Xbox Users Can Now Play Call of Duty’s Most Underrated Entry For Free

One of the most underrated Call of Duty games is now available to play at no extra cost for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.

Despite the franchise's continued success, just about every year since its inception in 2003, we often hear claims that it's the end of the Call of Duty series and the old comments of “Do people still play this?” begin to appear. And yet, every year, the Activision shooter is continually riding high in the sales charts.

That being said, even with its success, for every Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, we’ve still had our fair share of stinkers. Namely, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. However, there is one game, in my opinion, that has received somewhat of an unfair bad reputation.

Did This 2021 Call of Duty Deserve Better?

The game in question is Call of Duty: Vanguard, and it's just been made available for no extra cost on all tiers of Xbox Game Pass.

You can pretty much guarantee that when it comes to first-person gameplay, few do it better than the Call of Duty series, and that’s not dependent on whether the story of a campaign is any good or not. However, despite having solid gameplay, Call of Duty: Vanguard failed to connect with many.

Its story is set in 1945 during the final moments of the Second World War. It centres around a band of Allied forces misfits codenamed ‘Task Force Vanguard’, and it's up to them to help topple the Nazi regime.

Without giving too much away, it features four main protagonists: Arthur Kingsley (a British paratrooper), Lucas Riggs (an Australian soldier who served with the Rats of Tobruk), Polina Petrova (a deadly Russian sniper), and Wade Jackson (a US Navy Pilot).

What I enjoyed about the story of Call of Duty: Vanguard is that it began somewhat seriously enough, at least as much as this series would allow. But towards its end, it gets quite bonkers. The campaign is short but sweet at five to six hours. On top of that, while its Zombies mode leaves much to be desired, there’s a lot of fun to be had with its more traditional multiplayer modes.

How Was Call of Duty: Vanguard Received?

It wasn't the most well-received game in the Call of Duty series. It garnered a very conflicting score on the aggregate website Metacritic, with 73 from critics and 3.8 from users. However, like most video games, just because someone else didn't enjoy something, it doesn't mean that you won't either.

At the end of the day, if you’ve liked any of the Call of Duty games, and you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass, but missed Vanguard for whatever reason, now is the perfect time to hopefully be pleasantly surprised. It's available across all tiers.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is also available on PC and PlayStation.

READ MORE: The Best Call of Duty Games Worth Playing Before Modern Warfare 4