After favorably reviewing last year’s BO6, I was hopeful that the series learned a few things on how to move the story forward and deliver a truly AAA experience for veterans and newcomers. This year’s Black Ops 7 (BO7) shows that some lessons were learned while others were over-corrected. Despite an excellent multiplayer and a decent Zombies mode, the overall BO7 experience is brought down by a truly wacky campaign that veers too much off-course. Nonetheless, COD fans will still find plenty to love here — from the refined movement mechanics and gunplay to the great presentation and breadth of launch content. Don’t write this one off just yet.
Somehow Menendez returned
The campaign is set inย 2035, following David Mason (returning from earlier Black Ops titles) and his team, as they investigate a fear-weapon being used by a sinister organization called The Guild. To round up the threat we have the return of Raul Menendez, the fan favorite villain from Black Ops 2, who has mysteriously re-emerged ten years after his supposed death. The plot leans into psychological horror, mind-altering bioweapons, hallucinations, and surreal enemies.
After the successful reception of BO6’s well-designed hallucinatory level, BO7 learned the wrong lesson. BO7’s campaign veers too much into the surreal. This by itself wouldn’t be so much of an issue if done sparingly. However, the story and characters are paper thin. The campaign is short at around five hours and rife with unfocused narrative, breakneck pacing, and characters that you struggle to really care about… because what’s even real? It’s a shame that BO7 misuses actors like Milo Ventimiglia and Michael Rooker to deliver some truly head-scratching lines. The villains do not get a free pass either, because they are underdeveloped and fall into moustache-twirling stereotypes, with the return of Menendez being wasted. This is a campaign that is sadly disconnected from its Black Ops roots.
Gameplay-wise, BO7 features an online co-op campaign. If you play this as a singleplayer campaign, you will quickly be met with issues, including a more tedious and difficult gameplay experience, no checkpoints, and having to restart the level if you desync or when the COD launcher decides to update. It’s clear that the campaign is focused on co-op, but that leaves the solo player frustrated. There are also a few boss fights with tired mechanics that are nothing to write home about.
However, the campaign is not all doom and gloom. There are some positives that might just keep you pushing through this mind-bending identity crisis. The Omnimovement mechanic is still here and feels great and responsive, gunplay is satisfying and snappy, the co-op is fast paced fun and leads to silly situations when played with friends, and the missions sometimes reuse multiplayer or Warzone map layouts, which makes parts of the campaign feel more open. The Endgame mode, a 32-player PvE experience, adds replayability and a more open, objective-focused structure that I enjoyed more than the main storyline.
Nonetheless, these positives don’t outweigh the disjointed campaign. This is why I can’t recommend the campaign unless you are either a die-hard COD fan or you and your friends are looking for a mindless time. Regardless, Treyarch and Raven need to go back to the drawing board because this just won’t do.
Camo grinding
The multiplayer stands in stark contrast to the campaign. This is one of the best COD multiplayer experiences of recent years, capably building off of BO6. At launch, it includes 30 weapons,ย 16 6v6 mapsย andย two large 20v20 Skirmish maps, the latter introducing wingsuits, grappling hooks, and vertical movement. BO7’s updated mobility, including wall-jumping and smoother Omnimovement, opens up more creative traversal opportunities. The Omnimovement has now been refined and slowed down to avoid the BO6 excessive sliding and dolphin jumping. The launch maps are also more engaging and better designed than the BO6 launch maps, with Retrieval fast becoming one of my favorites.
Gunplay is great, responsive, and crisp, while matchmaking feels more balanced than in recent years due to the addition of less punishing skill-based matchmaking (SBMM)ย lobbies and open lobbies. Progression feels satisfying as well. The camo grinding and prestige leveling are here, but now all game modes contribute to weapon progression, making your time investment feel more valued than before. BO7 multiplayer introduces the new Overclock System where equipment, including Scorestreaks, Field Upgrades, and gear can be upgraded to add modifications such as faster fuses on grenades and more. This is a welcome addition and gives players loadout flexibility. Speaking of flexibility, the perk system has also been expanded withย Hybrid Combat Specialties, meaning you can mix and match perks to create more tailored playstyles rather than stick to the standard Enforcer, Recon, and Strategist pathways.
On the negative side, we have the weak Warzone integration, which feels somewhat tacked-on compared to the more developed 6v6 and Skirmish modes. I also noted a lack of aim assist on console compared to BO6, which is both a blessing and a curse, because it encourages more fine tuned aiming, although this may also give mouse-users and PC gamers an edge in duels. As for performance, the framerate has generally been stable despite the multiplayer mayhem on screen, although I encountered several desync, lag, and netcode issues, but nothing substantial enough to ruin my experience. The multiplayer is a much needed palate cleanser after the campaign and represents the best selling point of BO7.
Same old brains
Zombies mode returns to theย Dark Aetherย storyline, along with tighterย Survival maps (smaller arenas)ย and the return ofย Dead Ops Arcade 4. Together, they offer a satisfying mix of large exploratory experiences and classic close-quarters chaos. The map feels like theย largest round-based Zombies map everย built for Black Ops and the addition of vehicles makes traversal and fighting more varied. I am generally not a Zombies mode fan, but BO7 is good at delivering chaos and stupidly fun moments. I also appreciate that I can earn XP and camos that carry across modes. The performance and framerate is also solid. Despite the many hordes coming at me, I rarely encountered hiccups. Contrasting with the campaign, the Zombies mode also features a much appreciated pause option where you can pause for a total of 15 minutes per session for a breather.
The challenge I have with the BO7 Zombies mode is that it’s very safe and similar to BO6. There aren’t many changes to make the experience more engaging, dynamic, and brand new. We have the same perks, upgrades, ammo mods, etc. The launch map is large, however the re-tuned slower movement works against players that want to play heavier weapons like LMGs, making movement a genuine slog. I believe there’s more scope to balance out movement and weapons, especially in the Zombies mode. My other gripe is the reliance on using vehicles for traversing this map. I encountered situations where other squad members simply drove off, leaving the rest of the team to deal with hordes. It didn’t feel like a fun or fair experience when this happened. If you liked BO6’s Zombies mode, then you can look forward to more of the same in BO7. If you are looking for a new experience, then I recommend you wait for updates and new maps to make the Zombies mode more appealing.
Summary
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a strange one. This game isย content-rich at launch and feels that it has learned lessons from BO6, but it is very uneven in how it approaches this. The multiplayer is excellent and shows that care went into it, Zombies mode is decent, safe, but engaging, whereas the co-op campaign struggles with identity and the weight of the franchise on its shoulders.
If you play COD primarily for competitive modes or co-op survival, this is one of the strongest releases in years. Solo campaign players, however, will find it deeply frustrating. Regardless, BO7 should represent a wake-up call for Treyarch and Raven in how they deal with the story, characters, world, and future of Black Ops because the experimental campaign is simply not good enough to recommend it. There’s no other way to put it — BO7 stands on its feet because of the excellent multiplayer and decent Zombies mode.
The Review
Good
