]

Call of Duty video game has been a prominent name in the first-person shooter genre since 2003. The franchise took off first with the single-player story narrative setting and later evolved after introducing robust multiplayer and zombie mode to the later installments in the franchise. Branching out into multiple developing teams, not all Call of Duty games received the attention.

All COD Games Comparison

With the tier rankings out of the way, let’s quickly check the overview of all COD Games:

SS Tier

We have mentioned only the best Call of Duty game that we think is still unrivaled. We find the audio, video, and overall gameplay value of this COD game a classic success that was too good for its time and still holds a decent value in the long-running series.

More From Exputer: Apex Legends Tier List

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is by far the best COD game in the long-running franchise. Arguably, many fans of the COD series to date love this installment the most. We think the story, audio, and overall gameplay feel were some of the many reasons Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 ranks as a top-tier COD game.

Overall, for an FPS video game that focused on small details in audio, video, and more, COD MW2 was an example of how shooter games should be. That is why many COD veterans to date praise COD MW2 as the greatest of all time.

S-Tier

All Call of Duty games that we have mentioned in our S-tier are near perfection. Even if these video game installments managed to tick all boxes and delivered top-notch quality. Still, we think they missed the mark by a small margin and have a flaw or two attached to them.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2

We think Call of Duty Black Ops 2 deserves a spot in our S-rank Call of Duty tier list. There were many good things COD BO2 introduced to the franchise, and regardless of the many wrongs that came with the game, the overall feel of the installment was solid.

Overall, if you sideline the few negative aspects, Call of Duty Black Ops 2 was an excellent FPS game of its time.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

The campaign, story narrative, and how each mission spills out into the next one are a few reasons we think Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is famously known. COD MW3 is the epic conclusion of the Modern Warfare series of COD games, and it closes off the series in a great manner.

To our surprise, some of the veteran COD players think COD MW3 was even a better game than COD M2. However, we think the campaign and story could have been presented a tad bit better.x

A-Tier

The list of Call of Duty games we have included in our A-tier has by far the most memorable campaign in the series. Many players to date remember the moments they played during various missions of each COD game listed below. It is because these Call of Duty video games brilliantly capture the significance of moments, which also left a great impact on how the story of these video games unfolded.

A Similar Read: Paladins Tier List 

Call of Duty 2

Call of Duty 2 is by far the most memorable COD game based on the core events of World War 2. The story or campaign mode established a world war vibe that was not a common portrayal in video games. The campaign mode of Call of Duty 2 feels a little less modern because it does not really capture the cinematic vibe.

However, even by today’s standards, COD 2 still captured a decent campaign mode, which heavily focused on the story, excellent control mechanisms, and other little details.

Call of Duty World At War

Campaign and story narrative has always been a strong suit for Call of Duty games. However, the plot sometimes becomes predictable and linear. You will always get a sense of playing some covert mission. This feeling was completely challenged and changed when Call of Duty World At War was released.

This installment in the series takes away the control from you, giving you a sense that you are in a war and will not always have control of the situation.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the first COD game that introduced a big change in how health recovery worked. This installment in the franchise tried to introduce many new things to the table, and for better or worse, it did manage to re-invent a system that COD players appreciated.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the original game that revamped many little details about COD video games in general. It was a perfect game for its time that had little to no reason to be made into a remastered version.

However, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, released in 2019, made it clear that OG COD 4: MW, this gem of a video game, needed a beautiful and eye-candy version for today’s COD players. By all means, it lives up to its roots, keeping focus on close combat warfare, gun sounds, and story.

Related: Call of Duty Modern Warfare Trophies

Call of Duty Black Ops

The espionage, portrayal of interesting combat and conflict in COD games has never been perfect before the Call of Duty Black Ops release. This COD has by far the best Cold War story, and mission settings, and the overall mysteries the game throws while playing the campaign are genius.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War

After COD MW was Remastered, the release of Call of Duty Cold War was a must-needed experience. Like most great COD games, this installment in the franchise gave due attention to its campaign and mission design. The overall ambiance of warfare in the Cold War era did take the warfare style back to the early 1980s; nevertheless, the scripted portrayal of characters and their involvement in the story reflects the developers’ efforts.

Similar Read: Black Ops Cold War Settings

B-Tier

The Call of Duty video games that we have listed in our B-tier stand in the middle ground. They are not the best in the lot but certainly not the worst. Even if you play these games today, some of you will have mixed feelings after playing their campaign modes. To us, the story mode of these games was not over the top ones, not underwhelming. Still, we think these COD video games are pretty decent.

Call of Duty Vanguard

Call of Duty Vanguard takes back the story setting to the World War 2 era. The major selling point for COD Vanguard, as advertised, was to play with different characters with intriguing backstories and backgrounds. That did sound like a great idea in theory; however, when Call of Duty Vanguard was released, its campaign mode did not live up to expectations.

We think it did not even come close to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 if the World War 2 setting is kept as a common factor.

Related: COD Vanguard Settings

Call of Duty Black Ops 3

Even though Call of Duty Black Ops 3 is a successor to COD BO2, the installment did not offer a better story than its predecessor. Regardless, many new changes and additions made COD Black Ops 3 one of the greatest COD video games to date.

Call of Duty 3

Call of Duty 3, the successor to COD 2, which Infinity Ward developed, did not reach the level of fame it was supposed to. The campaign of this COD installment was also set in the World War 2 era, which was a great setting. However, Call of Duty 3, developed by Treyarch, did a rushed development of the game. COD 3 was released almost eight months after its prequel.

Call of Duty World War II

After a very long time, the Call of Duty series of video games made a return to World War 2 roots by releasing Call of Duty World War II. The game’s campaign mode was decent; not the best in the lot and certainly not the worst. However, a tad bit of issues held back the story mode from becoming one of the best in the Call of Duty video game series.

C-Tier

The Call of Duty games we have included in our C-tier has an underwhelming story. Their campaign is not the worst among all COD games, but it certainly is not the most enjoyable. We think the main reason for a least impressive campaign was because their predecessor had a complex campaign, which developers wanted to correct, and they made easy-to-understand, short, but impactful campaigns.

Call of Duty Infinite Warfare

Call of Duty Infinite Warfare has an average campaign. However, the story had some memorable characters, making COD Infinite Warfare a decent video game to play. The game’s storytelling reflects that Infinity Ward made an effort to bring life to the game’s character.

However, for a next-generation Call of Duty video game, there was not much COD Infinite Warfare offered as it should have.

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare featured a fast-paced combat system, which was a tad new addition to its predecessors. Introducing new tech-based equipment was also a welcome addition to Call of Duty Advanced Warfare.

However, there were a few problems with the game’s campaign mode that, if it had been handled in a better way, the game could have left an impactful story mode.

D-Tier

We have ranked only one Call of Duty video game in the D-tier because, to us, this is the only COD game that failed to tick all boxes when it comes to delivering a compelling or engaging campaign.

Call of Duty Ghosts

We think the campaign length of Call of Duty Ghosts was very short, or it looked short when we compared it to the games that were released before Ghosts. Secondly, the veteran mode of COD Ghost’s campaign also did not offer the level of challenge previous COD games threw players in. It felt more like a breeze than a challenge to complete the game’s campaign mode in veteran difficulty.

Call of Duty Tier List Criteria

The ranking of all the COD video games that we have done is entirely based on the single-player campaign only. Our tier list does not take into account the multiplayer, zombies, or other co-op modes into consideration. Not all COD games have zombies, co-op, or multiplayer modes; hence if we were to rank them in our tier list, these installments would have a downside.

Plus, Call of Duty games have been known for interesting storytelling, portraying various fictional characters, and presenting a unique perspective to different timelines with an FPS warfare twist.   

Ranking Based on Experience and Research

Besides the basic criteria we mentioned above, our COD tier list also considers the experience with the games and the research from the web. We have tailored our tier list ranking based on how we see each video game of the installment falling into respective tiers. Plus, the general opinion of Call of Duty video gamers from the web since the first game.

Why Trust Us

We have been playing Call of Duty video games since the first game in the installment released in 2003. Creating tier lists is never easy because it is always a subjective matter. We understand that the COD tier list ranking hierarchy we have created here may or may not reflect what you think about each video game in the series. That being said, the overall ranking of Call of Duty video games in our tier list is open for discussion but closed for criticism.

That is pretty much everything you need to know about the Call of Duty tier list. Did you find our ranking of each game in the series helpful? Which COD game has been your favorite so far? Let us know more of your thoughts in the comments section below.

Next: Warframe Tier List