Modern Warfare to Black Ops hailed as Call Of Duty's 'Golden Era' by fans

Gamers are hailing Call Of Duty 4, World at War, Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops 1 as the “Golden Era” of Call Of Duty games.

Call Of Duty remains one of the most popular and profitable first-person shooter series of all time, and has seen a whopping 22 mainline games released, and if you count spin-offs and expansions, the number skyrockets to 50. Despite seeing a new release basically every year at this point, which doesn’t seem like it’s changing anytime soon, recent entries haven’t always been a hit amongst fans. This is largely due to newer games leaning too heavily into microtransactions, which many players believe is “killing Call Of Duty”. In fact, a patent from COD publisher Activision implies players who buy more cosmetics actually have easier games when playing online.

Now, Call Of Duty fans have been nostalgically looking back at previous games in the series, and believe they’ve identified its 'golden age'. Reddit user TheUndeadGunslinger shared their picks for the best games in the series: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: World of War, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and Call Of Duty: Black Ops.

It's quite the selection, all of which being quality COD games that are fondly remembered for their singleplayer campaigns, competitive multiplayer, and of course, Call Of Duty Zombies. Other fans of the series seemed to unanimously agree, with everyone having their own special memories of playing alone or with friends.

“I was working for a gaming magazine when CoD4 was in development. Had the privilege of a closed beta key from one of the devs. Called in sick the next day. Max level was only 10 but I just couldn’t stop playing," said one fan while another added, "Back when I looked forward to the next COD game.”

“I still remember all the times me and my pals put in World At War, playing Custom Knife matches or just Modded Zombie Maps. Man, those were the days," someone wrote. It’s a shame newer titles haven’t always lived up to the standards of their predecessors. Some have come awfully close, like the latest Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), but haven’t quite recaptured the magic the old titles had.

In other news, Call Of Duty publisher Activision is still in a battle to see its deal with Xbox go through. The deal has faced severe backlash from the UK, and it’s reported that Activision are considering pulling its games out of the UK market so the deal can finally be made.