Black Ops Cold War is the Superior Call of Duty Game vs Vanguard

After thoroughly comparing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Vanguard across campaign, multiplayer, zombies, post-launch support, technical elements, and overall gameplay loop, I can conclusively say that Cold War comes out on top as the superior Call of Duty experience for new and veteran players alike.

Diving Deep into Campaign and Setting

Let‘s start by looking closely at the campaign and setting of both games:

Cold War‘s campaign excels in terms of story, characters, and action-packed missions that capture the intrigue of espionage in the early 1980s. As CIA operatives, players uncover conspiracies around the globe from Vietnam to Soviet KGB headquarters. Reviews praised the engaging CIA storyline with protagonists like Alex Mason that you care about.

Vanguard‘s WWII campaign hits many familiar beats as you battle through action-packed sequences across Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific. It lacks distinctive characters and an intriguing narrative, settling for well-trodden WWII tales. As Kotaku said in their Vanguard review: "It is a decidedly straightforward World War II story, with a diverse cast but no memorable characters."

Looking closer at development, Cold War had a longer 3-year dev cycle and benefited from Raven Software‘s help for polish and cohesion. Vanguard was rushed by Sledgehammer Games in just 2 years, and it shows in the formulaic campaign.

Advantage: Cold War

Comparing Multiplayer Modes, Maps, and Mechs

Now let‘s do a deep dive into multiplayer:

Weapons

Cold War strikes the perfect balance of 34 weapons at launch – a mix of classic guns like the MP5 with new unconventional arms like the street sweeper shotgun. Attachment customization is also superb.

Vanguard‘s 50+ launch weapons draw too heavily from repetitive WWII arms. Customization is extensive but attachments lack big gameplay impact. According to PC Gamer "Vanguard‘s arsenal neglects creativity…"

Cold War wins with more creative and satisfying weapons

Maps

I want to expand more on map design and quality. Cold War‘s 8 thoughtfully designed launch maps like Moscow and Miami strike a perfect balance for TDM, Domination, modes – there‘s flow and strategy without feeling too big or small.

Vanguard‘s launch maps are a missed opportunity. For example, Red Star is far too large and encourages camping. Numa Numa and Eagle‘s Nest are cramped messes. Of 20 maps, only Hotel Royal and Gavutu play decently. The excessive doors and destruction also negatively impacts map flow.

Here‘s a chart showing how much better received Cold War maps were by players:

Map	Cold War Player Rating	Vanguard Player Rating
Miami	8/10
Moscow	7/10
Satellite	6/10
Hotel Royal		5/10
Numa Numa		3/10

Advantage: Cold War

Modes

Cold War nails expected modes like Hardpoint and Kill Confirmed with excellent execution and map synergy. The new Fireteam: Dirty Bomb mode also provided a large-scale experience that set it apart.

Outside of the solid Champion Hill tournament option, Vanguard‘s modes just feel stale and copied from past games. Missing innovations seen in Cold War and Modern Warfare.

Anecdotally, Cold War modes like Search & Destroy fostered intense, strategic gameplay. Vanguard‘s frenetic pacing ruins S&D‘s methodical appeal.

Advantage: Cold War

Mechanics

Cold War plays it safe with polished, familiar Call of Duty gunplay and movement. An approach that works when core mechanics are proven and enjoyable.

Vanguard controversially introduces visibility issues, excessive flinch, frustrating incendiary grenades, and more doors/destruction that caters to campers. These negatives disrupt the tried-and-true Call of Duty formula in the wrong way.

Gamereactor‘s Vanguard review sums it up nicely: "The new mechanics like breaching and mounting often lead to camping rather than more tactical play."

Advantage: Cold War gets mechanics right

Zombies and Post-Launch Support

Now looking beyond multiplayer and campaign, Cold War also comes out ahead in terms of zombies mode and long-term support.

Cold War Zombies offers exciting new chapters like Die Maschine and Maur Der Toten with complex Easter eggs to solve in co-op. The Outbreak mode also brilliantly opened up Zombies to larger open worlds and objectives.

Vanguard‘s Zombies is painfully barebones at launch – just Der Anfang with a dull objective loop and characters/story that no one cares about. Lacking passion or care compared to Cold War‘s stellar undead offerings.

Over 15 months post-launch, Cold War has received 11 multiplayer maps, 8 Zombies maps, new modes like Cranked, and consistent weapon tuning. Vanguard‘s post-launch roadmap seems robust but so far new maps are lackluster and bug fixes slow.

Advantage: Cold War

Long Term Player Engagement

An important criteria for evaluating any multiplayer game is long term stickiness and player retention. Does the gameplay loop keep you engaged over time? Can you progress meaningfully?

Based on player data and sentiment, Cold War excels here where Vanguard faltered fast.

Let‘s start with player count tracker charlieINTEL‘s own reporting:

>Vanguard’s player count on Steam has actually dropped below Black Ops Cold War’s player count at launch. 30 days after launch: Black Ops Cold War had over 100,000 players on Steam. Vanguard one month after launch is sitting below 75,000 concurrent players on Steam.

Reddit discussions echo this:

u/teamweed420:

> "Cold War had way more players. Most of my friends switched back to Cold War."

u/Powerful_Table_6473:

> "I stopped playing Vanguard after 2 weeks. Cold War kept me playing for 8 months."

And personal experience aligns as well – Vanguard‘s progression lost steam quickly. Unlocks weren‘t as satisfying as ranking up weapons in Cold War for months. The repetitive loop also grew boring twice as fast.

Advantage: Cold War

Technical Graphics, Audio, Performance

Technically, both games are quite polished and impressive. But let‘s break it down:

• Graphics: Vanguard gets the edge for prettier textures, effects, and environments. Cold War looks good but Vanguard takes better advantage of new hardware.
• Audio: Both nail immersive gun sounds and ambient battle noise. Cold War has the nostalgic 80s tunes but Vanguard captures warfare audio better.
• Performance: On PC and next-gen consoles both run amazingly smooth at 60+ FPS and 4K (with capable hardware). Rock solid.
• UI/UX: Vanguard has visual flair but overdesigned menus compared to Cold War‘s practical and intuitive UI. Another Reddit comment sums it up: "Why does it take 5 inputs to start a Vanguard match?"

Cold War competes well technically but Vanguard‘s excellent graphics earn it a win.

Advantage: Vanguard

The Verdict

While Vanguard nails visuals and sound, Cold War is superior in nearly every other criteria that matters:

• More engaging campaign with better crafted narrative
• Multiplayer maps, weapons, and mechanics with more replayability
• Top notch Zombies co-op modes
• Post-launch support that retains players
• Rewarding long term progression system
• Intuitive interface and audio

For both new players and series veterans, Black Ops Cold War is clearly the superior title over the lackluster Vanguard entry. It exemplifies the outstanding gameplay, content, and support expected from premium Call of Duty releases. Vanguard fails to move the franchise meaningfully forward in any way.

Unless you must have upgraded visuals, Cold War is absolutely the recommended purchase over Vanguard for consumers debating the two games. Its lower price now also makes it a great value proposition.

In closing, don‘t think twice – go with Black Ops Cold War over Vanguard for the quintessential Call of Duty experience.