This used to be a gritty wargame
Heeeeeeey guys, it’s that time of year again; no, not time to indulge in mass amounts of food for the holidays. It’s time for the yearly Call of Duty release, a day that many, many, MANY fans wait for all year long. And this year’s version CoD: Black Ops 7 is jam packed full of content for players, in what the game developers have said is roughly about 4000 hours’ worth of content. The biggest addition this year is the inclusion of Co-Op that has been added to the campaign, but the question remains; does all this equate to a better Call of Duty game?
Let’s start with the campaign, for generations now the CoD story campaigns have felt like big ‘Michael Bay’ type blockbusters in video game form. Big explosions, big guns, and lots of intrigue; almost all of these stories have delivered some really big wins through the years. Black Ops 7 makes a bold attempt to follow in the footsteps of its forebearers and mostly it succeeds; at least at emulating that Mike Bay experience. The story this year could be a direct sequel to Black Ops 2 as the villain of that game; Raul Menedez has apparently returned and is threatening to throw the world into chaos… again. It’s up to the player, David Mason and his team to take down the villain once and for all and restore the state of things.
MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
You may be wondering why I said the villain apparently returns, well that’s because Black Ops 7 leans more heavily into the sci-fi than the series usually does. The Black Ops strain of CoD games has a formula, the story is some big to do, that involves lots of espionage and real-world type stuff, usually in the eleventh hour the game will add a healthy dose of the weird, zombies, sci-fi head trips and the like. It always felt like a good balance, however this version is weird from jump, as the villain might be just in David’s head. Oh, it gets weirder from there, I’m talking boss fights with giant screen filling enemies that bring to mind the Batman Arkham series fights with Scarecrow. One early mission has the team fighting Raul, all the while he is dropping gigantic machetes from the sky that do AoE damage; and once he takes enough damage players pick up the machete and then call it in like a score streak to do massive damage to the villain.
I mean, this isn’t horrible or anything… it just feels so out of place in a Call of Duty game. But alas there are some huge problems with this current version of campaign though. For one, the inclusion of co-op has made the game ‘always-online’, which means players cannot pause in the middle of a mission, even if they happen to be playing alone (which is difficult to do as the campaign lobby just looks like the usually multiplayer lobby). This also means that players will be kicked if they are idle too long in the campaign, I had to go to the restroom while playing, only to return to find myself at the main menu. The best part though is that I had to do the entire mission from the start because the game has NO checkpoint system. In the year of our Lord 2025 this is, well its unacceptable honestly. It feels like the developers are punishing players because their bladders may be full or someone just happened to come to their front door. Sure, this can be addressed with a patch, but this really shouldn’t have ever been an issue.
Oh, I almost forgot; after players finish the campaign they will unlock the Endgame. 32 players will drop into what feels like a match of Warzone to loot, level up and complete missions with and against their peers to level up their characters. All of the upgrades and weapons players received during the campaign are here for them to further tweak. Honestly the endgame was pretty fun, but that may be because I have been playing so much ARC Raiders because it feels like an extraction shooter. Players will usually need to be wary around other players as they can kill them and of course steal all their loot.
Now, if you are the type of player that comes to Black Ops for the Zombies then this version won’t disappoint. There is a new map, Ashes of the Damned, which is being called the largest round-based map ever created. There are multiple zones for players to fight in and they will even get a truck that will need repaired but that allows them to drive back and forth to each area. There is of course easter eggs galore for players to hunt down and find. Dead Ops Arcade 4 returns as well and I had a lot of fun with this one, I am not a big fan of normal zombies. Playing from a top-down perspective, players will mow down waves of zombies in what feels like a classic arcade game. This year though the game mode can be played in first person, which is neat but I don’t think this mode really lends itself to that perspective for prolonged play.
Multiplayer in Black Ops 7 feels like multiplayer in Black Ops 6. Now, that’s not to say there isn’t changes because the inclusion of the Overclock system is pretty neat but the core of this mode remains the same. With the overclock system players can upgrade their equipment, field upgrades and scorestreaks just like they are leveling a weapon. Each item comes with two choices of an upgrade, for example the new cluster grenade that scatters a group of smaller explosives when the main one detonates offers the following overlocking effects:
- Controllable Fuse: Adds the ability to cook the fuse over time
- Tighter Packing: Adds one additional mini grenade to the projectile
Only one of these can be chosen at a time but players are free to change it whenever they want. Combat specialties also return, as players equip three perks from the same specialty school, they will receive some additional albitites, the Enforcer package allows players to be granted a short speed boost to movement and healing when they get a kill. All of this feels like slipping on an old comfortable show, even the new stuff. What really irks me about multiplayer is I don’t think I have played on a new map yet. The mode has 16 maps with 3 of them being remakes from Black Ops 2 and I swear I have only played on those maps.
At the top of this I posed a question, does all this content equate to a better Call of Duty game, and I think the truthful answer is no. No doubt the team took some really big swings this year with the campaign, but I feel like they missed more than they hit with it. The lack of checkpoints and being always online is rough, especially when there are tons of fans who only play single-player and loves these games. If you are returning to Black Ops for the multiplayer or zombies then you are in for a great time, of course mileage may vary depending on which mode and if players vibe with it or not. But ultimately this year’s Call of Duty just feels like a big bag of melted candy, sure it will taste good but is the mess you got to work through to enjoy it worth it in the end?
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
