Black Ops 7 review - a dud campaign can't overshadow CoD's best multiplayer in years

Campaign. Multiplayer. Zombies. The traditional three pillars of Treyarch's Call of Duty games. In a dream world, all of these components hit the sweet spot, improving on what came before, delivering satisfying mechanics and unexpected surprises. But Black Ops 7 is a game of extreme highs and lows. Based on what I played at a hands-on review event in London, and what I've experienced in the comfort of my own home since launch, there are some elements of 'the biggest CoD ever' that surpass Black Ops 6 and deliver the series' best action in years. However, some of BO7's big new swings miss the mark, and in some areas, it can feel like reheated leftovers rather than a delicious, original dish.

Judging by all the pre-launch teasers and trailers, Black Ops 7's campaign was always set to be another trippy, psychological affair. BO6's campaign was impactful and surprising, because this approach felt fresh and invigorating compared to the stale, rushed, and predictable stories we've endured in so many of the releases before it. However, Black Ops 7 doesn't have the same impact. Not only does it tread on thematically similar ground, but the vast majority of the narrative focuses on past events, rather than what is happening in the present and what may occur in the future.

Thanks to a mysterious bioweapon created by the evil, well-armed tech giant, The Guild, David Mason and his crew are constantly bombarded with hallucinations and flashbacks. There's a lot of looking backwards, whether that be several retellings of the events of Black Ops 2 (an understandable necessity for newer CoD fans, but a bit of a chore for those like myself who lived that story already) or constant battles with repressed memories and inner demons among Mason's fireteam. The overarching goal of taking down The Guild, its main henchpeople, and big boss Emma Kagan, does progress as you make it through these past traumas, but it almost feels like the second most important thing you're battling.

While the narrative left a lot to be desired, there's still fun to be had in the campaign - especially now you can play it in its entirety with your pals. Weapon upgrade stations, gear caches, and new abilities are peppered throughout, giving you a feeling of ever-increasing power, rather than just throwing you into different scenarios with various loadouts. The action switches between linear missions and more open ones set in Avalon, the latter of which didn't feel as enjoyable as I hoped. However, the campaign is littered with unexpected, bizarre boss fights. A battle against a Menendez hallucination sees you call in giant machetes like air strikes. A grotesque, plant-like demon becomes the central enemy in a moment that felt more like a Destiny 2 raid than your typical CoD mission. At one stage, you even battle against a giant Harper, one of Mason's core four team members, who throws some soulslike dodging mechanics your way.

While not the most engrossing boss fights in the world, their ridiculousness at least put a smile on my face, and they show Treyarch trying to do something different with the CoD campaign formula. However, the final boss is a major disappointment that falls just as flat as the game's narrative conclusion.

The campaign then leads to Endgame - a 'brand new' extraction mode that lets you grind PvE activities in Avalon to increase your combat score, with the end goal being to power up and take on a final boss. Should you die or fail to extract, your combat score is reset to zero, and the grind begins again. During the review event I attended, I got the chance to play some of Endgame's, erm, endgame, with a boosted account, and this threw up some interesting tasks and some seriously powerful gear. However, when playing at lower combat levels, Endgame is pretty tedious. While there are tough AI Guild soldiers that can shoot back, as you travel to more difficult zones in Avalon, you run into an increasing number of zombie-like enemies, which makes it feel like… well, Zombies. It's a collision of ideas from Warzone's failed DMZ mode, Black Ops Cold War's Outbreak, and Modern Warfare 3 Zombies. While I found some novelty and enjoyment in that higher-level action, Endgame (and the rather bland-feeling world of Avalon) didn't impress me.

To put a bow on my campaign and Endgame frustrations, there's also the matter of Treyarch's use of generative AI, which becomes most apparent when you check out some of the calling cards you earn for completing challenges in these modes. I'm disappointed to see a game with a budget and scope as large as Black Ops 7's leaning into this tech to either fully or partly create assets, although in my dozens of hours of playtime, I admit I haven't been jarred by anything else that feels AI-generated.

There is better news, however, when it comes to Zombies. Ashes of the Damned is a strong, round-based map to get the BO7 era underway, and I'm not just saying that because anything Tranzit-related makes me misty-eyed.

Unlike the campaign, which I felt was overly dependent on Black Ops 2 callbacks, Ashes has just the right amount of nostalgia and BO2 inspiration. A few memorable locations return, the general concept of riding a vehicle around in a loop is there, and even TEDD the bus driver makes a decapitated return. But with an upgradeable pickup truck, a terrifying zombified bear enemy, and some elaborate secrets and easter eggs, it manages to distance itself suitably from Tranzit. While the mode's gameplay feel is similar to BO6, Ashes of the Damned is a decent starting point for the year ahead. Not an all-timer, but not a disappointment either.

However, Black Ops 7 gives you even more ways to play Zombies this year. Cursed mode is a challenging throwback that attempts to replicate the feel of early Zombies experiences, with a hit-based points system, no pre-determined loadouts, and higher costs for things like Pack-A-Punch weapons. Survival mode returns, tasking you with holding out and extracting from a small, fenced-off area of the Ashes map while waves of enemies are thrown your way - this is the first time we've seen this mode since Call of Duty WWII. Finally, the riotous Dead Ops Arcade returns (last seen in Black Ops Cold War) to provide some top-down, Vampire Survivors-style chaos. The hour or so I spent playing Dead Ops Arcade was right up there with the most fun I've had in Black Ops 7 so far, with ridiculous power-ups and minigames sprinkled throughout.

There's a huge variety of modes here, but while Treyarch makes tweaks to each of these experiences, it does once again show the studio looking more to the past than the future. I'm glad these additional Zombies modes are here. After all, when it comes to co-op PvE, variety is rarely a bad thing, and none of them are a waste of your time and energy. But something truly fresh and surprising would've hit a lot harder.

Finally, we reach multiplayer, and this is the shiniest of the three jewels in Black Ops 7's crown. This is the best that core multiplayer has felt in Call of Duty since 2018's Black Ops 4, finding a sweet spot between the series' rigid, boots-on-the-ground gunfights and the neck-breaking 'jetpack era'. By introducing wall jumping to the already dynamic Omnimovement system, Black Ops 7 feels more expressive and fast-paced. Navigating maps is slick, and it adds a layer of skill that lets you outplay opponents in corridor or corner situations if you can get the hang of it.

The majority of core multiplayer maps also play well. For the most part, they do a great job of facilitating the new wall jump mechanic, with plenty of surfaces to spring off of and lots of high-up windows and ledges to boost up to. However, there were certainly times when invisible walls blocked me from reaching vantage points or getting on top of map furniture that looked like intentional parts of the map's design. I understand giving players full freedom to clamber wherever they physically can will lead to balance headaches and cheesy strats, but it was disappointing to be blocked from reaching what felt like a logical, fair spot. That's a minor grumble, though, because at the end of the day, new BO7 maps like Blackheart, Exposure, and Toshin provide some excellent moments across most game modes, and the disjointed Retrieval is the only 6v6 map in the launch lineup that I'll skip when voting on the next match - that's a pretty good ratio, given the volume of them.

Black Ops 7's new Overload mode has also quickly found its way to my heart. While I'd still rather see the return of Uplink, Overload gets the closest to its exhilarating, sport-like feel in a long time. Each team has two goals, and one EMP device must be picked up and escorted to either of them to score a point. Protecting EMP carriers, racing to new devices, sitting back to guard your goals, spawn-trapping at the enemy's goals to create openings for your team - it's got the lot. How it'll fare in the hyper-competitive arenas of Ranked and the Call of Duty League remains to be seen, but it's already more fun to play than Control, the mode it's set to replace.

I can't bestow the same praise on BO7's other new mode, however. Skirmish is a 20v20 mode that feels like part Ground War, part Hardpoint, and part Warzone Resurgence. Played on big maps with objectives that slightly shift positions after capturing them, you can wingsuit in after respawning, letting you glide to pretty much wherever you want on the map (so long as you're not shot out of the sky). Ground vehicles and helicopters also give you opportunities to navigate the map quickly. It sounds like a recipe for fun, but from what I played, it's actually incredibly stale. Potentially a good warm-up mode or a training ground for someone new to CoD, as an experienced player, I didn't get much enjoyment out of it. Thankfully, the core 6v6 multiplayer experience is so good that I don't even need to dwell on my Skirmish disappointment.

While 'loadout bloat' is a very real thing in Call of Duty these days (and with the addition of Overclock upgrades for gear and scorestreaks, Black Ops 7 swells even larger), there are some excellent new touches to stop you getting stuck for hours in the gunsmith menus. Loadout codes let you swiftly share gun builds with friends - and effortlessly pinch them from whatever streamer or YouTuber you regularly watch - without having to go through the rigmarole of calling out each individual attachment. Elsewhere, if you find yourself getting absolutely beamed by a certain gun, you can press a button during a killcam, and a copy of that build will be sent to your in-game notifications.

Black Ops 7 is a mammoth game, and when you've got that much content, it's nearly impossible to get it all right. While most of its innovations in multiplayer are excellent, and Zombies offers a solid round-based experience with a couple of fan-favorite modes returning, there are still some misses, especially within its campaign and Endgame. If you're chasing the high of some of the all-time great CoD campaigns, then Black Ops 7 isn't for you. If you're a Zombies fan hoping for fresh, memorable experiences, you may find them over time, but don't expect to be totally dazzled right off the bat. If, like me, you mostly want a grindable, dynamic, competitive multiplayer that feels super satisfying to play, then this could become one of your favorite Call of Duty games in a very long time - in that final regard, it's certainly one of mine.