As gamers, there are times when developers promise an idea for a game, and that idea sounds wonderful based on prior execution. Earlier this year, during Microsoft’s Xbox showcase, Activision announced that the next Call of Duty would be Treyarch’s Call of Duty Black Ops 7 and that the game would feature a co-op campaign.
To many Call of Duty fans, Call of Duty World at War‘s Co-Op campaign is considered one of the best campaigns in the franchise; for many, they would say it is at least in the top 5 when it comes to campaigns. With this previous success, many expected Call of Duty Black Ops 7‘s campaign to match or even surpass its predecessor.
So, does Call of Duty Black Ops 7 live up to fans’ expectations, or will the franchise continue to be on a downward slope? Find out in our Call of Duty Black Ops 7 review.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software, Beenox, High Moon Studios, Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, Activision Shanghai, Demonware
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: PC (Steam, Windows, Battlenet), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X
Release Date: November 17th, 2025
Players 1 to 30
Price: $69.99
Before diving into the specific game modes, let’s go over what Call of Duty Black Ops 7 has to offer. The main menu is divided between Co-Op Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies. In Call of Duty Black Ops 7, the skins unlocked for the base characters carry over from Call of Duty Black Ops 6. In BO7 Zombies, the Gobblegums and Augment research carry over. Weapon experience, player rank, and camo unlock progress carry over between Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies.
Co-op Campaign is divided into two parts: the main story and a mission that is unlocked after completing the story called Endgame. First, let’s talk about the basic part of the campaign. In the campaign, the game switches between directed, limited-area missions and open-world missions. You will typically have one and then the other. The place where the open area missions take place is where the “End Game” mission takes place.
In End Game, you will go around the open world completing contracts and killing enemies in order to level up. This changes CoD from a Battle Royale shooter almost to an extraction RPG. If playing Endgame, you can select your weapons and field equipment. What’s weird about all of the campaign is that the controller layout changes drastically compared to Zombies and Multiplayer.
So let’s go over the positives and negatives of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Campaign. The Endgame “mission isn’t bad if you like extraction shooters; it just requires that you grind a lot. The ability to earn weapon experience is also a nice little touch.
Now the negative. Out of every Call of Duty I have ever played, and I’ve only missed two (Advanced & Infinite Warfare ), this is arguably one of the worst campaigns in the franchise’s history. The story likes to switch between the open world with normal missions to paranoid illusions. The player will have to fight normal enemies, Zombies (But not zombies), robots, and other weird abominations. In this campaign, they also decided to have multiple Boss Fights. The co-op campaign has no difficulty options either, so everyone is stuck paying against the same AI level.
Also, the gear upgrade system does not make any visible sense, with you randomly upgrading or leveling up your gear at random points. Throughout the whole story, there were only two times when these upgrades made sense. Additionally, the game made a big deal about upgrading your weapons, but once the mission was done, that weapon would disappear.
The story itself is fairly disappointing as well if you try tying it into the Black Ops franchise. The story doesn’t explain multiple plot points and expects you to just roll with it and shrug it off. If you told us that it was written by an AI that had been fed some Black Ops lore and zombies lore, we would believe you.
In Zombies, the mode is divided into five categories: Standard (Ashes of the Damned), Survival (Vendorn Farm), Cursed (Ashes of the Damned), Dead Ops Arcade 4, and Training Course. The basic form of zombies has players experience the new map, Ashes of the Damned. This game mode introduces players to a new area and continues the story introduced at the end of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. If you complete the Easter Egg, you will learn more about the story and see where it is going next.
In Survival, you will play on only one portion of the Ashes of the Damned map called Vandorn Farm; those who played Black Ops 2 will remember Farm from Tranzit, but the map has received a bit of an upgrade and a slight change. Once players have completed the base easter egg, they can start trying to complete Cursed challenges. Once you have completed three Cursed Challenges (Grim, Sinister, and Wicked), you can unlock Golden Armor, Pack a Punch IV, and Ultra Weapon rarity.
Finally, in Dead Ops Arcade 4, the game mode features the option to play either in Top Down or First Person Perspective. The game mode is similar to how you remember it, but there are different skill challenges. If you go down, the game will revive you after a bit of time. Dead Ops Arcade uses the assets of different Zombies maps.
For any of these game modes, you can equip Gobblegums. Gobblegums can now be converted into essence in the game. While pineapple supposedly does not go on Pizza, it does help kill zombies. There is a Warbeast machine that allows you to upgrade skills based on how much money you have for the rest of the game.
Multiplayer has five core game menus (Quickplay, Core Moshpit, Skirmish 20v20, Overload, and Gunfight) and one standard game menu. The quick-play game modes can be divided into Core and Hardcore. Core has Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, Domination, Hardpoint, Kill Order, Overload, Search and Destroy, and Free-for-all. Hardcore features Team Deathmatch, Kill Confirmed, Domination, Hardpoint, Overload, Search and Destroy, Free-for-All, and Core Moshpit.
The game gives you the ability to make multiple custom loadouts. The game features six Assault Rifles, six SMGs, three Shotguns, two LMGs, three Marksman Rifles, and three Sniper Rifles. After you’ve picked your primary, you can pick a secondary. The secondary weapon classes consist of three pistols and two launchers; if using the Overkill Wildcard, you can have a different primary weapon as a secondary. At the moment, the game features nine wild cards for players to pick from. Melee weapons are a bit lackluster at the moment, with only a knife and the Flatline MK II Baton being available.
Once you have chosen your weaponry, you will need to pick your Field Upgrade, Tacticals, Lethals, and Perks. The game features 10 Field Upgrades that are mostly returning abilities; however, there is a new Fear Trap, Squad Link, and Drone Pod. Field Upgrades, Tacticals, and Leathals can be Overclocked to provide additional features. Black Ops 7 features three new Tactical items (Pinpoint & Psych Grenades and a Hunter Bot) and two new Lethal items (Needle Done and Point Turret). Scorestreaks in the game can also be Overloaded.
Once you have completed the basic part of your gear, you will need to decide on perks. Perk Slot one features seven perks divided between Enforcer (3x), Recon (2x), and Strategist (2x). Perk Slot two features Enforcer (3x), Recon (3X), and Strategist (2X) perks. Perk Slot 3 features Enforcer (3x), Recon (2X), and Strategist (2X) perks. As long as you have two of the same type of perks, you will get a combat specialty; the three hybrid combat specialties are Tactician, Scout, and Operative. If you have all three of the same type of perks, you will get a core combat specialty (Recon, Enforcer, or Strategist). If you are using Perk Greed, it only uses the first three perks taken to decide on the combat specialty.
Before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, we were excited to see what Treyarch had to offer, but concerned that back-to-back years might lessen the overall quality of the product. This fear was proven to be true based on our experience with the game so far. While there are a ton of new and different things in BO7, it feels like the changes aren’t for the better. A majority of the maps in multiplayer are either direct remakes, altered prior content, or maps from other Call of Duty games.
Out of all the game modes, Zombies is arguably our favorite game mode in Black Ops 7. To be honest, it is the only one that they feel like they put actual work into and would be the only reason why we’d recommend the game to anyone, but even that does not make it worth its $69.99 price point. The developers have already been accused of using AI for some smaller assets, and we wouldn’t be surprised if it goes beyond what is already known.
The Campaign is, without a doubt, the worst in the franchise, and if you told us that it was from a different developer, we could honestly believe it. It’s fine to try something new every once in a while, but this felt like it was something thrown together quickly just to get it out. If Call of Duty continues down this path, then it will lead to people boycotting it like EA Games or other annual releases.
Even as a game that you can get with Game Pass, it is something you might want to reconsider. You absolutely should not buy it at full price, unless you are a Die Hard fan of Call of Duty, and even then, it’s questionable. Honestly, wait til the game goes on sale or play it through Game Pass. If you can, only stick to the Zombies game mode.
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 was reviewed on an Xbox Series X using a code provided by Activision (Xbox). Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is now available for the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
