There’s been a very different tone to the games news this week, with the juggernaut of Call of Duty feeling like it’s lost a step in the face of some serious competition. Battlefield 6 is out there doing a straight up war shooter, Arc Raiders has made an extraction shooter love-in, and now here’s Black Ops 7, where there’s just a baffling direction for the campaign.
It takes some of the psychological mish-mash of Black Ops 3’s story, which people hated back in the day, the open world missions of Modern Warfare III, which people hated a couple years ago, practically makes co-op mandatory, and then has an Endgame post-campaign thing that will have to compete for attention with both the main Zombies mode and Dead Ops Arcade. It’s barmy, especially compared to the strengths of last year’s game.
The multiplayer does feel pretty good, though, which is the bulk of what people will play.
Aran chimed in first, having played Forestrike and Umami for review. You’ll have to wait for the latter, but barring some snags, he enjoyed the puzzle-like take on the martial arts brawler in Forestrike.
As we continue through the busy season, Jim’s had to put Battlefield 6 on the back burner. He picked up a copy of Metal Gear Solid Delta in time for the Fox Hunt multiplayer, which is “a surprisingly competent online shooter”, and I dragged him into the Black Ops 7 single player with me, but in the main he’s “swapped body armour and boot laces for a fresh white toga for Anno 117: Pax Romana – it’s a series I’ve always been interested in playing but never got around to biting the bullet. Thoroughly enjoying my time as a governor in Ancient Rome, crafting city districts that not only perform well but look fab.”
Another conscript for Black Ops 7 was Miguel, who was about as baffled by some of the design choices as I was. Much clearer was playing some time with Tekken 8 and having fun with the King vs. Armour King matches. He’s also played the Atelier Ryza Deluxe trilogy pack, and went delved into his “niche weird Japanese action game” catalogue for D3 Publisher’s 2020 anime-girl-zombie-fighting action game OneeChanbara Origin. Sounds about right!
Laura has continued to juggle Jurassic World Evolution 3 and Silent Hill 2 remake, getting some tonal whiplash from creepy nurses trying to kill her and being a proud park-building surrogate mum when the Megalodons brought a baby Megalodon into the world. Bless ’em!
Another genre juggler was Steve, going between the new SpongeBob SquarePants game and the classic horror of Tormented Souls 2, “which has been delayed somewhat after some bad ammo management put me in an impossible situation – what’s known in the trade as ‘Code Veronica-ing yourself’.” He’s also been a bit disappointed by the Sacred 2 Remaster.
Ade has had the “fifty-something runs” which sound nasty until you realise he’s talking about Hades 2, where he reckons he’s nearing the end credits and would like to recommend it very highly.
And finally, Tuffcub played more Arc Raiders, “which is a lovely cuddly hug that reminds that despite how rubbish the world is, there are decent people in it.”
Now then, what have you played?
