A full history of the Call of Duty franchise. From the original game in 2003, up to the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in 2019.
Celebrate the release of the return of one of the most iconic shooter video game series of all time by learning what led up to this pinnacle moment.
Join me as I detail each and every game, breaking down their development history, storyline, gameplay features, visuals, and their critical reception, all backed with each game's original soundtrack.
Patreon: / nick930
Even the smallest donations help me make these videos! (I record all of my own footage and need to purchase several old games for the footage)
This video in particular took me longer than any project I've ever worked on. I put a ton of passion and effort into this documentary - but even so, there are bound to be errors. Please feel free to let me know in the comments if you spot one! Also, special thanks to CasualKlutz for helping with some research and writing on the Treyarch games.
Now sit back, grab a drink and enjoy the ENTIRE History of COD!
#CallofDuty #ModernWarfare #Documentary
Please support this channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/Nick930 You'll get early access to next months documentary, along with personalized shout-outs, behind the scenes videos and images, and with enough support - I can finally scale back those annoying ads so you guys can tune in and enjoy an uninterrupted experience. Thank you all for tuning in. This video took an absolutely insane amount of time to put together. I had to take my vacation last week just to record all of the footage here (which was up to 1.67 terabytes worth!) Also, shout out to my friend CasualKlutz for helping with some of the research/writing on the early treyarch games, along with some feedback on the script. Call of Duty is an incredible franchise, that spans 16 years now, and continues to dominate the sales charts every time. It's easy to say that each game is the same, but in reality - all of the studios involved put a ton of time and effort into trying to maintain this series, with new stories, new motion capture recording sessions, voice over, musical performances, visual overhauls, gameplay mechanics, multiplayer modes, and general features. I've been enjoying this series ever since I picked up the "Call of Duty: Warchest" collection for my PC back in 2005, and each year these studios continue to deliver well polished content. And to celebrate the series and its probable success with its upcoming Modern Warfare, I wanted to share my passion for this series with a documentary that details what makes each and every game distinct. So thank you again for tuning in and stay tuned for more documentaries like this in the future!
Nick930 glad you’re tackling larger projects appreciate the effort you put into all of these.
You're pretty surgical with that rpg ha
aw yasss can finally watch it
Be proud. great viewing
It makes me appreciate any of the developers who always trying to innovate their games but having their ideas scrapped from the last minute by the publisher.
Mom: “what are you doing” Me: “watching a documentary”
Except the good version
Joel Everett waldin most documentaries are good
@@James-vq4jw but compared yo this though?
Kyle Vahagn this is the only documentary in all of history worth your time.
@@stuffnstuff8844 And probably most accurate lol
"the complete history" Looks at the duration "well he's not joking"
@Gerudah 😂😂😂
Damnn
And now I have to watch it all, just because.
Cod 1 - 1:26 United Offensive - 7:56 Finest Hour - 10:54 COD 2 - 13:30 Big Red One - 18:10 COD 3 - 20:25 Road to Victory - 23:17 COD 4 Modern Warfare - 24:03 World at War - 31:08 MW2 - 38:29 Black Ops - 45:40 MW3- 50:59 Black Ops 2 - 55:51 Ghosts - 1:01:27 Advanced Warfare - 1:07:44 Black Ops 3 - 1:13:02 Infinite Warfare - 1:20:59 MW (Remastered) - 1:28:44 World War II - 1:30:27 Black Ops 4 - 1:36:42 Modern Warfare (2019) - 1:42:41 MW (2007) & United Offensive are my favorites
thank you
What a beast
Mvp ❤️
We need more heroes like you
@@thermobarbaric no way your name is just swastikas and you have a music playlist called racistcore 😂😂😂 you do realize alot of call of duty games are about killing Nazis right? lmao
Man, almost 2 hours of quality content, research, details, gameplay footage... I can't even imagine how much effort you put into these videos. Hats off! Please keep up the good work.
the fact that Black Ops is not even in the middle of the video makes me feel old.
That makes you feel old?! I remember purchasing Allied Assault...
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli Quetzalcoatl black ops was my first COD lmao (not including COD 4 which i never played and bought right before BO1s release). always was a Halo fanboy
@@benjames7932 and rightfully so, Halo is awesome :)
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli Quetzalcoatl not anymore but back then yeah, reach was the last good one.
Incepting I used to absolutely love Halo, but I only had a PS2 so I could never play outside of my friend’s house, but my dad ended up buying me Big Red One and that’s what got me into cod
Almost two hours long? Imma give this an immediate like.
I second this!
@Lari02 No. You don't know what saying or typing "Imma" means? It means I'm going to, just shortened. If English isn't your first language then it's understandable. Also a possessive has an apostrophe so it would be "mom's" just an FYI (For your information). Imma is informal English though, so don't use that is actual essays or a thesis. . . . . . . . I'm answering you properly since you wanna act like a dummy.
@JUGGERNOG oh honey, thanks for the laugh
Lari is a perfect example of what happens when you give a 10 year old an iPad
Lari says the 10 year old
I cant belive it has almost been 20 years....wtf?! I see my whole youth, LAN parties and finishing high school rushing by.
You are already daddy.time pass
I can see why kids today are full grown men from this series
@@AgateEditing 18 year olds today have the maturity of 10 year olds in the 90's!!! lol
Cod started off cool... till skins came. Now it's a full blown childish gimmicky cosplay party
Time flies bri
“know your history or be doomed to repeat it”
That has nothing to do with this but there's a black ops called declassified...
You are a bold one kenobi
*gets trailer flash back*
Well then I don’t want to know my history
Too late
Me to my gf : only one video My gf : okay only one The video :
@Jay Bee *mgs intensifies* 😂
This actually happened. XD Girlfriend not happy...
m
C8
Nmas suoiresP
One of the most hardworking channels on KZhead
and still not a million subs
@@damoos3. he'll achieve definitely
@@leaguecrossgaming7314 hopefully
I think coach Greg rivals this
Straight up this took mad work to make
I was introduced to call of duty by my stepdad. While i was too young to play, he let me sit beside him and watch him play with his friends. Eventually, i got old enough and was given my first cod game. These games remind me of a really sweet time in my life, and of so many good memories with friends. This video is incredible. Thank you!
The fact that I’ve played every single game in this video makes me feel old
Same
Not old. But before losing most of the games moving, I owned almost every single CoD game at one point. I owned almost every CoD from 2004 to 2016. Excluding 2 and 3.
Of course I know the history, I was there when it was written.
Me a Battlefield Fan: *Well Yes But Actually No*
You know what they say “history is written by the victors
It's true I was the pen.
@@rejuvenatingsoul3498 I was the paper
RS Gaming 20 years ago I was the tree.
As someone who's been a fan of the COD franchise, and currently working in the industry with this specific franchise... this brought a smile to my face. I appreciate the amount of info you included.
Why y'all making the game shittier every year
fr
Skyler Parsley Don’t blame the developers. Blame the greedy publishers that call the shots.
Just gonna leave that at 69 likes.🤣😎🤙👋
@@xanshen9011 nope, blame all the -re-schoolers moaning, changing the game for the worse..
That opening shot gave me so much good memories and just for that I want to thank you. Thinking back to grinding campaigns, watching developed characters die in front of me that made me actually feel emotional, playing with friends doing dumb strategies, even my brother teaching me how to play when I was 4. Thank you.
I’ve watched the video at least 5 times, never gets old. An amazing amount of great work went into this! Thank you!
The old games offered so much more in terms of single player.
THATS WHY I LEFT COD AFTER GHOSTS CODMW 1 2 3 BO 1 2 AND GHOSTS ARE THE BEST IN TERMS OF SINGLE PLAYER Edit: sorry forgot WAW i played WAW only once and i LIKED it but the game corrupted so i couldn't play more
@@user-sl5zk3vc5p _OK._
Multiplayer too
L C I mean, maybe in terms of story. But the actual gameplay had its jam packed peak in black ops 3 and was exactly what I was looking for in a campaign. A newer difficulty setting, actual enemy types that aren’t just the same generic soldier, the ability to play levels however I liked, custom classes, etc. saying that the older games had more in terms of single player is a lie regardless of how much nostalgia you feel for it.
Ratan Bharadwaj ghosts sucked add world at war to the list
I love how unbiased he is
Yeah he didn’t even make fun of advanced warfare lol
@@callmemarnie2228 you should be like him! Unbiased
So he is like a reviewer should be... Bravo for doing your job right.
Well he doesn't speak very highly of you.
Take notes Jarek
2007:Theirs too many WWII shooters,so here's Modern Warfare 2018:Theirs too many futuristic shooters,so here's Black Ops 4 (battle royale) 2020:Theirs too many battle royales
SO HERE'S OVERLY SERIOUS SINGLE PLAYER
@@KinoTurk so here's overly bad sbmm
Someone's gonna say: there's*
In 2021 they re gonna be like: So here is a game that s not gonna be influenced in any way by how the trend is right now (too many ww2 or too many moder games) , we re just gonna make a good game, we hope you ll like it and we re gonna put our hearts in it, not caring about the 1-2 year release date, but instead taking our time to make the best call of duty experience possible. Or we re gonna make another ds/wii game idk
Love these “history of” documentaries. Best series of videos I’ve watched on KZhead. I’d love to see more of them. You should do one on The Sims
😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
I love these "History of..." documentaries. Thanks a lot for this epic!
Please never stop making them!
Call of Duty: World at War will always be my favorite game in the franchise, but this video made me appreciate aspects from the newer games too.
Same
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) is something I think needs to be tried out.
I agree
I remember pouring countless hours into Verruckt, 'freakin awesome game.
Mine 2 man it was savage i wish they would bring back co op campaign
5:07 ah yes, the bottom left corner
*Press [Space] to jump* *Press [C] to crouch*
LOL
@@holdguard4624 no, it’s when he said bottom left corner, he went to the bottom right.
I just stumbled upon your channel by accident. I can’t express enough how impressed I am by your hard working ethic and dedication to ensure you have all the information. Well done sir.
this just shows how you can never please everyone fans: UGh stop making the same old world war 2 shooters with the same stale gameplay COD: ok fans: wtf is this?? I miss old world war 2 call of duty that had that classic gameplay
lol so true
same happened with the assassins creed franchise. T_T
I actually liked ww2
Actually the whole cod comunity would agree that 2009-2012 was the best period for cod there wasn't really much to whine about.
The thing is, in those days every shooting coming out would be WW2. Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and so many more. So people wanted something new. Then every one of those franchises started making modern shooters and people wanted more variety again, looking for shooters with different settings again.
Man, I miss all those early Medal of honor and Call of duty games. Back when games were simple, extremely fun and adventurous for the time.
playing 2v2 with me and my brother against 2 of our friends whos grandma babysat us. We would literally have 4 screens on a tv no bigger than a computer monitor. So many memories of insane kills and calling eachother out for screen peaking. We played tons of different shooters like cod, medal of honor, brothers in arms, halo. Then eventually my brother got a computer and we would sneak back to our house and play counter strike. I remember my dad coming home and we werent supposed to be there alone so we all had to hide in the closet then sneak out the back and go back to their grandmas house
Medal of Honor: Airborne. Literally the best game EVER it’s soo good. I have over 1000 hours on that amazing game
Medal of Honor frontline was my jam on PS2, I also loved the Ghost Recon series.
I liked Medal Of Honor (2010) more than the MW series. I guess cuz of how gritty it looked compared to MW.
Feel like the 2007-2012 were the best cods
You're a maniac. These documentaries are amazing! Watched your GTA history yesterday
I discovered ure channel recently and I'm addicted to these videos that show the history of individual franchises ,awesome job bruv its fantastic
I like how independent creators make better content then actual studios the amount of effort in this video is unreal thanks nick
Oh boy this is a treat, glad I overslept and missed class today
Attaboy! Nice xD
New subject at school/university: Video game history 😂
Same
^back when people had class
@@duffal0 yup
So much nostalgia watching this. I was there from the beginning and these games brought so much joy to me and my friends growing up.
Incredible content. I’ve just subscribed and I’m very impressed by how in-depth all the videos I’ve seen are. Congrats
** In early 2020, in the middle of a Global Pandemic. Call of Duty MW released a free to play and download Battle Royale Mode, instantly breaking popularity records and setting up the franchise going forward for years to come.
Lol
I know Coronavirus is a big thing but if he was to add mw and war zone on there is literally no need to mention it.
the only cost is your storage space
@@disgustingweeb oof
And RIP to your PlayStation/Xbox storage
Appreciate the amount of work you put in this!! Almost 2 hours, this is a whole documentary 👍🏽👏🏽
KevinRy4n 100th like, great video
right like how many pages did thos guy write? Pure passion right at play here
I’ve now watched the Grand Theft Auto video and the Call Of Duty video. Both were AMAZING! KEEP EM COMING
Guys, i couldn't stop tearing up once Modern Warefare, WAW & MW2 showed up. Like i seriously got both goosebumps and a wave of emotions and memories of my middle school days. I'm old man, im so damn old.
I feel u brotha
Tearing up? Bruh
And like another commenter pointed out, Black Ops 1 isn’t even in the middle of the video. 😔
Nothing like learning the entire history of Call of Duty the night before the new Call of Duty.
How is the single player campaign? I used to buy them just for single player but they kept getting shorter and shorter.
@@kummakummakummakummakummac8606 Its really short. But it is good. I beat it within 8 hours I think. The multiplayer is in top form. The cross console compatibility is awesome. And there are so many maps. They really did a bang up job. Its the best COD to date speaking strictly from a multiplayer stand point.
Vanilla Theis ????????? You’re joking right
@daveysweigard can people not have their own opinion or something?
Outlast the dark: hell yeah man that was a good idea you had to watch this night before that amazing Cod came out. Campaign was incredible but WAY too short :/ that's my only complaint. Spec ops is gangster too! Multiplayer is on point man. I love this game, its graphics and gameplay physics. Storyline, cinematics, guns and customizations. Gun sounds and mechanics are amazing. Infinity Ward and other dev's involved really did an incredible job my hats off to them. Anyone involved in making this game I am extremely grateful for you and your existence on this planet lol
I literally Played every single COD, know all the story lines and still managed to sit through this whole video without being bored, awesome video man. Can honestly say it's the only long video I didn't mind watching till the end
Ik this is late but whats your fav out of all of them
i love this i come here everyday on my free time or when a games downloading or something and i end up watching 1 cod a day
For those who had seen MW2 in its glory - let me tell you it was EPIC !!! the 360 no scope or throwing knife kill cam was epic -along with the tactical nuke only managed it twice - but at 20 + kills your anxiety kicked in - id love for them to remake it like they did the campaign - I had so much fun that year with teams - still remember paying 60-70$ at eb games - going home and disappearing into a world of awesomeness - long live MW2-even tho I am a Battlefield player these days
My man, this was time we'll spent. Thank you for all the hard work that went into making this entire video. It must have been one hell of a pain in the butt I can imagine. The detail you go into describing every single story line, arch, the game mechanics, the specific developers associated, etc etc... I mean I could go on. You just earned a SUB for life man. Thank you for explaining to my brain thru English what goes unexplained until it is said aloud, sometimes it's hard for me to articulate what I truly know in my head. And you laid it all out perfectly, explained all the changes I've felt over the years, and I thank you my good sir. 🎩👋
*wholesome*
Carl thanks you, I was just watching it agian and you reminded me to give him a sub
Oh hey "Coral"
So Coral.... How was season 8
Agreed very informative video
i used to play old cod with my dad on ps2,either playing with co op or just watching each other play,damn i miss those day when i just spend lot of time with my dad.
Watched this entire video. You are amazing, thank you!
I still play COD2 and it's still my favorite COD. I don't even mind the dated graphics because it's just a fun game. No neat tricks, you just go around shooting and trying to stay alive.
Same still have my old disc
It’s so refreshing to see this positivity towards the call of duty franchise! It feels like everybody’s just complaining these days and seeing this video brought me joy, thank you. Edit: Oh My God 2 LIKES!!!!
Almost a 2 hours long video... Now that's some quality content that deserves an instant like..
This was fantastic!!! great work
Quality work. Got me hooked. Brings back memories of playing.
I have to give you a giant applause for this excellent video. Representing fairly aswell as commenting in an interesting manner on EVERY single Call of Duty game must’ve been a huge task. Despite not being a video creator, even i understand the effort put into this project. Remarkably well done!
I was almost put off by the length of the video but those two hours passed quickly a very informative and well researched video
I know I'm a bit late to this video but this was an amazing way to start my day and to finally get back to playing call of duty ww2 and this video was just very informative and just something to listen to in the background. 10 out of 10
One of the Best movies I've ever watched! Thanks man!
Call of duty 2, Still my favorite, It was mind blowing experience. I havnt felt that feeling again while playing any game :(
Same. Coming from CoD1 and UO, CoD 2 was just epic and probably the third biggest leap in the series after Ghosts and CoD MW 2019.
@@badass6300 Yeah, it looks like..
@@UnrealArtist What? O_O
IIIRattleHeadIII CoD4 and MW2 were pretty innovative too :p
Same. CoD 2 was simple incredible all around, and it had a ton of great campaign moments to boot. CoD 3 and 4 were great in their own right as well, but I'll always be partial to Cod 2.
You literally cover everything unlike others who just skip a bunch of the games or just completely forget them. Good video man.
weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee yeah, I notice not a lot of CoD youtubers review CoD 1-3. If you can’t respect and review the classics then you aren’t a fan.
jesus dude, this was a behemoth of work. hats off to this video!
I know this is an old video and I can't believe I watched the whole 2 hours but it was a trip down memory lane, I hadn't seen some of those maps since I was 15 and it triggered memories I didn't know I still had and they were beautiful, thank you
didn't expect to watch the whole thing, but you kept it interesting all the way through. Great job!
2003-2013 the Golden Era 2014-2019 the lootboxes of doom
Big Boss 2003-2013 BMT (before micro transactions)
Black Ops 3 is better than almost all the old CODs
‘14-‘18* New MW is good only issue is the matching system
@@KurokamiNajimii don t agree with u, i would say that black ops 3 is the worse call of duty ever made at lest aw and iw have interesting story
Idc about campaign I'm talking about multiplayer. BO3's multiplayer is better than those 2 in every way. Better maps, better streaks, better weapon balance and class variety. Most agree with this considering BO3 was in the top 5 best CODs in Neroscinema's poll from May 2018, I can't find it now because the poll wasn't the topic of the vid but it barely beat COD4/MWR and WAW for 5th place. BO2, MW2, BO, and MW3 in that order were top 4 by a large margin
I appreciate your work on this. Your thorough review is not only educational, for any aspiring gamer, but the nostalgia I felt throughout this video was incredible. System linking a couple 360s to play COD 3 is my favorite gaming memory. Just ahead of system linking between 4 dorm rooms to play Halo 2 in college. Oh, the profanity lol
Spent many many hours with MW2, especially multiplayer. That feeling of getting your first nuke was pretty special. Love that game.
that cod 1 soundtrack hit me hard
"
This video I have to say represents the sheer effort and opportunity that youtubers should inherit. Hard work on editing, hard work on information, and generally, anyone who watches this video can really tell you put so much time into this! I originally wanted to learn about what call of duties came first since I was confused, was too lazy to google it so I searched it on here, and found this dedicated heartfelt basically-a-documentary video discussing all CoD titles. Well fucking done man. 👏👏👏
Fantastic, in-depth review of the COD franchise. I'm a HUGE COD fan and grew up playing these games. I remember going to the mall specifically so I could play the COD 2 demo on the new 360.
This is BY FAR the best cod documentary on KZhead. 🔥
Bro you just summed up Call Of Duty in the most amazing way possible. Amazing work!
I'm impressed with the work you put into this video! I played the first few cods as a kid, and was a massive fan from Cod 4 to BO2.
Great video. I enjoyed it. Great blasts from the past and info I didn't know. :)
Loved this segment! I really really would like to see WAW remastered. My very favorite COD game .
Your intro was cooler than people's entire videos
that was an extremely good and extremely long video. i enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
Just for this video, you gain a new subscriber I appreciate this bring them back some of these memories now that we’re sitting at a reboot for MW2
i watched this and like a 3rd or the way through i fell asleep while still listening and i havent watched it since but from what i remember it is the best video ive ever seen with incredible story telling and i remember it being really emotional. anyway gonna go watch the video without falling asleep now so ill update you on that
Thank you for the accuracy of this video. I grew up on the original PC COD's and I rarely see anyone give them any credit/time -- they changed the landscape of FPS's and the gaming community knew that the COD franchise was going to do something special once COD/United Offensive/COD 2 came out.
The COD: Warchest was how I started with this series. I previously played Battlefield 1942 & Vietnam.. went to the store and say "Call of Duty" and though.. hmm.. that looks cool. And it immedietly delivered exactly what I was looking for... huge epic battles like Stalingrad and D-Day that I could replay and enjoy. Then I remember the COD4 trailer, and multiplayer beta and it was clear right then and there that Infinity Ward had something amazing coming. Those games deserve the time and attention to really expand, as they're fundamental and explaining how COD got to where it is today.
I remember when kids in my elementary school thought that black ops was it's own game
When I was in kindergarten I knew that trearch and infinity ward were different companies that made call of duty
Slenderspud13 Tom bro was that necessary 🤨
@@norco3242 my dad introduced me to videogames when I was 3 wasn't good obviously but I was probably smarter than you were in kindergarten
I always thought that until my friend told me
@@properdoge So you're like 11 now?
This is the best COD history documentary ever! Thank you!👍👍💚
Great collection and explanations. I understand all now. Good Job Bro👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
Over the last 10 years I’ve watched KZhead and this is the first video over 45 minutes I’ve watched, let alone was intrigued and stuck to my screen the entire time. Thank you for such great video, well done.
Cod 1 from 2003 was awesome, my father asked me if i have handymens in my room, I played with full sound and basses. I remeber also the Stalingrad scene with the boats, really impressiv for past time. 2003 was the main competitor of cod Medal of Honor... maybe anybody nows it 🙂
omg im one minute in and nostalgia is already hitting me wayyyy too hard...you dont even know how many hours i sunk into the medal of honor/call of duty franchises as a kid. allied assault, spearhead, breakthrough, call of duty 1, united offensive, and 2 were all such great games...great memories. i wonder if medal of honor has any servers still active...i miss that game so much. bolt action rifles/snipers only, gettin that sweet lean in to dodge bullets xD
The amount of work put in this type of videos is brain-blowing
Thank you for all the hard work you put into making this video!
What a fabulous trip down memory lane. I played every one of these games as they were released. It's great to learn how they are all unfolded. Very good job.
This video has made me appreciate the series so much more
Wow the gameplay at 11:37 helped me discover the name of a film I remember watching years ago in history class
That’s what I call a documentary! We can see how much research, effort and time you’re putting in your videos! Keep on the good work!
You put an unbelievable amount of work into these analyses and it shows in the quality. Thanks for sharing.
This is the type of KZheadrs we need, hard working! thank you.
This makes we want to go back and play all the old CoDs, great work!!
I feel that the future games in the series aren't cut enough slack, they have legendary polish and fun, but people want more old, then when they get that, they want futuristic games. COD, I feel your pain, and still think your campaigns are decent. Multiplayer is a whole 'nother story though.
We need more World War CoD not futuristic unrealistic battle Starfight
@@Theunfriendlyneighborhoodman yet the moment they went back to WW2 you folks started flipping out saying it was going backwards... what the hell do yall really want?!
@@MeTaLISaWeSoMe95 I'm not one of those guys
@@Theunfriendlyneighborhoodman you like vanguard?
@@lethalcheese never played it so I can't really judge it And it's been a year I've lose interest in shooting games
damn, am I watching a full documentary show right now? such an effort dude. love you...
This is honestly an amazing video
Bro you do incredible research thanks for these
That really brought me down memory lane going all the way back to the original Call of Duty. This was a very high quality video, like a professional documentary!
I want to say thank you for making this video. Iv'e been playing Call of Duty since 2004 (since i was 4 years old) and this video was like going through it all over again. Well done sir.
Thanks nick I used the first time I watched this (which was also the first time watching any of your video ) I used it to stay up to complete an assignment
Great video, brought back some great memories 👏👏👏
Wow, Nick! What an absolute beast of a video, verging on almost 2 hours long and every minute was high quality as i've come to expect from you. Thank you for all the hard word you put into this and keep it up!
Dude, u deserve more subscribers and viewer for this video. I can imagine how much time you sacrifice making this video, and I really appreciate it. Thank you
Top quality content here! Congratulations and kudos are in order!