After getting off to a relatively slow start, 2021 has turned out to be quite the year for video games – especially when it comes to blockbuster first-person shooters. “Call of Duty vs Halo” will be the debate that most gamers will be having as we get ever deeper into the holiday season. Therefore, we just couldn’t stop ourselves from weighing up the benefits of both, helping you to better get an idea about which game to get for yourself, or that special gamer in your life for Xmas.
The Call of Duty Vs Halo concept might seem daunting if you’re a relative newcomer to either series, but luckily both franchises received sequels this year that are relatively. That means no pre-existing knowledge of any prior Call of Duty or Halo game is needed to play Call of Duty: Vanguard or Halo Infinite. The latter is unfortunately a console exclusive on Microsoft's Xbox, as it's been released to accompany the new Xbox Series X|S consoles, so it’s worth mentioning this shouldn’t be a candidate if you’re intending to buy for PS4 or PS5. Anyway, let’s get into it…
Call of Duty vs Halo – Single-Player Campaign
The good news when weighing up these two shooter options is that both come packed with a dedicated single-player campaign. “But hasn’t this always been the case?” we hear you ask. Well, not always, if you look at the recent FPS landscape, as even Battlefield 2042 (released just a few weeks ago) only comes with competitive multiplayer. And that’s despite being a full-price boxed game. Fortunately, as mentioned, Call of Duty: Vanguard and Halo: Infinite place emphasis on giving solo players a thrilling feature-complete campaign.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is the lesser-known quantity from a single-player perspective, as both the setting and characters vary each year from game to game. This time around it sets place back into the trenches of WWII, harnessing the full power of current-gen consoles to make you feel the weight of every grenade blast, sniper shot and knife stab like never before. The campaign will see you control several characters who make up the world’s very first spec ops team, attempting to covertly go behind enemy lines in order to take down the Nazi regime from the inside. It’s one of the more serious Call of Duty campaigns, sure, but it plays out like a Spielberg-directed war movie.
Halo Infinite marks the first game in 343 Industries’ explosive Sci-Fi series since 2015’s Halo 5, being a lot more ambitious than the traditional linear campaigns Halo fans will likely know. That “Infinite” in the title isn’t just meant to be catchy, but rather refers to how much fun and opportunity single-player enthusiasts can have when exploring and shooting up aliens while upon the new Zeta Halo Ring. The story picks up with Master Chief directly after the last game, but this is being treated by publisher Microsoft as a new beginning for the franchise. Therefore, it’s a good choice for Xbox players that want to get in on the Halo craze.
Call of Duty vs Halo – Online Multiplayer
Both Call of Duty and Halo boast incredibly polished and jam-packed online multiplayer offerings. Luckily, the two couldn’t be any more different from one another in this regard. Call of Duty: Vanguard, for example, very much retains the fast-paced action and short time-to-kill despite being set during a time in history when slower-firing weapons were rampant. You’ll once again unlock constant weapon and attachment upgrades, new kill-streak abilities, as well as myriad customisation options for your chosen operator and namecard. Playing through classic match types like Domination, Kill Confirmed and Hardpoint, Call of Duty: Vanguard is the classic but reliable choice.
Halo Infinite, by comparison, features a much more differently paced brand of online multiplayer. A lot of this is due to most weapons working best when fired from the hip, the far more open maps, and character shields that make for a much longer time to kill. Halo Infinite harkens back to an older style of online multiplayer, where kill-streaks and loadouts weren’t the things that kept you playing, but rather how inherently fun it is to play. However, Halo does see the addition of a battle pass for the very first time, so there’s always encouragement to play better – either as alone or as part of a team, oh and the best bit? Halo Infinite's multiplayer is free - you don't even need Xbox Game Pass to play it.
Call of Duty vs Halo – Mechanical Innovations
The Call of Duty vs Halo debate is made even harder again this time around because both franchises make various bold new additions to their pre-established mechanical formula.
For Halo Infinite this means giving Master Chief access to a grappling hook, which enables players to pull themselves up onto far-off ledges in both the single-player campaign environments as well as multiplayer maps. Suddenly, it’s no longer about how fast you can run or how well you jump boost – the grapple hook in Halo Infinite adds a whole other dimension to play. This combines with tighter controls, new alien weapons and an upgrade system that sees the Chief to grow stronger over time.
As for Call of Duty: Vanguard, it’s admittedly more business as usual from a mechanical standpoint, but there are a couple of slight gunplay tweaks worth mentioning. The most noteworthy addition is blindfiring, which might seem slight but still changes the game drastically. No longer do players have to make themselves vulnerable – in either the campaign or online multiplayer – when shooting over cover. Instead, now you can unleash a barrage of blindfire from behind. Will that fire be just as accurate as if you were to aim down the sights? No, but it’s yet another arsenal in your vital toolset of sliding, mounting and hip-firing.
Overall, Halo Infinite and Call of Duty: Vanguard are distinct enough that even those who play both are almost guaranteed a good time. This may make your decision about which to dedicate time to even more challenging, true, yet now you’re equipped about which franchise entry this year is better: Call of Duty vs Halo? Whether you primarily play single-player or multiplayer, you can finish the fight however you like.
