2.5/5 ★ – kubachowicki_'s review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Just like I said with the Battlefield 6 Beta, I do not play multiplayer games anymore, or any FPS games for that matter. I used to play Call of Duty all the time between Black Ops-Black Ops 4, having quit with Modern Warfare (2019) and Warzone, both of which I hated. I originally decided to try the Black Ops 7 Beta because it was the first time that Call of Duty decided to put zombies into the Beta. I then decided that I might as well try out the multiplayer since it is free to play for a few days, and does not require PlayStation Plus. I ultimately put around 10 hours into the Beta across both zombies and multiplayer and got max level (30). Here are my thoughts: Zombies: If I am to ever come back to Call of Duty, it will be for zombies (other than campaign, which I am always looking forward to playing). I skipped most of Black Ops Cold War and all of Black Ops 6 zombies, so I have zero idea as to where the storyline is at right now, so I can not comment. All I know is that the Aether crew is not what it used to be, and the Chaos crew is no more (I am in the minority, but unfortunately). Judging it purely from a gameplay and mechanical perspective, rather than a storyline or character one, I was pleasantly surprised. It feels completely different to the zombies I know and have been used to playing for years between World at War and Black Ops 4, but I actually welcome this change. It is nowhere near as good as those, but to sit here saying it is bad purely for being different would be foolish. I love the ammo buying system, and the reworked gobblegum system. Vandoorn Farm is a fun small map, very much along the lines of a Town, Bus Depot, or Farm from Black Ops 2, where you just load in, and survive on a tiny map with not much to go with. I am assuming that when the full game comes out and when we get the Ashes of the Damned mode with the full sized map, we will get even more content reminiscent of the zombies of old, such as buildables, wonder weapons, shields, and the sort. The main things I did not like were mostly technical elements. The compass is beyond useless in zombies, and just takes up space on the screen for the sake of it. A minimap is convenient, I guess, but at the same time removes the fun aspect of survival in zombies, with a big part of it being map knowledge. It was always fun playing a new map and having to learn where the mystery box locations, perk machines, power, certain wall buys, gobblegum machines, and others are located on the map, whereas here, it simply shows it all on the minimap. This zombies ultimately feels a little bit less like a creepy survival mode, but rather a tense and cool round based mode, if that makes any sense. I do prefer the old zombies, but I do welcome this change, just like I welcomed the change in Black Ops 4 that everyone hated (I still love BO4 zombies to this day). The difficulty is a very interesting aspect here, as the early rounds feel like a cakewalk, even easier than what they used to be in previous games, but then as you progress, the difficulty ramps up quite fast. It goes from 0 to 100 in the space of 10-15 rounds. Multiplayer: I do not love it, far from it, but it exceeded my expectations. Out of the ones I have played (all of them except for Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 6), it is comfortably the best modern game in the series, since Warzone was introduced with Modern Warfare (2019). The gameplay flows and feels really nice. Having both sliding and diving adds more variation to the gameplay, which I also enjoy. I have always been more of a sliding person myself (not one of those meta slide cancel morons like u get in modern CoD), but I do also like the classic vibe of the dolphin dive. The turning down of skill-based matchmaking is heavenly, as that feature single handedly was ruining Call of Duty (with other factors ruining it further). Most of the maps we got shown in the Beta are really bad to say the least. Imprint was the only one I enjoyed playing on. The gun balance is very off, but it is only a Beta, so they have time to work on that, and the same can be said about the spawns, particularly in domination. Treyarch have teased Black Ops 7 up to be like a spiritual succesor to Black Ops 2, given that BO2 took place in 2025, while BO7 is releasing in 2025, but BO7 really feels nothing like BO2. I am sure that they will re-release Nuketown 2025 and some more BO2 maps, with some already confirmed I believe, and try to appeal to the BO2 community that way, but it honestly feels nothing like BO2. Like I said, I did not dislike BO7's multiplayer from the Beta, but it is insulting to even align it with the masterpiece that is BO2. The reworked omnimovement takes some time getting used to, but it is not the end of the world, I guess. I have never liked any form of omnimovement in any game, so I am a bit apprehensive here, too. It feels a little bit like they are trying to give us a middle gap between traditional boots on the ground, and advanced movement (more akin to exo jumping in Advanced Warfare than thrust jumping with jetpacks in Black Ops 3 and Infinite Warfare). Personally, I like both boots on the ground and advanced movement, but I am just not the biggest fan of the idea of trying to have a bit of both here. Give us either full boots on the ground, or full advanced movement, in my opinion. Thid is not gamebreaking or anything, but I would rather it not be in the game at all. There are also still some of the features of modern Call of Duty that annoy the hell out of me, too. Firstly, interactive doors need to go. They needed to go years ago, and they still do. Call me old school all you want, I do not really care, but the compass is unnecessary and is pointless in regular multiplayer. Leave that for Warzone. Peeking around corners with your weapon annoys the hell out of me, as it just encourages camping and headglitching that no one likes to be on the receiving end of. It also just reminds me of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, which I have always hated. ------- My major criticism across both modes is that most of the weapons sound almost identical. I know that might be a bit of nitpicking, but it actually bothers me, as weapons in Call of Dutt used to have diversity and differences. I said it when I watched the multiplayer trailer, and I stand by it after playing the Beta. Overall, I am really looking forward to trying the campaign, looking forward to playing the full zombies experience, but to be completely honest, I do not see myself playing much of multiplayer. It is not that I dislike it, I just found it to be decent at best, and plus, I am not really an FPS player anymore. I just want to relax and takes games my own pace, and I do not care for adrenaline rushes or being constantly locked in like in Call of Duty. Finally, seeing this constant Battlefield 6 vs Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 debate, I thought to chip in with my own take. If we are strictly talking about multiplayer, Battlefield 6 takes the crown with zero hesitation. As far as I am concerned, it is not close whatsoever, even though I am unlikely to play either very much for reasons stated above. Factoring in zombies though, I would have to say Black Ops 7, as for me, zombies > multiplayer. Based on the vibes that both games gave me, those being a more grounded warfare in Battlefield 6, and a more futuristic one in Black Ops 7, I would also have to say that I am more looking forward to playing the Battlefield 6 campaign.