Summary
It's a household name, it's "The Standard in FPS," and it's something that's so globally enjoyed it's almost celebrated. Every year a new Call of Duty feels like a mini holiday to the core audience who are dedicated fans, and they know a lot of us will continue to buy it. Is that necessarily bad? No, not really. Can it be better? Absolutely.
Black Ops 7 is still a very fun and new content-filled game even if it's like the others in some ways, and each year I'll always end up right back where I started. Playing Call of Duty. Looking at BO7 from the outside in, to a veteran, knowing we will at the bare minimum have a year of content, whether through season updates, newly added weapons (or returning), or holiday/special events, this era of COD is honestly far more content packaged in the end. Don't get me wrong, nothing will ever come close to Black Ops 2 or MW2, but there truly is more to unpack here than just the cover.
Developers – Treyarch, Raven Software, Beenox, High Moon Studios, Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, Activision Shanghai, Demonware
Publisher – Activision
Platforms – Xbox One,Xbox Series S|X, PS4/5,PC (Reviewed)
Review copy given by Publisher
It seems the endless cycle of Call of Duty comes around and around like a merry-go-round. Every year we’re sold “the next best thing” from one of the main three development studios in the cycle, this year being another Treyarch-led title. Black Ops 6 was a strong start in the right direction, but is it too late for Black Ops 7? Maybe the forced hate towards Call of Duty is justified, or maybe it’s unruly.
Truth be told, I have been a part of every single Call of Duty day one launch since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (2007), and I have been a very critical yet open consumer of the franchise for years, even in the darkest of times. COD Black Ops 6 I enjoyed a tremendous amount, even hitting max prestige before the end of season 1, including doing all the mastery camo challenges. My hopes for BO7 were high coming from the beta; the game felt a bit more balanced, and the time to kill felt like what I can only compare to an older COD title circa BO1/BO2. With all that being said, I kept an open mind, knowing the teasers didn’t quite land with the audience quite well, mostly in the campaign aspect. I will be going completely spoiler-free through my review, so there should be nothing to worry about moving forward.
Let’s talk about the campaign and the future of Call of Duty if it stays on this projection. First and foremost, this does not feel or look like the usual Call of Duty campaign you would imagine; dare I say they have lost the plot a bit with this, which in some cases may be good or bad. This time around it feels they went for a darker, sci-fi, twisted, mysterious approach to the story mode. The introduction of the co-op campaign with up to 4 players is a good way to pull the core audience, who are mostly online players, to play through the missions with their friends, which seems to me to have been the intended way to play from the beginning with some of the odd, tedious goals you complete through the missions.
Some missions felt like I was back in Call of Duty, right at home, and then boom, there I am back in the weird and wacky world of sci-fi. Now it’s not all bad; credit to Treyarch for going out of their comfort zone and trying something different instead of sticking to the formula of the cycle. With what they accomplished, I can appreciate the level design and the concept. Do I wish they kind of stuck to the usual but had some different stuff in the mix, kind of like BO6? Well, yeah, because it felt like the perfect mix to me.
I do have to say something that just feels so weird to say, and that’s boss battles just don’t feel at home in a Call of Duty game. That’s the most I will elaborate on, and I leave the rest for interpretation. If you’re one of those to always go out of your way to play the campaign, then of course do try it, but I don’t see many people going out of their way to play through it, at least not early in the life cycle.
Ah, COD Zombies. What was once a little secret game mode that would unlock after playing through the World at War campaign has flourished into one of, if not the best, stories from Treyarch. Now I haven’t done any of the Easter egg stuff (as of writing this, no one has completed it to begin with), so I will focus solely on gameplay and the map. With Black Ops 6 Zombies, I enjoyed playing it almost as much as multiplayer, so much that I went and did the zombie mastery camo before I even finished my multiplayer camo grind.
Black Ops 7 feels almost identical, of course with some weapon balances being different and such, but this year they went a bit back to how things used to work. The old point system has returned with a bit of a twist, as well as we will be getting a new mode (not available yet) titled Cursed More, which should be more like the classic zombies mode as we know it. I do think the balancing could use some love as per pretty much every year (pre-season 1), but of course that will change with upcoming updates.
The map is absolutely beautiful; the atmosphere just gives you the craziest different vibes. One minute you’re in a creepy farm, the next you’re racing your way out in the red Wonder Vehicle. I would absolutely expect to see tons of amazing Easter eggs, which Treyarch is known for, as well as plenty of story to follow and fill in the blanks from previous titles. The gameplay is addictive and challenging in the later rounds, especially when playing in a party. If you’re a zombies fan like me, there seems to be a promising future for us, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.
Finally, the most influential and popular part of the Call of Duty franchise is the multiplayer experience. First and foremost, I want to say the removal of skill-based matchmaking (at least a significant decrease anyways) is a fresh breath of air. Call of Duty is best enjoyed when you’re sitting back and playing with some buddies, and the past few years it has felt the opposite. I am in no way a COD pro, but having a 2.0 k/d average all the way to 10th prestige meant my lobbies were full of nothing but the hardest players, and it made playing almost like a chore, but this time around so far it feels fun and balanced.
Everyone has good and bad games, but I feel like the average player is able to be on the top of the leaderboards and have a much better experience this time around. As of now I am currently only level 23 since I broke up my time through the modes, and I just want to grind till I prestige. Currently there is a clear meta of what guns everyone is using, some better than others, but I have yet to really run into a gun that’s just so broken and unbalanced it’s the only gun being used. This time around it feels they did a better job on the balancing because of the beta feedback.
Multiplayer this year has gotten a bad rep because of the new wall jump mechanics and because a majority of players are referring to BO7 as a “BO6 DLC,” which in some cases the argument is strong for; a lot of this does feel like it was meant for BO6, but that doesn’t mean the content is bad. I just firmly believe the timing and the previous rather lackluster attempts have added up and kind of pushed some of the audience away, but I hope a lot of you give it a try.
Referring back to my first question, why is Black Ops 7 getting all this hate, and is it justified? The short answer is… well, not really. Kinda a loaded answer, I know, so let me elaborate a bit. Black Ops 7 is similar to Black Ops 6, a game we previously purchased a year ago; there’s no doubt about that. It is kind of rough paying now $70 a year for a game cycle instead of them going the route of something like a live service style with content updates, but truth be told, that boils down to what Call of Duty has become.
It’s a household name, it’s “The Standard in FPS,” and it’s something that’s so globally enjoyed it’s almost celebrated. Every year a new Call of Duty feels like a mini holiday to the core audience who are dedicated fans, and they know a lot of us will continue to buy it. Is that necessarily bad? No, not really. Can it be better? Absolutely.
Black Ops 7 is still a very fun and new content-filled game even if it’s like the others in some ways, and each year I’ll always end up right back where I started. Playing Call of Duty. Looking at BO7 from the outside in, to a veteran, knowing we will at the bare minimum have a year of content, whether through season updates, newly added weapons (or returning), or holiday/special events, this era of COD is honestly far more content packaged in the end. Don’t get me wrong, nothing will ever come close to Black Ops 2 or MW2, but there truly is more to unpack here than just the cover.
This year seems like it could be a solid year for COD; only time will tell, though. 8/10 overall experience.
