Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Review - A Shell Of Its Former Self

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is here, and for a game that promises to deliver so much, it proves to me that quantity does not supersede quality, with the title ultimately suffering from a convoluted identity crisis.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of its story campaign, which brought back co-op, let’s begin with its traditional multiplayer offering. At launch, we have five main modes: Team Deathmatch, Core Moshpit, Overlord, Gunfight, and Skirmish 20v20. Team Deathmatch is your typical 6v6 affair; the team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Core Moshpit is 6v6 and has five modes in its session: Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, Hardpoint, and Overlord. The team that claims the most rounds wins.

In Overlord, in teams of 6v6, one team must escort and deliver an EMP device to score points. The opposing team must stop them from achieving that objective. Gunfight is 2v2, it has predetermined classes, and no respawns. Once two players are dead in a round, the opposing team wins.

Multiplayer is fast, frantic and fun

Out of all the modes available during my review, the new Skirmish 20vs20 was the standout. Skirmish is a very fast-paced Team Deathmatch with objectives to complete. When you start each match (and when you respawn), players glide in at high speed with wingsuits instead of respawning on the spot. This keeps the action flowing. The team with the most points wins. It can get very chaotic, but it’s all fun nonetheless.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Activision

Weapon enthusiasts will love the variety of customisation available. It has an incredible amount of attachments to help create your custom build to suit your playstyle. This is, of course, nothing new for the series, but there appears to be a much greater depth in Black Ops 7. What’s more, if you keep getting killed by the same player, and it happens to us all, you’ll be pleased to know that being able to copy another player's gun build returns. But be warned, player skill can not be copied, unfortunately.

I know the high-octane nature of Call of Duty multiplayer isn't everyone’s cup of tea, especially when it comes to the Black Ops series. Its multiplayer has always been a bit silly with its futuristic weapons, gadgets, grappling hooks, and wall-running. However, this is nothing new for Black Ops so if you are a longtime fan, I’d be surprised if you don't have fun with what’s offered with the Black Ops 7 traditional multiplayer.

Zombies is fun, but lacking content

Speaking of silly, let’s get to the ever-popular Zombies mode. Here we have four modes at launch: Standard, Survival, Cursed and Dead Ops Arcade 4. Standard is played in a large open map that requires you to explore it, complete missions, discover secrets and kill hordes of the undead as its wacky story unfolds. Cursed is pretty much the same deal, only with no HUD, guidance, and an increasing difficulty.

Survival is similar to the traditional Zombies that debuted in Call of Duty: World at War. It’s a wave-based mode set on a linear map with increasing hordes to take on. As with other Zombies modes, you can buy new weapons on the fly, as well as upgrade them and acquire special perks to hopefully give you an advantage.

Zombies is often my favourite mode, but as I found out when playing with randoms, co-ordination is vital, and if you’ve got someone who thinks of themselves as a John Rambo and goes all Han Solo, the game will fall apart quickly. The same can be said for the traditional Survival mode, but on a much smaller map scale. The open world map didn't have any standout locations that came to mind, and with Survival currently only offering one map, Zombies became repetitive after a couple of hours. Just like the traditional multiplayer, Zombies will be getting new maps with each new season, but for launch, I was left wanting more for a mode that I consider to be a long-term favourite of mine.

Fans of Dead Ops Arcade will be pleased to know that this frantic top-down mode returns, which is great for wasting 30 mins here and there, but now you can play it in first-person mode. Personally, I prefer the top-down perspective because when I tried it in first-person, it felt like it went against this mode's purpose of being inspired by old-school arcade games like Smash TV. But at least the option is there if you want something different.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Activision

A new mode that is worth mentioning is Endgame, where up to 32 players can compete with teams of four to acquire rare weapons and gear in a PvE extraction-style shooter. This mode is fun, but as you would suspect, you’d be much better off going in with friends as a coordinated team; otherwise, you probably stand little chance of winning a match in this mode.

The campaign deserves better

Now, let’s get to the story campaign. I was really looking forward to this mode. I enjoy Call of Duty single-player modes, including last year's Black Ops 6, so naturally, I was looking forward to what Black Ops 7 had to offer. Sadly, I’m left feeling very underwhelmed and frustrated.

Firstly, let’s talk about some of the positives. The gunplay is responsive and fun, especially if you’re using the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback of a DualSense. Being able to swap abilities - such as gain an increased jump height, grappling hooks and the ability to call in drones, to name a few - helps you strategise and adapt on the fly. The framerate is smooth and the graphics are nice. Being able to play in either first-person or third-person (as with multiplayer and Zombies) is a nice option to have, and the game features cross-progression across all modes, so you and your weapons will constantly level up, no matter the mode you play.

Unfortunately, the negatives outweigh the positives during my time with the co-op campaign, which can be played with up to four players. Despite fan-favourite Michael Rooker reprising his role as Mike Harper and this being a direct sequel to Black Ops II, it isn't enough to save this forgettable and frustrating experience. The story is nonsensical, even by Black Ops standards. Without giving too much away, the boss battles of the campaign had me scratching my head, but not in a good way. The story centres around Raul Menendez returning from the dead. The whole campaign is like the worst kind of acid trip that is hard to follow due to the mission structure and immersion-breaking lobbies, with each mission ending in ridiculous boss battles.

One boss battle features another returning fan-favourite who turns into a giant planet thing that looks more suited to Resident Evil 6 than it does Black Ops 7. I get that Call of Duty, especially the Black Ops series, has horror and hallucinatory elements, but this takes it to a whole new level. It’s like Black Ops 7 is having an identity crisis and has lost focus on why fans love its campaigns. It also breaks the immersion when playing solo, because your AI teammates can’t be seen, even when missions are focused on them individually, yet you can hear them talk over comms.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Activision

Perhaps even worse, due to it having up to four-player co-op and requiring an online connection, the campaign acts as if it's a traditional multiplayer mode, even when playing solo in a closed lobby. Each new mission starts as a lobby. When that mission is finished, it takes you back to a lobby to start anew.

You cannot pause the campaign at all. During a mission, I really needed a break and after delaying for half an hour or so, I ended up having to eventually hide my player in a location where I knew he couldn't be killed. Upon returning to my living room to continue the mission, I was kicked from my own solo campaign for inactivity. To make matters worse, because the campaign features no proper checkpoints, when I jumped back into this mission, I had to start from the very beginning!

It might feel like I’m bashing on Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, but it genuinely comes from a place of love for the series. Aside from the traditional multiplayer, which is its strongest asset, and a fun but currently scarce Zombies mode, it’s one of the most disappointing entries in the series, largely caused by its lacklustre story campaign.

Call of Duty deserves so much better, and if there’s anything that I’ve learned from Black Ops 7, it's that the annual releases need to come to an end ASAP, so that the developers can have more time to ensure that each new release lives up to the legacy of this series that has been built over the last two decades. Hopefully, the next entry will get the series back on track.

Pros: Fun combat, nice visuals and performance, loads of modes

Cons: Forgettable story campaign with always-online requirement

For fans of: Call of Duty, Battlefield 6, Arc Raiders

6/10: Good

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out now on PC, PlayStation (PS5 version reviewed) and Xbox. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.