Call of Dutyis one of the most renowned first-person shooter video game franchises published by Activision, released back in 2003. The franchise has sold over 400 million copies throughout the years and the latest entry released isCall of Duty: Vanguardin 2021, with tepid sales that were one of the worst for the series since the launch ofModern Warfare14 years ago.Call of Duty: Vanguardcomes after the successfulCold WarandWarzoneand has many references to olderCall Of Dutygames. But, in the newer games, Activision is now building a sort-of universe for its games which gives rise to different connections across game titles and builds sales figures along with fulfilling the demands of fans wanting interrelatedness between characters and storylines.
Call of Duty: Vanguardsignificantly strikes a connection with Black Ops and Modern Warfare in numerous ways. Firstly,Taskforce 141(also known as “The One-Four-One”)is a multinational special operations unit that consists of members from Britain, Australia, America, Canada, and other countries. The members of “The One-Four-One” serve as the protagonists ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2with the main objective of eliminating Vladimir Makarov, who is a known Russian ultranationalist. However, the task force’s demise takes place when its then captain, General Shephard, betrays the force. Now, the initial task force, Task Force One, is created in theVanguardseries and the story carries integral elements revolving around the same.
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Task Force 141 And Inclusion Of WW2 In Shared Universe
The Task Force Vanguard, which is also known as Task Force One is the first military task force featured inCall of Duty: Vanguard. It was formed byCarver Butcher to foil “project phoenix”, a project led by Herman Freisinger, who is an avenger of Hitler’s death. He acts to strengthen the remaining Nazi forces and continue the war following the Battle of Berlin.
The fourSpecial Forces characters ofCall of Duty: Vanguardare based on real individuals who fought during World War 2. Arthur Kingsley is the leader of the Special Forces unit, a British Paratrooper, and part of the 9th Parachute Battalion.Lt. Polina Petrova is from the Soviet Union, part of the 138th Rifle Division. The third member of the Special Forces Division is Captain Wade Jackson,who is part of Scouting Squadron Six. The last of the Special Forces is Riggs is part of the 20th Battalion, from Australia, which fights in North Africa.
Actor Russell Richardson, who portrayed the role of Marcus Howard inCall of Duty: WW2has also made his way into Call of Duty: Vanguard, playing the character of Lewis Howard. In theCall of Duty: Vanguardmission Numa Numa Trail, Lewis Howard mentions he has a “brother in Europe,” this is a reference to Marcus Howard fromCall of Duty: WW2. Another interesting fact about the character of Marcus Howard is that he was originally named Cormack, as a possible reference to theCall of Duty: Advanced Warfarecharacter of the same name, who was also voiced by Russell Richardson.
Many fans had expected a return ofCaptain Price inCall of Duty: Vanguarddue to the teasing of Task Force Vanguard, obviously it’s not possible for modern-era Price to be present in the WW2 game but die-hard fans ofCall of Dutyremember a Captain Price, who was an integral part ofCall of DutyandCall of Duty 2games. This Price is not the same as the current one, but their features are quite identical. However, after the release ofCall of Duty: Vanguard, fans expecting theWW2version of Captain Price were disappointed.
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Throwback To World War 2 And Black Ops
One of the most significant links betweenBlack OpsandVanguardwas revealed in a trailer before the release ofVanguard, which is when Adler, who is a deuteragonist to the antagonist (player-determined). He is a CIA agent charged with stopping the mysterious Soviet agent with an alias name of Perseus.Adler is often described as an American monsterwith a dark charisma. Adler and his team meet Butcher, he was first introduced inCall of Duty: WW2and returned as the founder of Task Force Vanguard. In addition to this, Carver Butcher also makes an appearance inCall of Duty: Warzonewhere he serves as the announcer for all Vanguard operators.
The noticeable thing here is that it is unlike the last generation ofCall of Dutygames,the originalModern WarfareandBlack Ops. Infinity Ward and Treyarch developed those games separately, and there was no visible connection between the twoCall of Dutysubsidiaries. One of the reasons behind this change could be that Activision has moved towards a more inclusive approach. This combined approach has had a major impact on the sales of the game. Activision has thus integrated the fanbase to sell games from various studios with much less effort.
Vanguard’s primary dish, its multiplayer, puts probably the best ascribes ofModern WarfareandBlack Ops Cold War’sserious web-based contributions inside a WW2 setting. With a greater amount of accentuation on destructible conditions, the expansion of pacing channels, and a more receptive, focal center-like plan for Zombies mode, there’s enough here to settle on the most recentCall of Dutyonline experience feel new.The prestige rewards also strike a resemblance betweenCall of Duty: Vanguard,Black Ops, andModern Warfareas players receive complete military ranks ranging from 1-55 to start a new Prestige journey. The new Prestige levels can be unlocked across all the above-mentioned game variants and inWarzoneas well. This integration of differentCall of Dutygames has been extremely successful according to the sales figures with Activision wooing fans of different franchises and gaining high sales with positive reactions around these changes from fans as well.
Call of Duty: Vanguardis now available to play on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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