Black Ops 7 has the best Multiplayer in years, Zombies is still great, but the campaign will leave you with many more questions than answers.
Black Ops 7 finally makes its way, moving away from last year’s Black Ops 6. These are exciting times as we’ve now entered into a new era of the iconic Call of Duty Franchise. And this is the 2nd year in a row for a Treyarch release. Moreover, Black Ops 7 is the 2nd title in the series to launch on Xbox and PC Game Pass, which gives more people more incentive to get the game. The Call of Duty community is feasting right now.
I’ve been wanting to get my hands on the game since the beta, as I’ve had an enjoyable experience in it. However, I now have the full game to explore other game modes and see what they have to offer. Campaign, Zombies, the whole shabang, and how they play. Additionally, I will share my opinions on how I feel about them and whether Black Ops 7 is worth getting. By the way, the answer is yes, Black Ops 7 is definitely worth it, but there are a few quirks that I simply couldn’t ignore, which I will explain.
The campaign takes you through the year 2035—10 years following the events of the iconic Black Ops 2 game. Where David Mason is the leader of the JSOC unit, they’re on a mission to investigate the alleged return of the deceased terrorist, Raul Menendez. There’s a total of 12 missions to go through, and if you’ve been wanting to play with a friend in a Call of Duty campaign, the wait is over, as you can now play with a friend on the co-op play if you wish.
However, when it comes to storytelling, I was expecting much more. Even after playing some missions, I’m still very much confused as to what’s actually going on in the plot. Additionally, in terms of its presentation, this is not what I’m accustomed to, especially since I’ve played and enjoyed many previous Call of Duty campaigns, let alone Black Ops 2 in the past. Open world? Enemy waves? Boss fights? Zombies as allies?
I’m open to trying something new, but at the same time, this new structure is a total disconnect from the traditional Call of Duty campaigns. Although there is something there, a lot more could’ve been done to make the campaign more immersive.
Having said that, there are some aspects I enjoyed from the campaign, such as the grapple gun; that weapon is a monster. You earn rewards such as attractive weapon camos and emblems after completing each mission. And if you complete the campaign, you’ll unlock the brand new and exciting final mission called Endgame.
In this mission, your objective is to find General Shepherd and eliminate him before he flees from Afghanistan. In Endgame, you’ll be able to explore a brand new and large map called Avalon. Endgame is pretty similar to DMZ with the extraction of weapons, equipment, and much more as you carry out your mission.
Black Ops 7’s multiplayer, however, is an entirely different conversation. Because from the beta, they’ve done something that not only makes the multiplayer experience much better, but I’m now confident in saying this is the best multiplayer in years. No, this is not an exaggeration. I’m referring to the fact that skill is often the least considered factor when matching players in lobbies. Basically, a mode where Skill-Based Matchmaking is considerably reduced. Which is a massive W from Activision and Treyarch.
Skill Based Matchmaking was arguably the biggest complaint from the community for years, and was the biggest reason for multiplayer being very uncomfortable for many players for a while. It was worse in Black Ops 6 when SBMM was seemingly cranked up to a level you can’t even fathom. And unbelievably, it had worsened in Black Ops 7‘s beta to the point where the player count was dropping and more players were becoming frustrated.
In the beta, Black Ops 7’s gameplay itself was great and better than last year, but the SBMM was insufferable. However, since it was announced during the beta that there’s an open playlist where skill is “minimally considered”, this news was generally praised by the community. This move brought back a lot of the lost players, and it regained hope in the franchise once again in terms of the multiplayer.
Now, the multiplayer is far more enjoyable, exciting, and, more importantly, balanced. Being able to play against players of different skill levels again is a breath of fresh air, and I’m glad that Call of Duty is pretty much back to the way it was back then. Additionally, since the reduction, matchmaking has become almost instantaneous, and we have persistent lobbies again.
Also, there are many new gameplay features, mechanics, and so on that I have nothing but praise for, and they made my multiplayer experience much better than last year. Allow me to provide some examples of the additions that particularly impressed me, and I’m sure you’ll appreciate them.
You can now wall jump. If you’re trying to get to a higher floor, evade enemies, and so on, wall jumping lets you bounce off a wall whilst airborne or if you’re facing a wall. The direction you’re facing will control which direction you go. This is a great new feature that I’ve taken full advantage of, and most times it helped me avoid enemy attacks. The only downside, really, is that there’s no wall running like there was a decade ago, but wall jumping is still a very useful mechanic.
I’m sure many of you are familiar with this, but for those new to the game, there are multiplayer layouts for weaponry. You can craft up to 10 loadouts that are made up of weapons, melee, equipment, perks, field upgrades, and wildcards. And of course, you can level up your loadouts. And now in Black Ops 7, you can overclock your loadout. If you successfully level up your loadout, you unlock the ability to overclock upgrades for each gear.
The brand new Hybrid Combat Specialties allows you to mix and match perks from 2 different coloured combat specialties, to activate a Hybrid bonus. The Drone Pod is my favourite field upgrade, and it’s new to the franchise. This highly effective tool utilizes mini drones that detect enemies and detonate upon contact. Another field upgrade I use occasionally is the Echo Unit, another new feature that places a holographic decoy to trick enemies. It can also capture objectives, so you don’t have to.
The Skewer is one of the brand-new scorestreaks that fires an air-to-ground precision projectile, locating and striking enemies. It’s also a favourite scorestreak of mine. Additionally, it appears that they’ve nerfed this scorestreak. In the beta, you were almost guaranteed to be hit by the missile. Now, the chances of that happening have gone down considerably, making it much more balanced.
As for the game modes, you’ll be pleased to know that we’ve been introduced to a large number of new and returning 6v6 and 20v20 multiplayer modes, allowing us to cause immense chaos. Plus, a new and exciting mode called Overload. You and your team are to control and deliver a neutral EMP device to the enemy’s territory, and the team that reaches the score limit will be the winner.
Additionally, most of the 16 maps are significantly more enjoyable and engaging due to their considerably better design compared to last year, along with the reintroduction of a few iconic maps, such as Raid. I’ve noticed that they’ve updated the weapon levelling to be much faster, which is a smart move, so that weapon progression doesn’t necessarily feel like a chore, but at the same time still grind worthy. Moreover, the gunplay is miles better than last year.
Here’s another interesting fact that some of you might not know. If you’re a content creator, they’ve made thumbnail creation much easier. They’ve added a green screen map where you can take shots of the weapon you want to showcase in your video. Take them from any angle you please to create your picture-perfect Black Ops 7 thumbnail. This is a fantastic addition and a very thoughtful idea from Treyarch.
As for Black Ops 7 Zombies, just like last year, it’s great and I’m glad they’ve maintained the traditional rounds-based zombies style they’ve been doing since the beginning. But at the same time, they’ve added some new features without taking away the magic.
A brand new adventure called Ashes of the Damned, which has a great map for us to aim for high rounds and complete the main Easter Egg. Plus, we can now use a wonderful vehicle in our sessions. Also, Survival Maps is finally back since Black Ops 2. On top of that we get the return of the iconic four characters: Richtofen, Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo.
Black Ops 7 managed to give us the best multiplayer experience in years, and I’ll be sure to enjoy playing and grinding until the next Call of Duty title. The Zombies mode is also great as it stuck by its traditional style and gave us more goodness along with it. However, I wish I could say the same for the campaign, as it leaves a lot to be desired, although Endgame is quite enjoyable.
