The best Call of Duty games, ranked

By Joseph Yaden, Sam Hill and Billy Givens Updated October 28, 2024

Few video game series are as influential and popular as Call of Duty. The annualized franchise throws players into fast-paced battles across various historical time periods — along with fictional eras as well. Call of Duty has taken us to World War II, the Cold War, a modern setting, and even to the future.

Although it’s one of the most successful video game franchises out there, Call of Duty’s quality varies significantly from game to game, with some fantastic entries in the series, but many mediocre ones as well. But which Call of Duty games are worth your time and which ones should you skip? To answer that question, we’ve ranked all the mainline entries in the series, with details about why you should or shouldn’t play a particular game.

These are all the Call of Duty games ranked from worst to best.

Modern Warfare III was meant to mark the 20th anniversary of the franchise but ultimately fell flat and is one of the most disappointing launches in the series history. A lackluster campaign relied too much on nostalgia, got lazy with Open Combat Missions that were basically single-player Warzone missions, and was overall too generic to be exciting. While the multiplayer aspect of the game was as fun as always, this was the first COD entry to launch without any new, original maps, instead settling for map remakes from MW3 (2011). “Coupling all of these aggravating elements with a single-player mode that feels cobbled together by Dr. Frankenstein, Modern Warfare 3 is the most substantial step back for a franchise that has been inching forward for nearly a decade, wrote Billy Givens in Digital Trends’ two-and-a-half-star review of the game. “The short and forgettable story isn’t remotely absorbing, and its multiplayer has no identity in an ever-expanding sea of more unique shooters.”

No matter how much you love the Call of Duty franchise, you must admit that some iterations are just better than others. With our advice, you know which games to avoid, so you can start playing the cream of the crop immediately. By following our recommendations on the best games in the series, you’ll get to experience all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses.

The Call of Duty series has successfully produced a line of outstanding shooter games. One of the things that players love about the franchise is its consistency. Players know what to expect from the series, and are rarely disappointed, so they go out and buy release after release. The series gains more avid players and repeat customers by the minute, reaping enormous profits, which they utilize to create the next best game in the series and perpetuate its legendary legacy as one of the best gaming franchises in history.