Call of Duty has been one of the biggest franchises in gaming for almost 20 years now. There has been a game almost every year since 2003, with over three studios taking a turn each year to bring out their new Call of Duty title.
With so many cooks in the kitchen and so many visions over the years, it's no surprise that Call of Duty would be home to some ideas too silly not to discuss. With games spanning multiple decades, and multiple generations of players and consoles, it’s time to embrace the series' silly streak by acknowledging these moments.
12 Press F To Pay Respects
During the beginning segments of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, players experience an emotional moment as the protagonist loses a limb, and a good friend. As the player's viewpoint transitions to the funeral for a soldier lost in war, no one expected the now-iconic "Press F to pay respects" to pop up.
The reason this feels so silly is that there was no need for the player to have a quick-time-event in which they put a hand on their friend’s grave. It takes players out of the immersion.
11 Players Vs Predator
Before multiplayer games were brimming with collaborations with other franchises, Call of Duty: Ghosts took the crown for the most unpredictable collaborations to come to the FPS shooter. This took place on the map The Ruins with the PREDATOR franchise.
Players could become The Predator long before the franchise iconic appeared in Fortnite. This gave them access to an infrared vision and the ability to use the iconic one-hit-kill shoulder canon. Predators could be a fearful enemy to fight, and a fun one to become in the game.
10 Fighting Nazis With A Ray Gun
Call of Duty has portrayed serious gun combat throughout history, to the modern-day, and even the future. In Call of Duty: World at War, the second campaign mission “Little Resistance” has the player storm a beach with other American soldiers.
Toward the beginning, if the player stands correctly in a bunch of puddles, statues emerge from the ground speaking gibberish and holding ray guns. The ability to explode Nazis with this alien weapon was fun and silly.
9 Nuketown’s Mannequins Are Alive
Nuketown has been one of the most famous and iconic multiplayer maps from the franchise, and has been in every Black Ops title since the first. The mannequins have always been a part of the map, and players always thought they were creepy.
In Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, there's an even creepier Easter egg. If players shoot the heads off all the mannequins within two minutes, an ominous ding can be heard, and an army of mannequins will come after the player until the game ends.
8 A Jetpack Joyride
After some years of success, the Call of Duty franhcise tried to change the game of their FPS shooter design and ditched the boots-on-the-ground warfare for something a little more fast-paced and versatile. Starting with Advanced Warfare, and ending with Infinite Warfare, the jetpack allowed for quicker action.
Gone were the days of prone shooters, as a new killer emerged. The shooter would simply fly up and force the player to follow them with your sights. Jetpacks were a silly addition to the serious shooter, but it certainly was refreshing for a while.
7 Menendez And Woods Rock Out
Fans of heavy metal and Avenged Sevenfold will be happy to know that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 includes just that. After the end credits to the serious game, players will see the villainous Menendez freaking out about rocking out on stage.
This bizarre easter egg was included due to the band’s love of Black Ops. It includes Mendez and Woods from the campaign, playing on stage with them as if the events of the campaign never happened.
6 Snoop Dogg Operator
Call of Duty challenged Fortnite for its Battle Royale crown when it released Warzone, a dedicated Battle Royale with its spin. What this title has that Fortnite doesn’t is the rap heavyweight himself, Snoop Dogg.
It would be quite the strange thing, checking corners and carefully planning a route, just to be 360 no-scoped by Snoop Dogg. Let's just hope he's a fair sport and doesn't spam the crouch button.
5 Project Blackout’s Story
Before Warzone, there was Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. This game abandoned the concept of a campaign, in favor of the franchise’s first attempt at a Battle Royale. Blackout was a new and unique Battle Royale, which had its own story.
Set in the future, Black Ops icons like Alex Mason and Frank Woods would return. The story was the product of much speculation, as it was only shown through mini-cutscenes and even brought back Sam Worthington. Yet, there was no conclusion. The working theory is that these characters were resurrected as “Archetypes,” but that’s all that is known.
4 Evil Monkeys From Outer Space
The beloved attachment that fans hope never leaves the Call of Duty franchise is that of the Zombies game mode. The mode itself is silly fun, and it has its own player base that doesn’t even care for the campaign or multiplayer. Call of Duty: Black Ops introduced a map called "Ascension," which featured cute monkeys.
These “cute monkeys” were the replacement of devil hound rounds, and they would crash their spaceships and smash up any perk machines that the player had drank from. They were annoying, silly, and everywhere.
3 Celebrity Cameos
As a franchise with mega-success, it’s no surprise that Call of Duty can spare the cash to have a few A-listers appear in their games now and then. It can take players out of the experience of a series story when they see Jon Snow from Game of Thrones as the villain.
Gone are the days when celebrities would play characters that don’t look like them, such as Gary Oldman as Viktor Reznov. Today, celebrities in the COD franchise have their faces plastered everywhere. It’s even a gimmick for the Zombies game mode to feature a crew of celebrities for one map, like Ron Perlman and Jeff Goldblum in Black Ops 3’s “Shadows of Evil,” a game mode that has slowly become sillier with its story.
2 Godzilla Vs King Kong
This is one of the most recent events and one of the silliest. Warzone introduced “Operation Monarch” which featured a correctly scaled Godzilla and King Kong on the Battle Royale map. The Monsterverse Titans would go across the map, roaring and screaming, and attacking players.
This collaboration clearly showed Call of Duty embracing silly and fun features, rather than the serious and edgy tones it was once known for. Now, players can fight a giant ape or lizard with Snoop Dogg.
1 JFK Vs Zombies
When the credits rolled on the intense psychological thriller campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops, it was doubtful that any player expected an end credits scene with Castro, JFK, and Nixon arguing at a table in the Pentagon. Even more doubtful was when zombies broke through, and the team stands defiantly with an arsenal of weaponry.
The zombie map “Five” is one of Treyarch’s finest and silliest, and is a classic for the game's roots. Playing as the former presidents against the zombie horde is the game mode at its wackiest, complete with great impressions of these real-life politicians, and silly one-liners.