Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is running its first beta, and we’ve had the chance to go hands-on over the last couple of days. While it feels like another incredible addition to the FPS genre, there will be those COD fans who are once again starting to feel that familiar sense of fatigue.
For the past several years, Activision and its cadre of development studios have managed to pump out back-to-back blockbuster instalments while juggling the behemoth success of Warzone. Under the hood, these teams have continued to tweak and refine the COD formula. While some experimental changes haven’t gone down too well with the community, other features—like weapon mounting and Black Ops 6’s omnidirectional movement—are now woven into the template.
From what we’ve played of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s multiplayer, it feels like an advanced version of last year’s instalment. The big changes this year are “overclocked” loadout options, high-tech killstreaks, and the return of wall-running. Let’s start with the latter first, which is more akin to a wall bounce rather than the kind of parkour-like movement systems we’ve previously seen in Black Ops III and Infinite Warfare. It’s more subtle, allowing players to quickly and easily reach higher points of a map without drastically changing the pace of COD’s trademark shooting gameplay.
Speaking of maps, the arenas on show during the beta suit the evolved omnidirectional movement introduced in Black Ops 6, most of them consisting of two lanes that intersect with plenty of ledges and vantage points, but very few places for campers to entrench themselves. With the game taking place in a near-future timeline of the 2030s, nothing about the map or operator aesthetics are out of this world – there’s nothing we haven’t really seen before but then again, anything too trippy or cyberpunk-esque would likely add too much noise.
What most players come to Call of Duty for is the tried and tested, ultra-smooth gunplay. Black Ops 7 doesn’t disappoint and has a diverse enough arsenal of weapons to suit every kind of player, from crafty snipers to kamikaze shotgunners. As always, there are plenty of weapon modifications and perks to help further customise your playstyle, with some interesting quirks this time around.
First, we have the new “overclock” feature that allows players to level up and augment gear such as scorestreaks and equipment. For example, when overclocking the UAV you can either lower its score cost or equip it with a flare to counter the first rocket fired at it by an enemy player. Similarly, the Stim Shot can be overclocked to remove debuffs or grant a temporary speed buff upon use.
In true COD fashion, just about everything you do earns you XP and almost every part of your loadout can be customised or levelled up in some way. Perks, a Call of Duty multiplayer mainstay, now have an advanced feature where equipping a certain perk colour combination will bestow extra “Combat Speciality” bonuses. Equipping three blue Recon perks will allow you to see the direction of the closest enemy on the minimap each time you respawn.
Despite being a snapshot of next month’s full release, the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 beta is definitive proof that Activision is still on a hot streak with its flagship series. Small factions within the community will always find a bone to pick but there’s no arguing with how well the sequel’s multiplayer offering has been put together, even if it’s a bit overfamiliar in places. Unless the singleplayer campaign or Zombies modes truly drop the ball, Black Ops 7 will mark another triumphant triple threat for Activision.
