The time has finally come for this year’s Call of Duty game and this year continues the story of the Black Ops sub-franchise with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. This year’s game offers a lot for fans to sink their teeth into with the co-op campaign, multiplayer, Zombies, and a new addition to the franchise, Endgame. There is also the Battlepass, the Gunsmith, and much more. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a complete package for fans to enjoy, however, not every part of the package is great. Generally speaking I had a lot of fun going through the campaign but there are a few issues. Multiplayer is still fun but they made a change this year that I’m not so sure is for the better. Zombies is still a lot of fun and Endgame is an intriguing new concept that I am interested to see evolve over the years.

The campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 revolves around the fact that it is a co-op campaign. One of the big surprises to me was finding out that you could play this via first person view like every other Call of Duty game, or you could play it in third person. Playing a Call of Duty game in third person is kind of wild and could potentially open the game up to those who can’t play first person games for whatever reason. You and up to three others can go through the story and complete it online. There are pros and cons to this approach. For starters, I don’t like how the campaign is treated like a multiplayer match. When I choose to play some campaign, the game takes me to the same window I see when playing multiplayer. It gives me optional objectives to complete just like in multiplayer, such as get 10 scorestreak kills. The co-op nature of the campaign also means approaching it a bit differently. When you are playing with others (especially random people) you can’t really take the time to enjoy everything. If you are someone who likes to take their time and explore the game world that can’t really happen when the rest of your team doesn’t really care about that and is just jumping from objective to objective. What this can result in is you missing some of the game’s content, especially if the rest of your team has “checked in” at a checkpoint and then after a timer winds down you get teleported to meet them. With that said, you absolutely can play the campaign solo and have bots fill the shoes of your teammates. The campaign for Black Ops 7 is really made with co-op in mind though. I went through the first half of the campaign by myself, and then did co-op for the back half. The first half was significantly harder because I was going solo and the game is tuned for that co-op experience. The boss fights especially get exponentially harder if you are doing it all yourself instead of with three other human players also participating in the fight. It can be done, because I did it, but those big encounters were a bit more enjoyable with others helping out.

Due to the online and co-op nature of the campaign, you can’t pause the game in the traditional sense. You can still hit the “start” button and a menu will come up just like always. If you are by yourself and in an area you already cleared where there is no danger, you can effectively “pause” the game in this scenario but the catch is, because it is online, the game will boot you for inactivity if you are gone for longer than a few minutes. This affects how the checkpoint system works in the campaign as well. If you are playing and staying active, the checkpoint system works like it always has, autosaving when you hit a certain spot so if you get eliminated you don’t have to start all the way the beginning. The issue is that if you get kicked from the game because your internet drops or because you have been “inactive” for too long, the checkpoints don’t matter and you will have to relaunch the mission starting from the beginning.

This can be incredibly problematic if you have kids that require your attention, pets that might need to go outside, you receive a call or email from work, or whatever. If you are going through the story with others you can still push the “start” button and bring that menu up but the action will continue and your teammates will not wait for you to return. I understand the thought process in development. They don’t want to ruin other people’s experiences if someone needs to pause but at the same time, the developers need to realize that sometimes real world responsibilities intrude on game time. For me, the best scenario would have been having the co-op campaign available while also having a single player version of it available where you don’t get kicked offline for inactivity. That serves both groups and makes everyone happy.

As for the story the campaign is telling, I had fun with it. The Black Ops series has always been out there with its super natural plot twists. The structure of the campaign is a bit more open-ended though. Instead of the tight, linear, story focused campaigns of the past, this is a bit more of choose your own adventure. There is absolutely a story being told and objectives you must complete, but how you complete them is a bit up to you. For example, there is this one mission with a wide open world and my team had to get to the next checkpoint. One person simply ran there, another found a vehicle and drove there, another person found a high spot and jumped, gliding down towards the next objective. It is a bit of a segmented experience in that regard, having an open world to play in but everyone is doing their own thing in that regard. Not every mission is like that of course but it would be interesting to see the co-cop concept in a campaign that was a bit more structured like some of the older Call of Duty games, although with the ability to pause the game of course. The events of the Black Ops 7 story pick up after the events of Black Ops 2, which I enjoyed. I enjoyed revisiting those characters and seeing the continuation of that story. The main antagonist in the game is interesting and definitely puts your team through hell throughout the story.

One aspect of the co-op and online nature of Black Ops 7 that I really did enjoy was the leveling system. I really like how everything levels up in the game, regardless of the mode you are playing. For example, if there is a weapon you really like to use in multiplayer, you can get experience points for it by using it throughout the campaign (where available). I played the multiplayer a bit before jumping into the campaign and found a weapon I really liked. So with that being the case, whenever I had the option you use that particular weapon in the campaign, I always did. This resulted in my weapon being leveled up in a big way without having played much multiplayer at that time. This sort of cross-progression between all of the modes is something I hope becomes a standard feature in future iterations of this franchise.

Once you go through the campaign you are then presented with the “Endgame”. Originally available after you beat the campaign (Activision has since made it available to everyone), Endgame is a new game mode. In this game mode you can play with others but in a “Player vs. Environment” aspect instead of the traditional “Player vs. Player” that you find in multiplayer and Warzone. This is incredibly beneficial for those who want a similar experience to Warzone but don’t necessarily want to play against others.

Endgame features up to 32 players who are trying to complete objectives throughout Avalon. When going through the map I had to deal with numerous different enemies, some of them more challenging than others. In my opinion you want to go through the campaign first before you jump into Endgame because that can potentially help with your loadouts. I was able to use my loadouts and abilities that I unlocked as I was going through the campaign, which is something I thought is a great idea. Endgame has the spirit of some other extraction shooters you might have played in the past and even shares DNA with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II DMZ mode. The general idea is to complete objectives but also find new equipment and weapons that you can use on your next run. There is also a risk/reward balance that you need to take into account. If your character gets eliminated in Endgame, everything is rest, including the Combat Rating. For that reason you want to do everything you can to survive until you can successful extract from that hot zone. Some of the skills that I really liked here include Reload Speed, Ammo Auto-Fill, Heal Faster, Reload and Run, Equipment Hound, and more.

At the very beginning you are dropped into Avalon and you have to quickly decide where you are gong to land using your wingsuit. There are four areas of Avalon to fight in, each more difficult than the last. The first area where you start is Area 1 which is meant for beginners. You are advised not to go into Area II until you are least Combat Level 10. Area III isn’t recommended unless you are Combat Level 30 and the fourth and final area has a recommended Combat Rating of 45. Each area has objectives and goals to complete that can range from eliminating a small group of enemies to sabotaging some equipment, to taking out a high value target and more. Avalon is a wide open world and one of the really cool things is they have different maps within this map. For example, there is a high rise in Avalon that you will eventually get to and once you get to the top you will see it is actually the Skyline map from Black Ops 6 (one of my personal favorites). There is also a Tomb map from Zombies as well. As one would expect, the enemies in the first map don’t put up too much of a challenge but you still need to be careful. As you get to the other areas though the enemies become more difficult and have more health so if you run into a building surrounded by powerful enemies, you might be in for a bad time. Keep in mind that if you get eliminated you will lose everything from that run so it pays to be a bit cautious. As you level up and progress you will earn experience as well as unlock new skills and weapons. Be sure to pay attention when you make the decision for new equipment so that you pick something that complements your playstyle. Also make sure you have the right loadout before beginning. I highly suggest you utilize the grappling hook as a piece of your loadout so you can zip around the map and cover ground quickly.

Moving on to the more traditional multiplayer of Call of Duty, Black Ops 7 has what you expect. It has the usual modes, daily challenges to complete for XP, a battle pass, different events, and more. There are featured playlists such as Standard Moshpit, Prop Hunt, and Nuketown 24/7. There are also party playlists such as Sharpshooter, One in the Chamber, and Gunfight. I normally just jump into Quick Play so that I can get started in a match as soon as possible. There are filters available so you only play the modes you want instead of getting thrown into something randomly, which I appreciate. My favorites tend to be Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed, I’m not sure about you but when I am playing multiplayer I can definitely run hot and cold. There is one round where I might get 30 kills and maybe five deaths or so and just help my team to dominate and then there are other games where I might get five kills and 30 deaths and everything in between. During my time with the Black Ops 7 multiplayer some of the maps I seemed to do the best on were Cortex, The Forge, and I did decently at Black Heart. The other maps are fine as well, it is just about me learning the different ins and outs of each map, which routes are best to take, which gives a good vantage point, where a potential objective might be located and things of that nature.

The gameplay in Black Ops 7 is as smooth as ever. I really enjoyed the omnimovement system in Black Ops 6 and while it is present in Black Ops 7, they changed it a bit. For example they removed Tactical Sprint as a default but added something like Wall Jump. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 also made a notable change in their multiplayer suite with the removal of SBMM (Skill-Based Matchmaking). This system would group players of similar skills together for multiplayer matches using different stats to try and match up people of a similar level and/or skill. For a few years now there has been a group of players that hate SBMM which has never made any sense to me. So for Black Ops 7, the development team has largely removed SBMM and I think that is to Black Ops 7’s detriment. As I mentioned before, I definitely run and cold while playing multiplayer but with the removal of the SBMM system, it seems like the multiplayer is even harder this year since the matches aren’t as balanced as they would be in years past. I have still had a lot of fun playing multiplayer but it is a definite change that I noticed.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer also features loadouts that you can customize. You select which weapons to use and what attachments/accessories to use with these weapons. You have a default set to start out with but as you earn more experience points and complete more objectives, you will get a better selection of attachments and other items to use, which can help you become more of a deadly force on the battlefield. Gaining experience and battle tokens is also how you unlock different items in the Battle Pass. You can earn Double XP here, new operators, new weapons, new blueprints, different reticles, and so much more. If you are a big fan of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer the Battle Pass is definitely something you need to pay attention to, to try and get that edge in battle.

Last but not least is the return of Zombies. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 features the biggest Zombies map in Black Ops history. There are four different modes within Zombies to play including Standard, Directed, Survival, and Cursed. Standard is a round based map where you continue your fight against Zombies to try and find out the truth behind what is going on. Directed is a bit more streamlined where you have clear objectives and guided progression that keep you on the path of the main story. In my opinion, Directed is the way to go if you are new to Zombies as it gives you a taste of the experience while also guiding you along the way. That said, Directed doesn’t launch until Season 01 is underway, so I didn’t get a chance to personally try it out. For the first time since Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Survival maps are back for Zombies. In this mode there are no quests or clear objectives, other than to stay alive against the Zombie horde for as as long as you can. Cursed mode is a more difficult experience with less guides and fewer loadout options. In Cursed mode there are relics to find and activate in specific locations but can you stay alive long enough to do that? I found that this offers a nice challenge and, depending on your squad, it can either be a fun challenge or something that might completely decimate your team. There is also Dead Ops Arcade 4 where there are more than 80 levels and more than 20 arenas in a twin-stick shooter format. If you grow a bit tired of some of the more traditional Call of Duty fare, be sure to check this out and see how long you can survive.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 offers a lot for players to sink their teeth into. I have my reservations about some of the decisions made for the campaign as I talked about earlier but I had fun going through it overall. I do hope that the next Call of Duty title has a bit more of a structured campaign like the older Call of Duty titles, although keeping the co-op option would be great as long as you can pause when needed. Endgame is a tremendous amount of fun and not only do I hope to see it evolve in Black Ops 7, I would love to see other teams such as Infinity Ward bring their ideas to the table in their next Call of Duty game. The multiplayer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is what you would expect, and that is a good thing. It is fast and fluid and a joy to play, when I am not getting totally destroyed. The removal of SBMM does not seem to be a good thing in the early days of this title but perhaps that changes over time. Then of course Zombies is always a good time and I really appreciate the different ways they have for everyone to experience it, whether you are new to it or a hardened veteran. If you have been a fan of Call of Duty games in the past, I would definitely say to pick this up. If you are a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, download it at no additional charge and have fun. While not perfect, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a fun package and my hope is that the criticisms I do have get addressed over time.

Score: 7.5/10

Originally posted on Gaming Target

Please Note: Activision provided us with a code for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 for review.