It's no secret that Call of Duty has some pretty rad campaigns. Whether you want to rip apart some Nazis in World War II, stop a Russian Doomsday plan in the Cold War, or fight a cyber threat in the future, Call of Duty seems to have you covered.
But out of all those missions, which are the ones that really stick with you? The ones that you think about after you play the game? The ones that hold images and moments you'll never forget? Which keep the gameplay high pace and adrenaline pumping while still being challenging and fun?
I'm counting down what I think are the Top 11 best Call of Duty Missions of all time. Why top 11? Cause in the words of the Nostalgia Critic, "I like to go one step beyond".
Honorable Mentions
I can't give a rundown of every mission I love, and these were just about to make the cut so I'll list them here:
- No Russian - MW2
- Suffer With Me - BOII
- Crew Expendable - CoD4
- Just Like Old Times - MW2 (Captain Price's Speech in this was amazing)
- Victor Charlie - BO
- Blood Brothers - MW3
11: Project Nova
Project Nova has the distinction of being the only mission in Call of Duty: Black Ops set in the World War II Era. The mission is a unique experience from the rest of the campaign, and combines Call of Duty: World at War's setting, weaponry, and overall feel with Black Op's story, writing, and action. Add in the fact that there are three factions to fight, two of them fighting each other at one point with the player caught in the crossfire, and you have a very unique level amongst the rest of the campaign.
The Mission feels like an extension of the astounding Russian Campaign from World at War, which makes it even more fun to play. It also features the emotional death of Dimitri Petrenko, one of the saddest deaths throughout the entire series. The mission helps the player to understand the evil of Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Steiner and why Reznov has such a vendetta against them.
You also get to play as Reznov during the mission, and who doesn't love that?
10: Mile High Club
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was well known for all aspects of the game being outstanding. The campaign was a great way to experience a modern war in the Call of Duty series and was a huge shift in direction considering the previous CoD games had all focused on World War II. The campaign itself was a pretty straight-forward with it's gameplay. Drop into a level, move tactically through it eliminating all enemies, and finish. And then there's Mile High Club.
At the time it had no story significance and was just a fun bonus mission for completing the campaign. Mile High Club is a fast paced mission, spec ops style mission.
Players infiltrate a passenger plane midflight and must now fight through the plane to rescue a hostage on the second floor before time runs out. The tight corridors, lack of explosives, close quarter combat, and time based objective make the whole level an energy pumping experience which is only increased by elements such as holes being ripped open in the plane and having to jump out of the plane before a bomb goes off.
Also, the names got some innuendo going for it. Always fun.
9: Saint-Lô
Call of Duty 3 isn't the best game in the series. In fact, some might say it's the worst. And its campaign doesn't come up much in memory. It's fun, but not a memorable experience like so many other FPS campaigns.
But then there's the first mission. After short training sequence and being introduced to your squad, players are thrust right into an epic battle with the Germans in Saint-Lô. Explosions and bullets fly everywhere as the fighting starts. It's so epic actually, you can become disoriented by the amount of awesome just going on around you. It's a great opening for a campaign, but is sadly forgotten by many.
8: Takedown
Takedown is a great example of why I loved Modern Warfare 2's campaign. Set in the Brazilian Favela, players are tasked with fighting through tons and tons of Brazilian Militia in the Favela in order to capture Alejandro Rojas for interrogation.
Takedown gives the player multiple routes through the level, letting players adopt multiple strategies for completion. It also plays to the setting well. The Militia use less advanced weaponry compared to Taskforce 141 and also fight with Guerilla-like tactics. The fact that you can be running through a house, jump out of a window onto a nearby porch, land in front of the door, and be killed by a Militia Soldier slightly opening the door and spraying his gun out of it is enough to keep you on your toes during gameplay.
And in the end Soap goes super badass and tackles Rojas off a rooftop. Cause he's fucking Soap and he's awesome.
7: Dust to Dust
"This is for Soap" - Captain Price, with the most intense line of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Dust to Dust is the Grand Finale of Modern Warfare 3 and, as far as we know, the Modern Warfare series in general. Price and Yuri are assaulting the Oasis Hotel in one final push to kill Makarov.
This mission is intense from beginning to end, from arriving in an armored van, to assaulting the hotel in Juggernaut suits, to hanging Makarov by a wire, the whole mission is a fun ride until the very end and an incredible and memorable way to end the MW3 campaign. Though it does feature the fairly tragic death of Yuri, by Makarovs hand.
One negative aspect, the Oasis hotel does not appear to have a pool. Like, what the fuck where's the pool?
6: Karma
Black Ops II's plot was one of the more complex ones in terms of the villains. Menendez was given a fair amount of character and motivation. One of these motivations is his strong hatred of the rich and Karma is a perfect level to show off that.
Karma is set on a floating city known as Colossus. David Mason, Harper, and Salazar have been sent there to retrieve a weapon known as Karma. After locating Karma and discovering that it is in fact a girl named Chloe Lynch, Mason and Harper move to extract her from the City's night club. After failing to do so, resulting in a shoot out on the dance floor, the Navy Seals fight through a mall attempting to rescue Chloe from DeFalco and saving several civilians from the forces of Cordis Die.
Karma is a perfect level to show off the very people Menendez's hates, but also makes you want to stop him even more as you realize how horrible of a man he is. The level is also very fun to play, with a large variety of gameplay styles and scripted sequences to build it up. Colossus also just looks simply amazing, and the design team did a great job of making the City look like an absolute paradise.
The fact that Skrillex is still popular in 2025 is also a big plus.
5: Vendetta
Vendetta is the perfect mood setter for World at War. It's dark, it's dreary, it's downright depressing, and it's awesome. You start off in a dried up and destroyed fountain, bodies of your dead comrades litter the ground. Reznov reveals to you that he is alive and hands you a rifle, asking you to snipe for him. And from there, the whole mission is a battle for survival until you finally snipe General Amsel at the very end.
Vendettas atmosphere of literal hopelessness is what sets it apart from other levels. It fits perfectly into the context of a destroyed and invaded Stalingrad.
I can't really think of anything entertaining to say about this level, it's that much of an emotional powerhouse. It's pretty impressive that it can be so dark and personal even though it's an introduction level to the Russian Campaign.
4: Second Sun and Whiskey Hotel
This is the only double on this list because I feel these two are really just halves of one big level. Second Sun has the atmosphere while Whiskey Hotel has the epic combat.
Second Sun takes place just after Price has launched an ICBM at D.C causing an EMP to black out the city. After a short sequence set at the International Space Station from the perspective of character Sat1, the player is brought to control James Ramirez as a member of the Army Rangers with Foley and Dunn. After running for cover through the streets as Helicopters literally fall out of the sky and crash in front of you, players are treated to a very atmosphere based level. You travel through the blacked out streets of D.C, with a feeling of Isolation and Hopelessness filling you the whole time. Little bits of fighting interrupt the atmosphere based trip, but for the most part players are walking and just gazing at the level of detail Infinity Ward has put into making the level look as realistic and, for lack of a better word, creepy as possible.
Whiskey Hotel is then the triumphant final assault on the White House itself, with the Rangers hoping to use signal flares to prevent getting leveled by an American Airstrike.
Overall, the two levels together have amazing atmosphere and tense gameplay.
3: Black Tuesday
Similar to how Dust to Dust was a great and epic end for MW3, Black Tuesday was a great and epic start. Featuring the debut of Delta Force, Frost, Sandman, Grinch, and Truck fight through Wall Street in order to disable a Russian jamming beacon on top of the New York Stock Exchange.
Though it might not have any major story or artistic elements to it, Black Tuesday is a fun and wild ride from start to finish, and its epic conclusion with a helicopter chase/battle through Manhattan only adds to the absolute fun and mayhem of the level.
2: All Ghillied Up
If you've played Call of Duty 4, you had to have known this level was gonna be somewhere on here. This is the pinnacle of Call of Duty stealth, it's something every CoD since has tried to recreate but couldn't.
Whether it's carefully aiming your shot to take out a couple soldiers, crawling under trucks to get past enemy lines, or crawling through the grass directly towards enemy soldiers and tanks just to stay undetected, All ghilled Up has something for every fan of stealth in Call of Duty games.
1: Vorkuta
I cannot describe how much I love this level. When I think of Call of Duty campaigns, this is the level that always comes to mind. It combines everything good about Call of Duty campaigns into one amazing level. Great Design, Good Story, Original Concept, Good Combat, Fun Scripted Sequences, a Feeling of Success, and overall fun. Vorkuta has it all. From Reznov's incredible speeches of encouragement, to the brotherly bond shared by every inmate of Vorkuta, the second you take control of Mason to try and lead these men out, you know you're in for a treat.
Juggernauts, Death Machine, Sergei Kozin, Harpoons, Motorbikes, the level is wild and fun. There is no negative aspect of this level. The theme of escalation is prevalent here, and it just adds to the fun. Vorkuta is in all reality, my favorite Call of Duty Mission.
Also, it's the only mission where Mason sees Reznov and isn't batshit insane.
Thanks for reading!
