Another year, another Call of Duty. A new main series Call of Duty game has been released every single year since Call of Duty 2 launched in 2005, and the franchise is showing no signs of slowing down. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, developed as a collaboration between Raven Software, Treyarch, and a variety of other Activision studios, is the latest entry in the long-running series and serves as a direct sequel to the wildly popular Black Ops 2. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, the returning David Mason and his team work together to stop what appears to be the return of Black Ops 2 villain Raul Menendez.
Campaign
For the first time since 2015's Black Ops 3, the Call of Duty series has a full-blown 4-player co-op campaign on offer. The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 co-op campaign is a trippy adventure full of non-stop action, with players able to utilize unique special abilities to get an edge over the onslaught of enemies. There's a bubble shield that completely blocks incoming fire that's perfect for safely reviving downed teammates and a powerful hand cannon that can obliterate even the game's more powerful enemies. One of my favorite abilities turns players completely invisible, which is great for stealthy infiltrations. Bonus traversal tools give players freedom to explore levels the way they want, with a super-powered jump and a grappling hook available.
These abilities pair well with the standard explosive Call of Duty shooting action, and I greatly appreciated how much freedom Black Ops 7 offers compared to other CoD campaigns. Gone are the days of following NPCs down hallways, with players almost always in full control of the action from start to finish. The problem is that the Black Ops 7 campaign doesn't have a compelling antagonist and its story falls flat. The characters are one-note and nothing that happens registers in any meaningful way, even the weirder stuff. There are some memorable boss fights and a few levels that stand out thanks to their dreamlike design, but the campaign lacks the highs of past games. There's no big shocking moment or twist that hits as hard as the ones in the previous Black Ops titles.
Still, Black Ops 7's co-op adds a lot to the experience, and it's a fun once-through with friends. It may lack the highs of past games, but it also lacks the lows. You won't regret playing through it, but it's unlikely to stick with you long after the credits roll.
We're in the Endgame Now
The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign caps off with the Endgame experience. Endgame lets players loose on the huge Avalon map to explore, loot, complete activities, level up, extract, rinse, and repeat. Dying in Endgame means starting from scratch, so there is at least some of that patented extraction shooter tension at play, but the mode is largely uninspired and dull. The lack of PvP really kills its potential for me and while players are free to team up with other squads to complete objectives, there isn't enough carrot on the stick for this to be a mode that I personally care to return to, especially in the face of other recent releases that deliver a more exhilarating extraction experience.
Avalon is split between different zones of varying degrees of difficulty. Endgame players are free to go wherever they want on the map regardless of their level, but venturing into higher-level zones obviously comes with higher risk. Exploring the map with friends can be fun, and Endgame will likely appeal to fans of DMZ, but it's hard to see it becoming as popular as the game's other modes.
Multiplayer
Since Call of Duty 4 exploded in popularity, multiplayer has been the main selling point of every game in the franchise. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 features the franchise's tried-and-true multiplayer experience with some added movement options like the ability to bounce off walls. If you have played any Call of Duty game in the last 15 years, you know what to expect from Black Ops 7, but when the formula is this entertaining, being formulaic isn't a bad thing.
Black Ops 7 doesn't have any surprises when it comes to the multiplayer, but it offers the standard modes and a selection of fantastic maps. Homestead is a flat-out gorgeous, small-sized arena where players fight at a snow-covered cabin lit by the green glow of aurora borealis. Blackheart takes the fight to an off-shore drilling platform with a wall positioned just right so players can use it to bounce through a window and blast unsuspecting enemies with a shotgun. Toshin is a neon-soaked Japanese city that caters to a variety of playstyles, while old-school Alaskan town Scar is one of the more visually distinct maps of the bunch. While my opinion could change the more time I spend with the maps, the only map that I outright dislike in Black Ops 7 is Exposure. Its design is boring and generic compared to the other maps, and I'll always vote for something else when possible.
There are 16 standard multiplayer maps at launch, including returning Black Ops 2 fan favorites like Hijacked, Raid, and Express. With great old-school maps and tremendous new offerings, Black Ops 7 features a robust selection of high-quality maps supported by all the expected game modes like Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed, plus the new Overload mode. Overload, for the uninitiated, is a twist on Capture the Flag where players have to deliver a device to enemy zones. Whoever is in possession of the device becomes visible to everyone in the game, so teams seriously have to work together if they want to be successful. With the right group of people, Overload can be a lot of fun, but I would avoid it if you aren't going to be actively communicating with teammates. It requires a bit more than the mindless lone wolf-style of play that is commonly found in online CoD matches.
Strategy is also important in the new 20v20 Skirmish mode, which features two large maps with various objectives that players fight over. Vehicles are in play and after death, players can drop in wherever they want on the map in their wingsuits. Again, with the right group of players, Skirmish may shine, but playing with randoms is rough. Regardless, Skirmish offers something a little different from the standard CoD multiplayer formula and its inclusion is appreciated for variety's sake even if the standard 6v6 is still where Multiplayer hits the hardest.
I appreciate Skirmish being an option and, despite initially not caring for Overload when I played the beta, it has won me over. Between all the maps and modes available, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer is packed with worthwhile content that will justify the price of admission for most fans. And that's not even taking into account things like the reduced influence of skill-based matchmaking, which was not possible to test prior to launch. It is disappointing that Black Ops 7 is yet another Call of Duty launching without the wager match variants like Gun Game and One in the Chamber, but those will likely come later on. If it's anything like other recent games in the series, the Black Ops 7 post-launch support will be extensive and ensure that the game has serious longevity.
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This article originally appeared on GameRant and is republished here with permission.
