With Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on the horizon, it’s time to look back on previous entries within the series that helped get us to this point.
Iconic characters, weapons, modes, and moments have all carried Black Ops to massive success in the gaming industry. The first title launched in 2010 and the series has been going strong ever since with Treyarch at the helm, and it’s shown no signs of slowing down.
Here’s our picks for Black Ops games ranked from worst to best.
All CoD Black Ops games, ranked
Starting with Alex Mason, Frank Woods, Jason Hudson, and Viktor Reznov in the 1960s, the Black Ops franchise has been a massive hit in the FPS genre, spanning different decades and era of warfare from the past to the future.
Featuring some of the best multiplayer, campaign, and co-op moments within the genre, it’s chock full of memories for gamers everywhere, with new ones still to come. And we’ve narrowed down our list to rank the series from best to worst.
5) Black Ops 4
While it’s easily the worst out of the Black Ops series thus far, Black Ops 4 wasn’t a terrible game by any means. It just wasn’t very memorable or special in any facet, especially since it had no campaign to speak of at all.
Campaigns are not important to many players, but the lack of one at all was felt in BO4. The first iteration on CoD battle royale, Blackout, took its place, and was hit or miss for many players. It’s remembered fondly by some, and dismissed entirely by others, much like the multiplayer component and forgettable new Zombies cast.
4) Black Ops Cold War
Black Ops Cold War is a good CoD game, but only lands at this spot in the list because of the greatness that came before it. A strong campaign, solid multiplayer offering, and different take on Zombies with additions like Extraction and the new mode Outbreak made it a game to remember for CoD players.
3) Black Ops 3
Black Ops 3 took the fight even further into the future and iterated on Advanced Warfare’s “jetpack” gameplay to offer an amazing multiplayer experience. It also had what most would agree is the best Zombies experience yet, that has yet to be surpassed for the mode’s biggest fans.
This was the first game to introduce Specialists, unique characters with their own personalities and abilities, as opposed to faceless multiplayer operators. It was a fun and unique spin on the formula at the time.
2) Black Ops 1
A good foundation is needed for greatness. And that’s exactly what the original Black Ops game did way back in 2010. Following up on Modern Warfare 2 was no easy task, but Treyarch’s first entry in the BO series, utilizing some characters and story elements from World at War, kicked things off tremendously.
Alongside one of the best CoD campaigns ever made, BO1 expanded on the Zombies formula introduced in World at War, and also had an incredibly fun multiplayer that introduced all-time great maps such as Nuketown, Firing Range, Summit, and more.
1) Black Ops 2
It just hasn’t gotten better since this moment in time. Black Ops 2 is the odds-on favorite game for a large amount of CoD players, myself included. Whether it was the masterful weapons and maps in multiplayer, the League Play grind, fun campaign, or countless hours playing Zombies, BO2 is just simply the best Black Ops game—and arguably the best CoD overall.
I wish I could go back in time to re-live the days of playing BO2 for hours on end, simply watching time disappear as I played with friends or grinded League Play solo in attempts to become a CoD esports pro. Make sure to enjoy yourself while you can, youngsters.
