REVIEW: ‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7’ Campaign Is Ambitious And Exhilarating

The Call of Duty franchise is synonymous with first-person shooters, with its yearly releases being played by millions. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is an attempt to revitalize the franchise with an improved story, enhanced online content, and an overarching focus on co-op gameplay. I had the chance to play through the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign at a review event hosted by Activision, and found that it manages to refresh the series in unexpected ways, delivering an exciting experience despite a few pitfalls.

The story in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign serves as a sequel to 2012’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 as well as last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. David Mason returns as the main character alongside new and returning squad members as they seek to stop The Guild. Mason and his JSOC crew travel all over the world to achieve their mission, fighting all sorts of enemies along the way.

While all of that is interesting enough, the real focus of the story is on the personal conflicts that come to light. The Guild is using technology to turn fears into reality, and each of Mason’s squad members has to relive their own worst fears in increasingly nightmarish ways. 

The nightmare chapters make the character moments more impactful.

The nightmare chapters are by far the best part of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign. Each character has their own backstory, and by allowing players to dive into their minds, it makes the latter moments matter so much more. Watching David Mason relive his memories with his father or Harper fight his own insecurities makes their final moments in the story and their ability to overcome themselves resonate emotionally.

The only downside here is that players who did not play the previous games or forgot the story beats might not feel the same impact of these chapters. There is enough context provided to help these moments resonate, but significant knowledge is still required to fully appreciate them. It is certainly a hard balance to strike, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 mostly does a good job; however, it is challenging to weave stories together from games released over a decade apart.

Then there are new characters like 50/50 who don’t have a backstory from previous games, but are not given enough time to shine. Her nightmare chapter, in particular, was disappointing because players are expected to care deeply about her worst moment without fully understanding what that moment was. More time to flesh out her story would have been useful to make her decisions later on hold more meaning.

The co-op experience perfectly compliments the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign.

While the nightmare missions are great, the missions in Avalon are a bit of a letdown. There is so much of the world to explore, but it feels empty when traversing across to reach the objective. This map is expanded upon later on, but it would have been nice to see more density in the campaign missions to help make it feel more alive.

The villains are also a bit of a letdown, and even the big twist around who the real villain is didn’t hit as hard as it could have. The use of nightmares and the idea of questioning reality are the major focus, but that means the villains don’t really have a chance to shine. The few times players get to fight them don’t carry much weight because we don’t have enough time to truly invest in their downfall.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is focused on co-op gameplay, and the story can be played with up to four players. While it can be played solo, the co-op experience complements the narrative perfectly, making players feel like they are embodying the different squad members. It also makes some of the more challenging fights more manageable. This is not a story with co-op tacked on; it is clear that co-op was a key cog in the story’s development, and it certainly benefits from being played in a group.

Treyarch has developed a new mode to play ensuring players come back for more.

Following the end of the campaign, players are launched into one final mission taking place in Avalon, a key hub world showcased during the story. This new Endgame mode throws 32 players into the map where they can complete objectives, level up skill trees, and fight through different sectors with different challenge levels. It is a new attempt to make the post-campaign content matter, and it delivers.

The best part of Endgame is the interactions with other squads. Levelling up and earning new skills is fun, but completing public events with other squads is incredibly satisfying. New objectives, like defeating a dinosaur and fighting a giant rampaging robot, are coming in Season 1, and there are so many possibilities for Treyarch to keep this mode fresh. It is a great way to continue telling the story in a way that keeps bringing players back for more.

It is also just downright fun. There is a timer, so squads need to focus on levelling up quickly before attempting to safely extract. Be careful, though, you don’t want to try to extract in a higher zone if you aren’t a high enough level. My squad attempted this and quickly learned how wrong things can go if you aren’t adequately prepared. It is exciting to have a new mode to play with, so much promise for the future, and seeing what Treyarch cooks up is going to be interesting.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign is incredibly ambitious, focusing on the personal lives of the heroes as they work to stop a grand evil plan. Not every choice lands as well as it could have, but overall, the experience is certainly worth playing, especially in co-op.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 releases November 14th on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.