I’ve always been that Call of Duty fan. The one who finishes the campaigns first, replays ‘All Ghillied Up,’ and can quote Reznov better than real-world leaders. For me, it’s always been about the story first and kills later. That’s why the last decade has been painful.
Campaigns used to be tight, cinematic war stories. Lately, they became messy spectacles trying to do everything at once. Black Ops Cold War fixed some of that. It understood pacing and mission structure again. Black Ops 6 mostly delivered an average but familiar Call of Duty feel.
Black Ops 7 doesn’t just stumble. It falls off a cliff. The story, missions, and direction feel lost. Even though the co-op gameplay has potential and the game runs well on modest PCs, the campaign struggles with identity.
The plot tries to be big and bold but ends up simple and silly. There’s a sequel hook to Black Ops 2, a villain setup that’s immediately undercut, and a cartoonish group called “The Guild” cooking up fear gas and quantum computers. The story uses hallucinations as a gimmick for surreal missions, but it never builds tension. Levels jump between nostalgia moments and half-finished open areas with exposition that never lands.
Missions lack rhythm. They’re long, split into random segments, filled with endless bullet sponge enemies, and end abruptly. The whole campaign lasts four to five hours but somehow still feels boring. By the final mission, fighting endless ultra-tanky enemies in cramped arenas just tests your patience.
Visually, the game has flashes of beauty. Avalon looks good, and hallucination sequences are fun. But character models clash with environments, lighting changes between scenes, and some areas feel like leftover pieces from other projects. Menus and UI are cluttered, reminding you the campaign is just part of a larger live service, not a lovingly crafted story.
AI use is noticeable. Repeated enemy types, scripted encounters, and slightly off AI-generated art make the campaign feel processed and soulless. Call of Duty campaigns used to feel like people were fighting for moments and ideas. Here, it often feels like a spreadsheet made the decisions.
Co-op is the one bright spot. Playing four-player missions with progression and unlockable endgame content is fun. Moving around Avalon with grapples, wingsuits, and mobility kits feels great. The idea is strong enough to be a standalone mode. But as the main campaign, it suffocates the story. Slow dialogue, unskippable cutscenes, and forced online matches frustrate solo and casual players.
Boss fights feel chaotic. Classic characters become hallucinated bosses in over-the-top encounters with floating health bars and cartoonish mechanics. They are fun as arcade-style challenges but don’t fit a Black Ops narrative. Emotional stakes are replaced with meme moments, which is disappointing for fans who care about Mason, Woods, and Menendez.
New squad members have almost no personality. You’re thrown into missions with random soldiers the script claims are important, but they never are. Motivations and banter are paper-thin. Combined with reused assets, awkward design choices, and uneven pacing, the campaign feels hollow.
Black Ops 7 has moments of fun and flashes of style, but as a story-driven campaign, it is a massive disappointment. It forgets what made Call of Duty campaigns special, replacing soul with spectacle and co-op experiments. Fans who loved the stories of the past will leave frustrated, while newcomers might only notice the game looks nice and plays well in bursts.
