5 Best Call Of Duty Multiplayer Games, Ranked

Say what you will about the Military Industrial Complex sinking its claws into the video game space, but there's no denying that the "Call of Duty" series has earned its place in the pantheon of all-time legendary gaming franchises.

Most of the "Call of Duty" games have story modes for solo players to enjoy, but the real meat-and-potatoes of the franchise can be found in its online multiplayer mode. While multiplayer was part of "Call of Duty" since the 2003 original, it was 2007's "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" that revolutionized the franchise by creating an XP-based meta-progression for multiplayer. This new formula proved incredibly successful and has been used in every "Call of Duty" since then, as well as a great many imitators across all genres.

With the exception of 2004, there has been a new, mainline "Call of Duty" game every single year since 2003, and that continues with the 2026 release of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4." So let's take a look at five particularly beloved multiplayer suites from the franchise. Note, we're only judging the multiplayer, not the solo campaigns. Of course, if the multiplayer campaign happens to include co-op, then that will be taken into consideration. 

Released in 2015, "Black Ops III" is a whole lot of game. It features a full-length campaign mode that can be played in co-op multiplayer (two players local, four players online), as well as a remix of the campaign, called "Nightmares," which replaces the enemies with zombies and has a whole new story. There's also the traditional Zombies mode, which includes every "Call of Duty Zombies" map from prior Treyarch "CoD" games (with DLC). It even has the quietly addictive Dead Ops Arcade mode, which can also be played in multiplayer.

Then, of course, there's the regular multiplayer mode, which remains pretty controversial in the "CoD" community to this day. "Call of Duty" has always been a fast-paced, twitchy shooter, but "Black Ops III" took things to a whole other level with double jumps and wall-running. It also introduced the "Specialists" system. Instead of playing a generic grunt, players can pick from nine different operatives, each of whom has their own special ability or weapon.

Some players quickly took to the changed multiplayer, while others hated the new style. Time to kill became nigh-instantaneous, and if you hadn't warmed up on the increased speed of titles like "Black Ops 2" and "Ghosts," then "Black Ops III" could feel inaccessible to casual players. "Call of Duty" slowed down after "Black Ops III" and "Black Ops IV," but to a specific group of gamers, 2015 was the absolute peak of Treyarch's time with "Call of Duty." 

Traditionally, Infinity Ward and Treyarch were the main developers of the "Call of Duty" games, though Sledgehammer Games worked on titles like the original "Modern Warfare III" before getting to fully handle games like "Advanced Warfare" and "Call of Duty WWII." In 2021, they released a pseudo-sequel to "WWII," entitled "Call of Duty: Vanguard." It was also set during World War II, but it otherwise had very little in common with their previous games and still feels unique compared to other "Call of Duty" games.

In terms of multiplayer, "Vanguard" is extremely divisive, with some citing it as one of the weaker games in the series. Some hate it for featuring such small maps, while others love it for the exact same reason. To call the multiplayer in "Vanguard" hectic would be an understatement. You know how almost every modern "Call of Duty" has one or two maps that feel designed for grinding kills with little regard to sanity or strategy? Lots of maps in "Vanguard" are like that, and it's pretty glorious, if you can roll with its manic energy.

No matter what modes you play in "Vanguard," you're not going to live very long, even by "Call of Duty" standards. It feels more like a successor to "Call of Duty: Ghosts" in that respect, though with more of a deliberately arcade-style bent to it. It's crazy but still a blast to play, as opposed to "Ghosts," where it felt like you had to abuse the meta to have a chance against elite players. "Vanguard" might not be the most balanced "Call of Duty" around, but it's a whole lot of fun.

In both single player and multiplayer, "Black Ops II" is where Treyarch reached their fully evolved form. "World at War" and the original "Black Ops" are fantastic but undeniably rough around the edges, but "Black Ops II" knocked it out of the park with one of the best story modes in "CoD" history and a multiplayer suite that felt like its own thing, rather than a spin on what Infinity Ward had already done.

"Black Ops II" introduced the 'Pick 10' system, which allowed players a greater level of loadout customization than ever before. Want to trade the ability to carry grenades for an extra attachment on your rifle? You can do that. "Black Ops II" also introduced the Hardpoint game mode, which has players fighting over a control point that jumps to different locations every few minutes. The mode has been in every game since then, except for "Ghosts." Perhaps Infinity Ward didn't realize how popular Hardpoint had become. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine a "Call of Duty" without Hardpoint.

Zombies mode also returned in "Black Ops II," and allowed up to four players to play the mode on one system. Sure, the framerate took a hard hit, but if you haven't played Zombies mode with three pals on the same couch, you haven't had the true "CoD Zombies" experience.

"Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" may have invented the formula, but the sequel, 2009's "Modern Warfare 2," perfected it. Its multiplayer suite was pretty similar to that of its predecessor, but it came with enough improvements to solidify "Call of Duty" as the king of multiplayer console gaming for its generation.

"Modern Warfare 2" is so beloved, even its occasional flaw is remembered fondly. Everyone loves the hilariously broken akimbo 1887 shotguns! To this day, it's a horrible crime that the 2020 remake/remaster of "Modern Warfare 2" only contained the campaign and not the multiplayer mode nor Special Ops.

Speaking of which, "Special Ops" is the crown jewel in the "Modern Warfare 2" crown. This mode features 23 unique missions for two players to team up and play either locally or online (though most of them can be played solo, if you'd like). Some missions are silly arcade madness, while others are blisteringly difficult, but they're all incredibly fun. 

A couple of standouts include "Overwatch," which puts one player in a gunship (a la "Death From Above" from "CoD 4) while the other player completes a mission on the ground, and "Hidden," which recreates "All Ghillied Up" from "CoD 4" but as a co-op experience. The mode returned in 2011's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" and was just as good, though it inexplicably disappeared after that. A version of the mode appeared in the reboot "Modern Warfare" and "Modern Warfare 2," but the reboot-era "Spec Ops" felt more like an afterthought than a marquee feature.

Finally, we come to the franchise's biggest reboot since 2007, the back-to-basics 2019 entry, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare." After the Infinity Ward games kind of lost the plot with the outlandish (but ultimately solid and underrated) "Infinite Warfare" and the "Black Ops" games off doing their own thing, the decision was made to return to the roots of the series. Well, not the WWII roots, but the "Modern Warfare" roots.

"Modern Warfare" was a full reboot with loads of nods to the classic "Modern Warfare" games in its excellent campaign story mode, but the multiplayer was where it really shined, crummy Spec Ops mode notwithstanding. Gone were wall-running and "Specialist" classes. In their place were boots-on-the-ground action and a new mounting system that allowed players to improve their accuracy and maintain a degree of cover by leaning their weapon against a wall or cover point. This enabled a clever balance between slower, more accurate play-styles and the manic, run-and-gun (or knife) players. The feel was much closer to the glory days of the classic "Modern Warfare" games but modernized, or re-modernized, I suppose. With this realism came some controversy, but that's to be expected with any military-themed video game.

But the best addition to "Modern Warfare" 2019 was the new '2v2 Gunfight' mode, which recreates the feel of old-school split-screen multiplayer from generations past. Matches are set on small maps with preset equipment, and players only have one life per round. It's an incredibly intense mode, especially with a trusted buddy as your teammate, and it has been included in every "Call of Duty" since then (except "Vanguard," for some reason).