Due to issues beyond our control, review access to Call of Duty: Vanguard -- normally early in time for publication at launch -- wasn't in the doable basket for 2021, meaning we're only kicking off our in-depth time with the game alongside you, the punters, now. So our review is, in fact, a 'review-in-progress'.

Of course if you've already nabbed the game, this post really doesn't mean much to you, but for the rest of you hoping to read an in-depth breakdown of WWII proceedings from Sledgehammer Games, stay tuned.

Here's the official line on the game being out now from Activision:

Starting today the highly-anticipated Call of Duty: Vanguard is available worldwide. Vanguard delivers an unparalleled depth of Call of Duty content across a gripping single-player story, 20 multiplayer maps on day one, an all-new Zombies experience that further explores existing story cannon, along with the deepest integration yet with the all-new Warzone Pacific map “Caldera” coming 3rd December AEDT/NZDT.

In Vanguard, players will experience the origins of Special Forces fighting across four major theatres of World War II like never seen before.

With development led by Sledgehammer Games, Vanguard enlists players in an engaging blockbuster campaign as ordinary soldiers from diverse backgrounds rise on all fronts to turn the tides of war. Multiplayer features 20 maps, 12 Operators and over three dozen Weapons in the revamped Gunsmith all starting day one. Vanguard multiplayer delivers new ways to play with the Combat Pacing system and the fast and frenetic multi-arena survival Champion Hill mode. Vanguard also brings a franchise-first Zombies crossover developed by Treyarch, expanding upon the Dark Aether storyline that players were introduced to in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

Season One will bring a brand-new map, Caldera, to the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone, along with a massive amount of new gameplay experiences—for free. Operator, Weapon, and Battle Pass progression will also be synchronised across Vanguard, Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare® when Season One begins on 3 December AEDT/NZDT.

Releasing alongside Vanguard, the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat TM initiative is a multifaceted approach to combat cheating, featuring new server-side tools that monitor analytics to identify cheating, enhanced investigation processes to stamp out cheaters, updates to strengthen account security, and more. RICOCHET Anti-Cheat’s back-end anti-cheat security features will also come later this
year with the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific on PC.

Vanguard features unified progression and supports cross-play across next-generation and current-generation systems. Players can look forward to a new level of social features bringing friends to play together with clan features and more.

Vanguard is available worldwide starting today on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox® Series X|S, Xbox One®, and PC in a fully optimised experience for Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s online gaming service.

Watch the game's PC trailer embedded below, and stay tuned for our full review incoming soon.