The only thing I can praise about the campaign in Black Ops 7 is that it’s just a tad better than Battlefield 6. But honestly, that’s like praising an adult for breathing.
It’s surprising how similar the year’s two biggest shooters are in terms of their story modes. No, they don’t tell the same stories or drag heroes through the same locations. The similarity lies in their stupidity and utter irrelevance. Let’s be honest—if Black Ops 7 and Battlefield 6 were $20 cheaper due to the lack of story modes, few would be upset.
The plot of Black Ops 7 is a series of loosely connected events, devoid of logic, consistency, or even common sense. It’s the worst campaign not only in the Black Ops sub-series, but in Call of Duty as a whole. Even Ghosts and Vanguard don’t look so bad compared to Black Ops 7.
The plot centers on David Mason and his schizophrenia, which forces him to act as a hero alongside three imaginary comrades, trying to stop the head of a villainous corporation and Raul Menendez. And no, it’s no big deal that the ending of Black Ops 2—where Menendez “lost his wits” after David Mason shot him in the head at point-blank range—is considered canonical. After all, the Call of Duty writers know better.
Why is David Mason schizophrenic? It’s all because the campaign in Black Ops 7 is designed for co-op play. Forget that the developers promised only a co-op endgame—they lie to players all the time, and it’s time to get used to it. Throughout the cutscenes, Mason is animatedly discussing and interacting with his squad. When it comes to gameplay, the three comrades physically disappear, becoming voices in Mason’s head, actively commenting on what’s happening and even pretending to participate directly in missions.
Mason, wearing only his helmet, takes down hordes of enemies, comes within a hair’s breadth of death several times, and when the next cutscene plays, a trio of his imaginary friends appear, breathing wearily, as if they too had been involved in the shootout.
In later stages, it becomes clear that the developers didn’t bother with difficulty balancing or arena design. The final few missions are extremely difficult to complete solo due to the number of enemies and the structure of the missions, which require teamwork. For example, in one mission, one or two squad members must turn valves while the others cover them from advancing enemies. Naturally, solo playthrough becomes excruciating torture—Mason can’t turn a valve with one hand and shoot with the other. The enemies in the locations are insanely numerous for a single player, but far too few for a four-player team.
It’s genuinely unclear why Treyarch couldn’t at least add AI teammates, as the developers of Battlefield 6 did. It seems that Microsoft has also slashed budgets to recoup the $70 billion spent on Activision Blizzard.
There was no money for proper location design either. With its ability to jump several meters into the air, run along walls, and futuristic weapons, Black Ops 7 fails to capitalize on the potential of its universe, instead descending into primitive shootouts with dumb enemies. It’s astonishing how only graphics have improved over the years in the series, while Halo: Combat Evolved, Killzone, and FEAR, which released back in the 2000s, remain unrivaled in terms of AI.
While the jokes about imaginary friends can be countered by the campaign’s co-op structure—that if you play with four people, everything makes sense—it’s simply impossible to explain the sheer insanity that’s presented here in the form of missions.
After inhaling some mind-altering gas on their very first mission, the gang begins watching cartoons in their heads, literally traveling through fantasy worlds with skyscrapers floating in the clouds and jungles swarming with zombie spiders. In one mission, Mason must help a horde of the undead escape from a prison in Vorkuta, in another, fight the tree that devoured Frank Woods, and in a third, destroy a giant vomiting meteorites.
Yes, there were hallucinations in Black Ops: Cold War towards the very end, but that was a one-off section with Adler’s commentary that fit perfectly into the overall narrative. Black Ops 7, however, feels entirely like the collective madness of a quartet of drug addicts.
Adding to the humor and madness is the fact that the campaign can’t be completed offline. If Microsoft’s servers or your ISP are down, you’ll have to restart the mission from the beginning, not from the saved game. The game also can’t be paused. Your phone rings, your family distracts you—Black Ops 7 doesn’t care. Either endure enemy fire or disconnect and have to replay everything later.
The game also automatically connects to a shared communication channel, which means during cutscenes you might suddenly hear someone munching on chips, scolding a dog for peeing on the carpet, or simply laughing loudly at the characters’ lines. You’ll be connected to this channel even if you’re playing with four friends, meaning you’ll hear completely different voices.
Here’s another funny thing: because it’s always online, Black Ops 7 regularly checks for updates. So, if you’re playing a mission and Activision decides to roll out a patch, the game will remind you and FORCE you to restart the game to apply the changes. You can’t opt out. And that’s odd—in multiplayer, these notifications don’t pop up mid-match.
Black Ops 7’s vaunted endgame, which drops players to Avalon and tasks them with various missions, from clearing outposts to destroying convoys and enemy commanders, doesn’t save it. The funniest part is that the developers simply ported Modern Warfare 3’s zombie mode to the new map, replacing tonics with a leveling system. By completing missions, you earn a combat rating and level up, increasing your reload speed, running speed, health, and armor.
Avalon is divided into four zones, with the first being the easiest and most peaceful, and the fourth best avoided if your combat rating is below 45. Players will also encounter the final boss there, stolen from Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode.
Treyarch promised to develop Avalon, adding missions and activities if players enjoy it. This is likely to be the case, as Modern Warfare 3’s zombie mode had many fans.
Diagnosis
If you have four hours to spare, you can spend them playing Black Ops 7’s campaign. You’ll be both amused by its insanity and saddened by what Black Ops has become.
There are no memorable cinematic scenes or a decent soundtrack. There aren’t even any silly character utterances that could be used as memes. But we hasten to reassure you—the direction and script were clearly not the work of artificial intelligence, as even the first version of ChatGPT couldn’t produce such madness. As for Activision Blizzard, we recommend taking a closer look at the team that created the campaign: they’re better off being sent to a home where they’re issued comfortable long-sleeved shirts and the rooms have padded walls.
The only pleasant consolation is the Avalon mode, where you can calmly level up your weapons, profile, and Battle Pass (when it comes out) on stupid bots. No longer do you have to try to do this in multiplayer with people who traded their personal lives, the street, and their own futures for the opportunity to shoot accurately in a computer game.
