Call of Duty: Vanguard

Call of Duty: Vanguard is a first-person action shooter from Sledgehammer Games, the eighteenth entry in the main Call of Duty series. The game takes players into the final months of World War II and follows an international team of soldiers across various battlefields - from North Africa through a Pacific island to the final assault on Berlin. The campaign is told through the memories of individual characters and places emphasis on their personal stories as much as on the battles themselves between missions. Alongside the single-player campaign, Vanguard offers an extensive multiplayer with numerous maps and game modes, a system of seasonal updates, and a cooperative zombies mode that directly continues the story from previous Call of Duty: Cold War and World at War entries.

The Xbox One version technically corresponds to the PS4 edition - it runs at a lower resolution and with a more limited frame rate than the Xbox Series X|S version, even on the more powerful Xbox One X model. In terms of content, however, it is complete and identical to all other platforms, including the entire campaign, multiplayer maps, and zombies mode.

The game launched on Xbox One simultaneously with all other editions, so players on the older console didn't have to wait an extra day or miss out on any content. Thanks to cross-play and cross-progression across Call of Duty platforms, they can also play with friends regardless of which platform they're using, and can carry their progress over without loss if they later switch to Xbox Series X|S.

On the base Xbox One model, expect longer loading times before missions and between multiplayer matches; the more powerful Xbox One X slightly improves the situation with a higher resolution, but even it can't match ray tracing support or the higher frame rates of the next-gen versions. Controls and game systems remain the same as in all other editions of the game, including full support for headsets and voice communication in multiplayer.

Why play it: On the base Xbox One, expect longer loading times and no ray tracing support or the higher frame rates of the next-gen versions, but the controls and game systems remain the same as elsewhere.