Summary
Making a family tree of theCall of Dutygames would be a nearly impossible feat. It all started from one great World War 2 game, but since then it has branched off into numerous subseries, some of which take place in the same continuity while others stand completely on their own.
Players who want to follow one path would find plenty of interesting stories in theBlack Opsgames, but not all of these titles are made the same. As the list below shows, theBlack Opssubseries goes from the best of the best to the bottom of theCall of Dutybarrel.
WhileWorld at Wartakes place in the same continuity, it is omitted from the list since it is not a properBlack Opstitle.
Updated on June 18, 2025, by Jason Wojnar:Most of the Black Ops games were easy to follow in the continuity until 2020 came along and decided to destroy the numbering convention with Black Ops: Cold War.The 2024 Call of Duty game made things even weirder by being Black Ops 6.Black Ops: Cold War is the fifth Black Ops game but for some reason they decided not to call it that. Those two games are still directly connected, however. Weird names are not important, though. What really matters is where Black Ops 6 sits in the rankings of the best games of the Black Ops subseries.
10Black Ops: Declassified
Two Analog Sticks Could Not Save This Game
The PS Vita was one of the most powerful handheldsof the time, but power means nothing if the base game is not worth writing home about.Black Ops - Declassifiedis a dreadful game on its own and looks even worse when compared to the rest of the games bearing theBlack Opsname.
The single-player campaign feels like it was put together with duct tape, lacking any of the excitement one would come to expect from the series stories. The multiplayer does its best to give the tried and trueCoDsuite on a handheld, but people were better off waiting until they could play on their console at home.
9Call Of Duty: Black Ops Mobile
Before Mobile Games Rivaled Consoles
In 2010 mobile phones were not quite powerful enough to recreate console experiences. This could be a blessing sometimes, since at least one could play an entirely different game on a phone.Black Ops Mobiletakes place in Vietnam and the gameplay is a throwback to top-down shooters.
It looks and feels like an SNES or Genesis game, an interesting perpective for theCall of Dutyseries. Unfortunately, gameplay often suffered on these older mobile devices.Black Ops Mobileis far from an ideal gameplay experience.
8Black Ops DS
Different Game With A Similar Name
Though it has the same name,Call of Duty: Black Opson the Nintendo DS is a different game than its console counterpart. It tells a slightly different story and the handheld’s unique capabilities fundamentally change the way players engage in combat.
The handheld games were all handled by the same developer, and the titles got progressively better with each entry.Black Ops DSis not really worth anyone’s time now, but it was definitely one of the better FPS games for Nintendo’s unique handheld.
7Black Ops Zombies
A Great Mobile Adaptation Of The Zombies Mode
In the same way that Capcom released a standalone Mercenaries game for the Nintendo 3DS, so did Activision make a separate Zombies game for the iOS.Black Ops Zombiesis a shockingly complete version of the popular game mode for mobile devices. It came out in 2012 so the graphics are not up to the standards of modern high-end mobile titles, but that should do little to detract from its quality when the gameplay feels this smooth.
The game launched with Kino before content updates added a couple of more maps. As if that is not enough,Dead Ops Arcadewas included in the package as well. The only thing standing against it is the older hardware and the fact it is one game mode where all the other games have a campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies.
The fourth numbered entry in this subseries took a unique approach in that it completely eschewed the single-player story mode. Being a multiplayer-only title did not hurt its sales, but it did alienate a small portion of the audience.Black Ops 4alsointroduced the Battle Royale genreinto the series with the Blackout mode.
Blackout was successful but lacked some of the modern conveniencesWarzonewould eventually implement, and it did not get updated as frequently. While the lack of a single-player is disappointing, there is still plenty of great content for those who are solely interested in multiplayer and Zombies, even if the latter lacked enjoyment in terms of story elements and map designs.
The 2020 entry in the series was something of a return to basics for the series. It does not dabble in any future storylines and plants itself firmly in the Cold War era, fully taking advantage of the aesthetic with missions once again set in Vietnam and some covert missions behind the Iron Curtain.
The multiplayer offers a particularly wide range of options for all types of players. The mainstays are here but there’s also Face Off, a three-on-three mode with maps tailored for the smaller player count that would delight fans ofolder, more hectic FPS games likeTimeSplittersorQuake.The more modern gameplay mechanics suited this title, even if there was some disappointment from how easy the zombie mode was, and how short the campaign was.
The firstBlack Opsintroduced more espionage into the series with a more cerebral story that focuses on characters rather than world-ending stakes, not to say that the stakes are not still high. Looking back on it with a modern lens, the gameplay does not feel as refined or polished as future entries.
However, the story is still intriguing and itintroduces many iconic characterslike Frank Woods and Alex Mason. It was also the first time the series covered the Vietnam War, evoking the era by using the popular yet still effective tropes of iconic classic rock tunes of the time. On top of an incredible thriller story, the zombies content was also the beginning of some of the best.
Black Ops 3’stakes place in the future and players have access to advanced movement mechanics that change the way they approach combat. This, along with the ability toplay through the campaign cooperativelywith three other people online (one other person locally), make the title unique even to this day.
The story’s combat encounters are more open than usual, and the ability to jump, dash, and wall-run opens up the gameplay possibilities, these mechanics translate into the multiplayer mode for high-octane action and frustration. The story does not have anything in common with the priorBlack Opsgames, which is somewhat of a letdown, but the game makes up for it with the best zombie content in the series.
Black Ops 2rides the line between taking the series in a radical direction while still maintaining theBlack Opsidentity. Most of the characters from the first game come back and certain plot threads continue, but it also jumps back and forth through time, hinting at the future aesthetic some later games would run with.
The single-player also features optional missions and multiple endings. It was a greatCall of Dutygame for anybody who might have been growing tired of the series by 2012 and arguably stands the test of time as one of the best multiplayerCODgames thanks to the meta, maps, and modes.
Depending on one’s opinion of Avenged Sevenfold, the band’s cameo at the end of the game might either be the icing on the cake or the thing that ruins an otherwise solemn and dark ending.
The 2024 game comes after the dud that wasModern Warfare 3. Even without this significant quality uptick from a bad year,Black Ops 6stands as one of the finestCall of Dutygames of this generation. The single-player campaign makes sure every level feels different. Many missions introduce new mechanics to keep players interested before moving on to something new in the following level.
The multiplayer is incredibly fast-paced thanks to the introduction of the omnimovement system. Zombies brings back the easter eggs of the past and is more approachable than the harder wave-based modes from prior games.
