History YMMV / CallOfDuty

* PortingDisaster: Occasionally on specific entries, but cases like the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS stick out, as does ''Call of Duty 3'''s port to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and sixth generation of consoles. In the former case, the games might as well not be their original entries at all, which is to be expected for a handheld of the time. For the latter, everything that wasn't the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 version had major performance issues, especially on sixth generation consoles that could barely run the game. The [=PlayStation 3=] port being half of the 360's framerate, often dipping far lower, with [[{{Waggle}} gratuitous motion controls]] thrown on was one of the key factors to the system's early rough reputation as a lesser console.

** Once, the mere mentioning of Modern Warfare 2 on any gaming forum will bring the wrath of untold [[UsefulNotes/PCVsConsole PC fanboys,]] as it lacks a server browser and dedicated servers.

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Another criticism, due to a general lack of change until ''Black Ops II'', and even then there are quite a few aspects that people are still complaining about.

* OnceAcceptableTargets: Generically Middle-Eastern terrorists were once common enemies during the series (especially in the Modern Warfare games), which earned the developers several accusations of racism and ethnic stereotyping.
** As mentioned above, Russians were once the main villains for the franchise for four straight games, but have become less common as antagonists.

* TheScrappy: Dogs. More specifically, attack dogs whenever they're used by enemy factions against the player. They were infamous for their extremely difficult PressXToNotDie moments starting with Modern Warfare. They were toned down in VideoGame/CallOfDutyWWII, where escaping their attack was instead replaced with SmashingSurvival, but it wasn't much better. This is even HarsherInHindsight in WWII where a dog ends up killing [[spoiler: the PlayerCharacter's older brother]].
** Woods in ''[=BO4=]'' has become quite possibly the single most hated character in the entire franchise. Yes, the same Woods who was ''the'' fan favorite of the first two ''Black Ops.'' He is relegated to the role of the announcer for tutorial modes, which would be fine if he acted like he did in the previous games at all. Instead, he's reduced to an absurdly obnoxious TotallyRadical caricature ("That bounce was lit AF!") that everyone wishes they could mute, not to mention how out of character it is, given the time period he was raised in. (He was born in 1930.)

* AcceptableTargets:
%%** The ''Call of Duty'' franchise as a whole has become this ''for the entire Internet'', now that [[{{Creator/Bungie}} the developers of]] [[{{Franchise/Halo}} that other franchise which everyone claimed was the cancer killing first person shooters]] have moved on (and come back into public view, but the ''Halo'' hype seems to have started again). This reached the point that footage from ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyInfiniteWarfare Infinite Warfare]]'' wowed audiences at E3 2016... until the ''Call of Duty'' title came up on screen, silencing the cheers. The sheer bile has begun to die down now that ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' has become the new fashionable thing for the entire internet to hate.
** Since it's somewhat politically insensitive to cast Russians (or other foreign regimes) as generic antagonists, morally bankrupt PrivateMilitaryContractors have become recurrent villains in the franchise, including Shadow Company from ''Modern Warfare 2'', Cordis Die's mercs from ''Black Ops II'', and Atlas Corporation from ''Advanced Warfare''.
** Zombies are AlwaysEvil and the games feature entire campaigns about fighting through hordes of the mindless undead.
** A convenient thing about returning to WWII is the lack of moral ambiguity connected to mowing down fascist Nazi soldiers.

* PortingDisaster: Occasionally on specific entries, but cases like the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS stick out, as does ''Call of Duty 3'''s port to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and sixth generation of consoles. In the former case, the games might as well not be their original entries at all, which is to be expected for a handheld of the time. For the latter, everything that wasn't the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 version had major performance issues, especially on sixth generation consoles that could barely run the game. The [=PlayStation 3=] port being half of the 360's framerate with [[{{Waggle}} gratuitous motion controls]] thrown on didn't help critic's opinions of the system's opening days.

* PortingDisaster: Occasionally on specific entries, but cases like the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS stick out, as does ''Call of Duty 3'''s port to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and sixth generation of consoles. In the former case, the games might as well not be their original entries at all, which is to be expected for a handheld of the time. For the latter, everything that wasn't the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 version had major performance issues, and the sixth gen ran a massively paired back title that faired worse than ''Finest Hour'' or ''Big Red One'', designed specifically for that gen in the first place.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Once, the mere mentioning of Modern Warfare 2 on any gaming forum will bring the wrath of untold [[UsefulNotes/PCVsConsole PC fanboys,]] as it lacks server browser and dedicated servers.

** Zombies mode has been hit with this as well. Treyarch's Zombies are near-universally acclaimed, barring the occasional miss like ''Black Ops II''. When the other developers started adding their own Zombies modes, they didn't get anywhere near the same praise. When ''Vanguard'' was in development Sledgehammer didn't even bother trying - they asked Treyarch to do the mode for them.

** ''Ghosts'' is generally considered to be a sub-par ''Call of Duty'' sequel due to its weak original setting story and characters, over-reliance on rare guns as the second attempt to futurize the franchise, stupid hype ("Fish AI" that wasn't as unique as advertised and didn't work anyway, and an "improved graphics engine" that was only a noticeable improvement in [[TechDemoGame the system requirements]]), and a ClicheStorm plot with [[TooBleakStoppedCaring no likeable characters on either side]] that ends in a blatant SequelHook.

** In ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'', many. [[spoiler: Makarov for mowing down an airport full of innocent civilians and pinning it on the U.S.; the "good" Russian army vowing to kill 1,000 Americans for every dead Russian civilian in the airport (and they go about this gleefully by shooting down civilian evac choppers); and Shepherd for orchestrating it all because, he claimed, there weren't enough patriots in America.]]
** Black Ops: In case you didn't catch on that Dragovich was a bad guy, [[spoiler: the part when he locks up some of his own troops, including Dimitri Petrenko, the hero from World at War, and exposes them to a horrific flesh-melting chemical weapon just as a test]] should leave no doubt at all.
* NeverLiveItDown: The funeral scene from ''Advanced Warfare'', which ultimately popularized the PC version's interact key as the respect-paying button.

* {{Sequelitis}}: The series generally fell into this starting from ''Ghosts'' due to being StrictlyFormula in multiplayer, and the singleplayers features increasingly implausible scenarios and increasing number of [[AKA47 fictional firearms]].
* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: A lot of people play ''World at War'' and the three ''Black Ops'' games JUST for VideoGame/NaziZombies.