Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (Campaign) review for PC, PlayStation, Xbox

Treyarch’s campaigns have historically been on the higher end of consistent quality for the whole of the Call of Duty franchise. While the other two primary development teams have wavered up and down over time, Treyarch has always felt like the one constant in the trio. Of course, this was missed once given the fact that they avoided having a campaign altogether once, but I’m happy to say we’re back on track within today’s space. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s campaign and following endgame mode both offer some very fun experiences, and, while I’m not the biggest fan of the storyline writing itself, it’s not like they’ve ever been super deep. It’s just fun action events happening with a veneer of secret operation deep in its “Black Ops” missions. I’m going to be offering some spoilers of increasing spoilery-ness as I go on, so if you care a lot about the plot, I’d recommend stopping once I make note below.

As I am writing this, the game is officially out already in some regions, and you might have seen many complaining that it’s “Just Modern Warfare III again, all warzone open world missions with no linear levels”. I want to get it out of the way immediately because I think that these takes are not correct. As someone who was extremely critical of the Modern Warfare III campaign two years ago, it is not fair to compare Black Ops 7 to that. There are open world-ish missions within the campaign, however, these comprise maybe 25% of the total mission list and they are not the warzone formula looting for rare guns formula that Modern Warfare III employed. Rather, these missions seem to exist primarily to get you used to navigation within the endgame mode. There is no real incentive given to exploration, there is not really any “loot”, and it seems like the game really just wants you to get to your objective. Personally speaking, I think this is a really smart way to get you ready for Endgame once you arrive, as it’s teaching you the navigation necessary to get across long distances. Most of the mission time within Black Ops 7 is in traditional linear missions in unique set pieces

Black Ops 7’s campaign is fully co-operative with up to 4 players. This includes both the actual campaign as well as the endgame mode once you complete all the missions. I do have to mention that I find it oddly lacking that Black Ops 7’s campaign does not have any support for AI teammates whatsoever, meaning that if you are not playing with friends, it will only be you on the field. Your other squadmates will still talk to you, but only over comms. They speak to you as if they’re in the room with you, which… is a bit strange, but, okay, it’s only one oddity and the campaign itself is really good otherwise. I can overlook it, especially considering when I played through it, I was already with a squad, so everyone was present.

So the whole focus of the campaign this time around, from what you can gather both from the trailers and opening scenes is that Menendez is back. “But… how?” You might ask. “Didn’t I literally shoot him in the head point blank in Black Ops 2? How would he be back?” Great question, and let’s save that for the parts where I talk more spoilers. But the point is Menendez is back, he’s on TV, and he’s making a lot of threats that are scaring the planet. Something big is going down in Avalon and David Mason, along with his squad: Eric Samuels, Mike Harper, and new face 50/50, are going in to find out how Menendez is back and what’s going on in the heart of Avalon. Rumors of shady dealings from the Guild have you going in to see what’s happening.

To address a later non-spoiler first, I have to admit that while I quite liked her character, the new addition to the team, 50/50, felt very… out of focus. For how cool of a character she seemed like she could be, sporting quite the muscular physique along with a prosthetic arm and leg, she felt a little lacking in the context department. I never quite got how she fell into the squad, who she was, or really a good showcasing of what a badass she looked like. I wish the campaign would’ve had some more focus on her, but maybe there’s a chance in some future releases. The rest of the squad are all familiar faces that we know from previous Black Ops entries, so there wasn’t much need to dive into them very deep. Of course David gets most of the focus, as he’s sort of the “main character” role among the cast. This is the point you’ll want to stop reading if you want to avoid spoilers.

Alright, so the elephant in the room: how the hell is Menendez still alive? They’ve featured his miraculous revival as their primary point of advertising Black Ops 7, so surely he’s back and you’re going to show him who’s boss, yeah? Well… nope. Actually it takes all of one mission to turn the story from everything they advertised into what it actually is. Menendez was never alive, silly: it was all a deepfake. The Guild was just using his image to create chaos and he was never actually alive! So you get through the first mission, learn this, and blow the building you’re in down. This is where the focus of the campaign and endgame actually starts. Not with a bang, but with toxin gas.

Yes, it’s the toxin from Black Ops 6 again. The cool stuff that made you fight zombies for an entire mission is making a return and it is front and center this time around. Much of the campaign of Black Ops 7 takes place in the hallucinatory nightmares of your characters. The reasoning given for their mutual hallucinations is that they are all futuristic super soldiers who are connected consciously to one another through their “C-link” technology. Fair enough; if the campaign is going to be co-op and feature nightmare monsters that aren’t real, you definitely need to supply a reason we can all see the same zombie. The inference in most of these missions is that your characters are actually doing something in the real world, but you’re seeing the enemies you’re fighting as weird monsters and the world as strange nightmare set pieces. These set pieces are, in my opinion, extremely cool. Same with the unique enemies and bosses you get pitted against as the campaign goes on. They are all uniquely intricate and very well designed. Everything you see from beginning to end is spectacular, even if the open area missions are a little less interesting in the scheme of it.

Not that any of that brings the overall quality down. The open missions are a nice change of pace for a moment of more chill action between the high-octane hallucinations you go through. From beginning to end, the Black Ops 7 campaign gives a lot to the players to enjoy. After it’s all over though, it’s only just begun. Introducing for the first time ever in a Call of Duty game: the endgame. I was a bit skeptical of this mode when I heard about it, but I am happy to say it’s actually quite fun and also uniquely in-depth, as I’ve said about a lot in Black Ops 7 overall. It says a lot to me that there are so many modes available this time around, and not one of them makes me feel like it got less love than another. There is a ton of content everywhere, and the depth of it all is insane for a 1-year release schedule.

Endgame is pretty simple to describe. It’s essentially an open-world, quasi-DMZ mode, but it’s entirely PVE. Up to 32 players are able to drop into one instance of Avalon simultaneously, and are given a 50 minute timer. Within the map, there are a plethora of options for tasks to complete such as escorting a D.A.W.G. (Big robot mech dog), clearing a building of the nightmare enemies, or taking over a command center. These command centers are where you’ll go in each zone to level up your weapons, so always be on the lookout for those. The map is sectioned off into four “difficulties”, effectively meaning you’ll need to level up your character before you venture in and try to continue the fight in any of them.

As you complete tasks, you will earn XP for your character, which allows you to get them up to a maximum of 55. Each level allows you to take an upgrade to your character such as faster reloads or movement, faster revives, regenerating armor/ammo, and a ton of other options. This is built out into almost a full fledged RPG system for leveling, but it’s much simpler than most. Each level you just get to choose from two options, and slowly earn everything. It’s my understanding that each operator gets a different set of skills, so you’ll need to test everyone to find your perfect match. Don’t die, though, as you will lose the character entirely! The only way to retain your character level is to extract, so make sure you are careful as you move about.

Ultimately, this builds up to the final fight within the Endgame, where, during my early play sessions, 12 of us in one server at levels 45 and up, all worked together to take down the final boss fight. I would be surprised, from my experience, if this is doable with a single squad of 4 without quite a bit of fuss, but only time will tell, there. Treyarch informed us that they are using this endgame mode to expand the story in future updates, and will continue to add some absolutely absurd enemies to the whole thing. They showed us the Z-Rex’s reappearance coming in a future update as well as a giant robot mech enemy that you’ll have to see to truly understand the intimidating size of.

Overall, the campaign and endgame content in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is another great addition to the franchise’s lineup, and, while it was slightly lacking in some aspects with the storytelling itself, the set design and experience of the whole campaign more than made up for it. Do yourself a favor and turn off social media for a day while you play, to avoid letting people get in your head about why you shouldn’t like it, and just give it a fair shot. If you like Black Ops, you will like this.

Note: Activision provided us with a Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 code for review purposes.
See our detailed Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer review here.