Whenever a new Call of Duty is revealed, I try to give it a fair chance, even if the weeks and months of reveals are working overtime to prove how dumb I was. With Black Ops 7, announced to close the Xbox Games Showcase, I had already lost hope. A return to the futuristic setting. The return of Raul Menendez (sort of). Still, fair’s and fair, and even with Activision claiming their marketing was akin to dropping a Beyonce album (no, I won’t ever let that go), it may defy expectations.
Fast forward to now, and I am simply in awe at how bad this campaign really is. And this is after 2023’s horrendously awful Modern Warfare 3. Spoilers, for those of you who could care.
Set about ten years after David Mason killed Menendez, the latter has seemingly returned with the help of a criminal syndicate turned robot manufacturing PMC called The Guild. Troy Marshal, the protagonist from Black Ops 6, foreshadows having to confront his past, and after infiltrating The Guild’s HQ in Avalon with his squad, things go sideways when The Cradle is unleashed.
Don’t remember The Cradle? I wouldn’t blame you – it was the explanation for all the hallucinations from Black Ops 6, resulting in some of the dumbest missions in the franchise. At the time, I thought Raven Software and Treyarch were just trying to inject some variety into their spy thriller. Once again, being the hopeful idiot, I was wrong. In Black Ops 7, they are the template for several missions. Along with Warzone, and callbacks to previous titles (read: reusing previous maps and missions).
One mission involves fighting an illusory Raul Menendez who teleports with the VFX budget of a Black Widow film. As you’re dodging giant machetes falling from the sky, you eventually unlock a killstreak that lets you drop them on Menendez. All the while, he’s screaming “Suffer! Suffer, I say!” Oh, I am, Raul. We all are.
Somehow, it gets worse. The Open Combat missions from Modern Warfare 3 are back, except even dumber. Avalon is essentially a Warzone map, and you’ll be returning to it often – heck, it’s the foundation of the so-called PvE endgame. On the surface, you would think this kind of massive battlefield, where all hell has broken loose, would result in some chaotic fun. Maybe some random events and assorted mayhem. What you actually get are wide open spaces with nothing going on, and the most obvious points of interest filled with the barest of bones cannon fodder enemies. Much like the Open Combat nonsense, you can ignore all of them for the sake of the objectives. Stellar design there, ladies and gents.
Anyway, in the hand-crafted, linear missions which should be Call of Duty’s bread and butter, Woods turns into a plant monster that you have to defeat. A mission with Section 2, which ventures to Tokyo, feels like it would offer some kind of breather from all this nonsense, but it’s essentially two multiplayer maps, both refurbished from previous games, and a traversal sequence that calls the original Black Ops’ Kowloon mission to mind. The entire mission hinges on finding this Guild member who can grant us access to their second Quantum Computer (don’t ask). When he’s found dead, the team decides to ram the luxury cruiser into the harbor. Wei Lin calls this a “powerful” move, which is probably code for “international incident.”
Remember when Black Ops used to at least try to portend to some kind of covert military premise? The inherent ridiculousness of it all, starting right from “The Numbers, Mason!”, was apparent, but at least it tried to have some basis in reality. At least every mission wasn’t constantly competing to introduce the most mind-numbing action and objectives with faint glimmers of what could have been. The hilarious part is that later missions are even worse. It’s like the campaign is constantly upping the nonsense ante to dare me to quit.
Of course, there are also plenty of technical issues with the campaign. First off, it’s always online, which shouldn’t be all that surprising given the Call of Duty ecosystem as a whole. But that means you can be kicked for going AFK. No big deal, right? Just rejoin the mission except…you can’t. You see, there aren’t any mission checkpoints. Any time you leave before the next mission screen shows up, you’ll need to go back to the beginning and do it all over again.
Solo play has also been absolutely gutted with no difficulty options. What possible incentive could you have for replaying these awful missions aside from collecting any intel to further the “lore”? There isn’t even any pausing, so if you want to take a break, too bad. Activision demands your full, undivided attention for this travesty, and you will give it or get kicked. Oh, but you’re also apparently kicked when the Call of Duty app has a new update.
The best part of playing solo? No AI teammates. You would think this frees you from their incessant banter, but they’re still in cutscenes and chattering through your comms. It makes about as much sense as anything else in this cluster.
Even if you choose to play as intended, the objectives barely rank above a Destiny 1 launch mission. Plant four C4 charges. Scan three bodies. Follow a wire to a wall outlet and shoot it to open a door. And the puzzles are laughably easy, making the Fox statue puzzles from Ghost of Yōtei look like Blue Prince. Enemies don’t drop weapons – you only get them from caches – and there’s a whole rarity/damage multiplier system that only exists because of some tanky armored enemies.
Black Ops 7 rightfully has a 44 percent “Mixed” rating on Steam at this time of writing and only 572 user reviews, because even long-time fans know PC Game Pass is a far better deal. One user review sums it up so succinctly – “Feels so cheap yet charges full price.” Remember when firs person shooter campaigns felt like premium experiences, even with their laughable idiosyncrasies? At least “Press F to pay your respects” was something funny.
This is just a disaster, and I find it very hard to believe that it began development around the same time as Black Ops 6. It’s Modern Warfare 3 all over again – an expansion-style experience but stretched out and padded with utter nonsense. Then again, I don’t think eliminating the Open Combat Avalon segments would have done much to help the rest.
You would think it’s pointless to complain about a Call of Duty title because a large contingent of players will pick it up anyway. However, Microsoft’s decision to make new titles available day one on Game Pass has allegedly led to massive losses. Look no further than last year’s Black Ops 6, which reportedly lost $300 million in sales. This seemingly led to the restructuring of Game Pass prices and restricting its release to the Ultimate and PC tiers.
With even higher stakes to account for, it’s insane that this is the campaign that Black Ops 7 ultimately delivers. It feels like an elaborate joke, or a collective resignation of creativity – simply toss in everything but the kitchen sink and hope for the best. If so, props to Raven Software and Treyarch for creating what very well may be the worst Call of Duty campaign yet.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
