Did you know there was even a CoD game on the Nokia N-Gage? While the series spent its infancy as a WWII shooter and looked like it'd be set that way forever, the pivotal release of Call of Duty 4 took the setting into modern times and set a lot of standards that are still adhered to over a decade later. Its legacy spans three generations of console gaming, including PC and even handheld releases.
The Call of Duty franchise is, and always has been, one about shooting.