Modern Warfare vs Black Ops: Which is the better Call of Duty series?

COD Modern Warfare vs Black Ops is a popular debate among the first-person shooter fan base. There are plenty of reasons to love both of these action-packed franchises, but each has unique attributes and features that don’t apply to the other.

Modern Warfare shines for its gritty campaigns that lean into realism. The environments in multiplayer mode and the recurring special ops experience usually feel like they’d exist in a modern-day world, like the name of the franchise.

In turn, Modern Warfare games take fewer creative freedoms compared to titles from the Black Ops series. Zombies aren’t usually present in Modern Warfare titles either, which is often considered Call of Duty’s best secondary game mode.

Overall, Modern Warfare excels in the realism department, but the equipment, game modes, and storylines take fewer chances to try new things.

Black Ops games are known for their fun-filled zombie modes and storylines set in both the past and the future. The most recent title, Black Ops 7, offers futuristic warfare with robotic scorestreaks, while other Black Ops games have taken players back to the Cold War era.

Multiplayer and zombies have both pushed the limits throughout the history of Black Ops, offering fun new mechanics and out-of-this-world stories, even if less realistic. The wide variety of scorestreaks and colourful maps like Nuketown allow Black Ops to exist as a vibrant franchise.

In conclusion, the Black Ops series is great for arcade-style multiplayer gameplay and its creative themes, though it often crosses over into unrealistic territory.

We’ve laid out which franchise is best for each category below, along with our overall pick for best series.

Call of Duty campaigns are always fun, but Modern Warfare typically offers a better experience over Black Ops since the former sticks to COD’s military roots and grounded gameplay. Though the narratives in Black Ops are often thrilling and distinct, Modern Warfare better captures the feel of fighting as a soldier in the modern day.

The arcade-like online gameplay in Black Ops vs Modern Warfare multiplayer modes is another important point to consider. Multiplayer is top-notch in both, though Black Ops takes the cake due to the variety of mechanics added to each game. Black Ops has had wall jumping, omnimovement, and even thruster packs, alongside titles with grounded movement, so the Black Ops franchise has more variety overall. Plus, Black Ops games span the past, present, and future, so there’s a wider selection of equipment to use.

Black Ops zombies are one of the best things about Call of Duty, whereas special ops is interesting, but not as unique. Every Black Ops game has a variety of zombie maps to explore by the end of its life cycle, plus the new Directed mode allows players to experience the difficult zombie storylines in a guided format.

At the end of the day, Black Ops offers more unique mechanics and a stronger secondary experience with zombie modes. While a singular Modern Warfare title might be better than some Black Ops games, the latter-mentioned franchise is stronger as a whole due to its large lineup of movement mechanics and stories set in different time periods. For all the reasons above, Black Ops takes the title as the best Call of Duty franchise of all time.