With an annual installment released in the autumnal months of every year since 2005, Call of Duty has evolved into an undeniably dominant force in the video game industry. Bolstered by its ever-popular multiplayer mode, the basic Call of Duty formula has, on the whole, scarcely changed in over fifteen years.
Engaging in gunfights against other players holds a kind of timeless appeal, but much of the continued success of Call of Duty's multiplayer mode can be attributed to map design. From the original Modern Warfare to Vanguard, almost every multiplayer CoD has some memorable online battlegrounds.
Easily the most memorable map included in the original Call of Duty outing, Carentan sees players battling it out in the streets of a small French village. Relatively confined with much of the focus placed on capturing buildings and securing MG nests, the map served as a solid foundation for what would follow later on.
It's also worth noting that Carentant was remade several times, receiving a reskin in the first Modern Warfare game and a total remaster in WWII.
Few games set during World War II focus on the battles which took place in North Africa, but this setting was a not-insignificant part of the second Call of Duty title. It was also the basis for Toujane, Tunisia, one of the most popular maps from the game's multiplayer mode.
Set primarily on the rooftops of a small desert village, Toujane was a haven for snipers. Though it's never been remastered or reintroduced to the series, it's one of the few Call of Duty 2 maps worth remembering.
2007's Modern Warfare sent the Call of Duty franchise into the stratosphere and ushered in a new era of multiplayer-focused modern combat games. Infinity Ward's title introduced many core elements to the series' multiplayer that are still present today, and it also boasted some of the most legendary maps.
A close-quarters clash on the site of a downed helicopter, Crash was a relatively small map that guaranteed hectic, heated matches. The map later appeared in Modern Warfare 2, as well as the 2019 reboot of the Modern Warfare subseries.
A mid-sized map set on the grounds of a Japanese palace, World at War's Castle featured both tight corridors that favored MP-40s and Trench Guns along with snipers roosts and broad courtyards that favored PTRS-41s and Kar-98ks.
Facilitating both fast-paced games of Domination and drawn-out Team Deathmatch sessions, Castle was a jack of all trades, and it's recently been revived in Call of Duty: Vanguard.
Infinity Ward followed up their fantastic 2007 effort with the equally-beloved Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009. This CoD entry doubled down on everything that made the original so enjoyable and dialed up the multiplayer mayhem to eleven.
There were plenty of memorable maps in Modern Warfare 2, and while many will argue in favor of the incredibly small Rust map, the tightly-contested hallways and notorious sniper perches of Terminal were even more iconic.
2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops was a somewhat subdued iteration of the FPS franchise compared to its immediate predecessor, but though slower-paced and more restrained, a handful of maps still catered to players who prefer nonstop chaos.
Perhaps the most celebrated multiplayer map in Call of Duty history, Nuketown is a colorful, close-quarters map set on a nuclear weapons testing range. It has returned in every installment of the Black Ops subseries, and it's easily the most recognizable CoD map of all time.
Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer maps aren't all that well remembered by the Call of Duty community; from the icy Outpost to the urban Interchange, many of the game's maps prioritized ranged engagements and bottlenecked players into certain playstyles.
That said, MW3 did launch with a few notable smaller maps. Hardhat and Resistance were fairly popular, but the de-facto Modern Warfare 3 map for those who craved constant action was always Dome. A small-scale battlefield that catered to shotguns and SMGs, it was one of the 2011 title's few standout multiplayer arenas.
Treyarch's 2012 effort Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 introduced a few fan-favorite maps that have returned to subsequent entries in the series; from the streets of Standoff to the regal recesses of Raid, BO2 had a huge impact on the future of Call of Duty map design.
However, the most memorable inclusion in BO2's multiplayer was Hijacked. Taking place aboard a luxury yacht, Hijacked was a small map that felt like a variation of Nuketown, and it returned in Black Ops 3 and Black Ops: Cold War.
Call of Duty: Ghosts didn't include many fan-favorite maps, and offerings like the convoluted Flooded and the infamous Freefall went down as some of the worst in series history.
Warhawk, however, was definitely a bright spot. A relatively restrained map with a midwestern small-town setting, Warhawk was straightforward, but it was equipped with a few surprises, most notably the map-specific Mortal Fire field order.
The first of a series of far-future Call of Duty games that focused heavily on advanced movement, 2014's Advanced Warfare felt like something of a departure from the previous entries in the series. While the game's Exo Movement mechanics weren't entirely conducive to some multiplayer maps, they certainly shook up the tiring CoD formula.
The multi-tiered Terrace had something of an atypical flow, but those who excelled at Exo Movement came to enjoy the map, and it stood out against the mode's other less-inspired arenas.
The second in Activision's unofficial trilogy of distant-future Call of Duty titles, Black Ops 3 placed a huge emphasis on advanced movement, with many of the multiplayer maps necessitating double-jumping and wall-running.
There were a handful of notable Black Ops 3 maps, but the most versatile of the bunch was Aquarium. Set in a derelict aquatic exhibit, Aquarium played up the mode's oft-underutilized underwater movement mechanics while simultaneously diminishing the pseudo-parkour tactics necessary in other maps.
One of the most contentious CoD releases of all time, Infinite Warfare received a lot of flack when it was first released, and the multiplayer component is generally remembered as being fairly hit-or-miss.
Throwback was perhaps the most visually stunning map in the game, standing out thanks to its vibrant color palette. It stood in stark contrast to the otherworldy environments in other maps, and it didn't demand an excessive use of the game's divisive movement mechanics.
Sledgehammer's WWII ended the series' fascination with futurism and returned CoD to the battlefields of World War 2, a setting that hadn't been seen since 2008's World at War.
Unfortunately, many of WWII's multiplayer maps came across as incredibly basic, particularly when compared to the over-the-top nature of previous games. Still, the tightly-designed London Docks was a standout, and, as per GameRant, it's rumored to make a return in Call of Duty: Vanguard.
Treyarch's Black Ops 4 returned to a near-future setting, though it retained many of the systems established in Black Ops 3. Featuring a much longer time to kill than previous titles, Black Ops 4 played very differently to Call of Duty games of years past.
A prime example of Call of Duty's tried-and-true three-lane map design, Icebreaker was a frost-covered map that featured both wide-open tundra and a close-quarters, partially-sunken submarine. It was a creative bit of content that catered to almost every playstyle.
There weren't any multiplayer maps in 2019's Modern Warfare that were met with universal praise; many were clear attempts to break from Call of Duty's classic three-lane map structure, but most came across as clunky and confusing.
Azhir Cave was perhaps the closest thing Infinity Ward's return to the MW series had to an "iconic" Call of Duty map. Separated into two parts, Azhir Cave served as an excellent way to showcase the game's new movement mechanics, and its arid setting was in keeping with the game's aesthetic.
When it launched in late 2020, Black Ops Cold War was relatively lacking in content, and the maps and modes that were there weren't particularly thrilling.
That said, Armada stood out as one of Call of Duty's most unique battlefields. Playing less like a six-on-six map and more like a section of the Verdansk, Armada saw battles waged over a series of large ships. It was also one of a very small handful of maps in the series to feature drivable vehicles.
It's a bit too early to decide which of Call of Duty: Vanguard's sixteen launch maps is the best, but at the very least, Hotel Royal seems to be the most unique. Set in a ritzy Parisian penthouse restaurant, Hotel Royal has an awesome aesthetic, and while it doesn't deviate far from the usual three-lane motif, it differs enough from the game's other maps to feel distinct.
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