Call of Duty (video game)

Did You Know?

• The game's development budget was $4.5 million.
• The project was initially nicknamed "Medal of Honor Killer".
• The music was created by Michael Giacchino and originally released as a sampler CD with pre-orders from EB Games in Europe.

Campaign

In June 1944, Martin establishes a landing zone for Operation Overlord. After paratroopers are scattered, Martin joins a mixed unit led by Foley to seize a nearby town, force Germans from Sainte-Mère-Église, and disable Flakpanzer IVs as D-Day begins. The unit then destroys German artillery attacking Utah Beach. In August 1944, Martin's unit attacks a Bavarian manor to rescue British officers Captain Price and Major Ingram; they infiltrate a POW camp to rescue Ingram. The final mission occurs during the Battle of the Bulge, where Martin's company takes out panzers while defending a captured bunker system. The British campaign follows Sergeant Jack Evans of the 2nd Ox and Bucks, 6th Airborne Division, during Operation Tonga. Evans's unit, led by Captain Price, clears Pegasus Bridge of German soldiers and holds against a German battalion with help from the 7th Parachute Battalion.

Reception

The original Call of Duty was met with near-universal praise, according to Metacritic, and collected multiple Game of the Year honors in 2003. At the 7th Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named it Game of the Year, Computer Game of the Year, and Computer First-Person Action Game of the Year. It also received nominations for Outstanding Innovation, Original Music Composition, and Sound Design. GameSpot chose it as the best computer game of October 2003.

Computer Games Magazine ranked it sixth overall for 2003, with editors calling it a leap forward that made older World War II shooters feel obsolete. Computer Gaming World gave it Shooter of the Year without any contest. At the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards, the game was up for Best Game but lost; however, developer Infinity Ward won Rookie Studio of the Year, and Chuck Russom took home Excellence in Audio. IGN scored it 9.3 out of 10, with reviewer Dan Adams praising its gripping experience while noting its brevity.

The N-Gage port, by contrast, received mixed or average reviews on Metacritic. According to the NPD Group, Call of Duty was the eighth-best-selling computer game of 2003 and held that spot the following year. By August 2006, it had sold 790,000 copies in the United States, earning $29.6 million, which Edge ranked as the 13th-best-selling PC title since January 2000.

Legacy

Call of Duty launched a massive franchise, with over fifteen sequels and spin-offs to follow. Its expansion, Call of Duty: United Offensive, came from Gray Matter Studios on September 14, 2004. Infinity Ward also developed Call of Duty 2, released in October 2005. Console spin-offs included Call of Duty: Finest Hour by Spark Unlimited and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One by Gray Matter Studios, which later merged into Treyarch.

A downloadable HD version called Call of Duty Classic arrived for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on December 2, 2009, with early access tokens bundled with special editions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. IGN gave this version a 7.5, noting its poor console adaptation and multiplayer capped at eight players. Over time, critics have acknowledged the game's role in building one of the biggest gaming franchises and shaping the first-person shooter genre.

Performance director Keith Arem said it changed the industry from the inside, affecting production methods, script writing, pipelines, and actor work. However, the original game itself has aged poorly in many critics' eyes, often ranking low in series lists. More positively, IGN placed it sixth in their 2024 ranking of the ten best Call of Duty games, stating its campaign remains fun and its foundational importance to the series and FPS genre cannot be overstated.