Players experiencing Call of Duty: Vanguard’s campaign will likely wonder what it’s based on and if it’s a true story. Sure, plenty of people will recognize Stalingrad and Normandy, but are we just playing around in history or experiencing it as it happened? Well, the answer will be disappointing to some.
Is the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign based on a true story?
No, the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign is not based on a true story. It claims to tell the story behind the formation of the first special forces unit, Special Operations Task Force 001 or Task Force Vanguard. However, that unit never existed.
The four playable characters in the campaign are very, very, loosely based on soldiers and sailors that fought in World War II. However, it doesn’t portray anything close to the realities of their experience and even changes some of their nationalities and ranks. It’s essentially a comic book version of real events.
It’s odd that Sledgehammer decided to portray a fictional unit since the Special Air Service (SAS), which figured heavily in some past Call of Duty games, was the first modern special forces unit. Either the SAS or the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) would have been much more appropriate here than saying that some made up unit was the first special forces group.
The main issue with the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign is that the game is advertised as telling “the untold stories of multinational heroes” and “revealing the origins of the special forces.” Those that don’t study history might play this game and be led to believe that it has any connection to reality other than using World War II as a setting. For an example of how inaccurate this story is, the writers took the story of Charles Upham, the most decorated New Zealand soldier of all time, and turned him into the Australian Lucas Riggs.
So, players should have fun with the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign, but keep in mind that it’s nothing more than a fairy tale set in World War II. Hopefully, it’ll be a gateway to some of the real stories of the brave men and women who fought.
