- Tested on Xbox One S and Xbox Series X.
- Game purchased in physical version.
- About 120 hours in total.
- Article started before the release of Season 1, and finished after.
- No divulgations to expect from this article.
- Few home pictures in this article, not obvious to make good shots in the fire of sustained action.
Like Pokémon, impossible to pass the compressor roller Call of Duty, which gives us a drink of episodes at the rate of one per year, on average, since 2007 and unsurpassable Modern Warfare. Started in 2003, with an opus thought to compete Medal of Honor (which will eventually put the key under the door), the Activision franchise soon exploded all the records, creating the event at each new exit. PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 is particularly conducive to this kind of great show experience, and also benefits from an online rush to which Call of Duty is not foreign. In 2025, the craze fell a little off, but especially the exit of a Battlefield 6 As well as the arrival of Day One on the Game Pass Ultimate, the actual sales figures are reduced. As if it wasn't enough already, Activision takes full advantage of a noisy amount of unhappy players. Then Call of Duty : Black Ops 7 Does he have to blush against his historical competitor?
Looking for lost time
Series dear to my heart, Call of Duty m Lovers of the first Modern Warfare, I later sanded along, wide and across Black Ops and its direct sequel. But the opus on which I spent the most time, as strange as it may seem because of a rather lukewarm critical return, is good Ghost. This one, I re-launch it very regularly on a PS3 that keeps good, and his Online that refuses to shoot his reverence despite his advanced age. However, since the first Modern Warfare, he never came to me to try the campaign of a COD. Not that I'm afraid of having a bad time, but you have to say what is, it's good with the multi mode that the franchise keeps its players, and I'm no exception. However, I have for a long time abandoned the new Call of Duty, only to try my luck a few hours on the reboot of Modern Warfare, to which I did not hang much, and even less on his sequel, which mercilessly cooled. But this year, it was the one, I took Black Ops 7 at the launch, and I did a carnage.
It must be said that this new episode is big on its marketing, with a French advertisement featuring a Philippe Etchebest shot with four pins, and some terms that fill the sight of it. « The biggest Black Ops to date ». This is an exciting promise, especially coupled with other announcements, notably concerning the Zombie and the Coop campaign. But every thing in its time, since once the game was installed on my Xbox One S, I plunged directly into the live of the subject: the multiplayer. The opportunity to see a lot of evolutions since PlayStation 3, of course. Since, I remind you, I spent only a few hours out of two of the new Modern WarfareI was not well aware of what had changed for the franchise. The first thing I noticed was a HUB, which brings together the last seven games, as well as various tabs I didn't dwell on. A good way to highlight promotions on the Xbox Store in any case, since it was not hidden to indicate the nice -50% on a Black Ops 6 already replaced just one year after its release. On the menu, at least, we don't win, as players, since it's much less obvious to be there than it was twelve years ago, and we're unnecessarily wasting time on this invasive multi-launcher.
Before talking about gameplay or content, let me talk about the technique, because I did not take long to change the console. My Xbox One S, not content to spit out its lungs (although solid until then) with multiplayer mode, also showed a rather striking graphic delay, in addition to regular slowdowns. The title is not unplayable online, and I did enjoy it for a few hours, but the textures that arrive late and other unsavory visual artifacts do not sell this Old Gen experience very well. I had the same impression as when I started Like a Dragon : Infinite Wealth Besides. Worse, and I say this without bad faith since ratio and competition are not my priority, it happened to me to get aligned because of saccades or lags that, in the heat of action, prevented me from shooting precisely, or even seeing my executioner landing in a corner of the screen. Problems that have not often occurred, out of the five to six hours I spent on Xbox One S, but that were enough to convince me to release the Xbox Series X, taking the dust in a closet. And it was from there (finally after a new two-hour download) that the fun really started.
What quickly struck me was the new way of moving in space. The show has come a long way since the PS3, and it's been pretty messy. Not only because Call of Duty : Black Ops 7 goes fast, very fast even, probably too much for some players (and sometimes for me too); but also because it is now necessary to deal with some additional movements, adding still a little to a mental charge that did not need it. Fortunately, on Xbox Series X, the game is very fluid, and rather pretty, which prevents the disappointments encountered on his big sister. However, it took a certain amount of time to adapt to control the ground positions, the slide in all directions, or the wall jump. I've never felt so mobile in a video game, not even in a Mirrors Edge1 Dying Light or Ghostrunner. Something that fails, first, before being absolutely jubilatory once in hand. What could have turned me back on Warfare Infinite and Advance Warfare, that I tried only the time of an evening, namely mobility in the air, is not found here. Despite the wall jumps, we stay close enough to the ground, and nobody is untouchable.
In any case, things didn't really move. We move with the left joystick, we turn the camera with the right, we shoot with the right low trigger, we aim with his twin sister, and tactical or deadly equipment are placed on the upper slices. We squat or slide with the B (or the Sony round), and jump with the A (or the X). Even the functions of the directional keys have not moved. Thus, the elders will not take long to regain their marks, and any First Person Shooter player will find it without much trouble. But Black Ops 7 requires the multi-platform game. In other words, you will play on console, nothing will stop you from falling on PC players, with keyboard / mouse combo. Which holds a lot of bad surprises. Since even if there is a slight help to the goal for the controllers (against which one will be plagued or not, but which has visibly been reduced this year), nothing prepares a console player for the speed of a mouse's sight. Finally, it goes without saying that this is nothing beside the famous third dan of unemployment, having already passed several prestiges barely a week after the release of the title. See you guys! Too bad that the matchmaking struggles to place players according to their abilities, even though it is true that it is as much a defect as a quality, depending on the parties. Still to be seen how it goes in ranked on season 2.
A fire on the abyss
On the content side, it must be acknowledged that, at least on paper, Black Ops 7 It's a dream. We are still talking about 18 maps on which to castrate online, at the launch, a rather honest score in the middle. The problem is that in the batch, two maps are intended only for 20 to 20, parts that will not please everyone because of a much slower pace and repeated targets. Personally, it's not fun. But above all, among the 16 maps designed for 6 vs 6, three come directly from Black Ops II. A delicate attention to the fans of the first hour, perhaps you think. In a way, it can be said, and it is true that it is sensible to go back to Raid's hallways, run on the Express train, and shovel on Hijacked by hand. Three iconic maps, which joins a Nuketown faithful to the post office since Black Ops First of the name... Unfortunately, beyond the fact that it smells like recycling, it is also an opportunity to realize that the new gameplay, and more precisely the new mobility, is no longer exactly suited to the old ways of doing things. While Express greatly benefits from the speed of new action and wall jumps, the same can hardly be said of Raid, which shows us more easily the limits of its contours and verticality. Problem that finds all the more echo on the two tighter maps that are Nuketown and Hijacked.
Purist problems, maybe. That most players won't feel, or not for a hundred hours, maybe too. But problem despite everything, which is not the only one on the Online mode. I wish I'd told you that all the new maps are worth it, and type the top of the basket. But unfortunately I have a serious problem with Homestead, which takes place around a cottage and promotes camping, as well as with Toshin, which I simply find poorly designed. And players don't fool, because except for a few rare cases, when these two cards fall into the votes between two games, they are often eliminated in favour of other much better ones. Good news. Next to that, some maps really come out. Blackheart, Cortex and Exposure are excellent. But I agree with you, we are still in purist discussion, since many will do with what the soft has to offer in terms of playing spaces, and will not go further. I don't want much.
There are seven game modes with 12 players (6 VS 6, or each for its skin), a Nuketown 24/24 mode (whose interest does not come to mind, especially with what I told you earlier), a Engagement mode (at 20 to 20), and a Escarmouche mode (at 2 to 2) that makes us change class at each run without reappearing again. Of course, you can also find these modes in Hardcore format, i.e. without mini-map, without kill-cam and with increased damage. Format that in my personal capacity I like very much, and that has lost nothing of the legendary frustration that it could create in the least patient players. It's too bad that the Play-Arms mode, which I loved so much, is not part of the game (at launch). As a reminder, in this one you got a better weapon at every kill. So yes, the Escarmouche mode takes this concept very vaguely, but for a result that works much less well, in my opinion. And again players don't fool around, because it's not obvious to find a world to play in this category on weekdays, despite the fact that only four players are needed. A very telling indicator. In general, I would have liked a little more original modes. Because in practice, I'm rarely tempted to get out of the classic Team Death Match or his Hardcore during.
For the rest, PVP mode Call of Duty : Black Ops 7 made in the classic, but effective. We find a Prestige system, which will allow the most ardent to show their self-denial to the game. For lay people, it is basically a function that allows them to resume their progression from scratch once they reach the maximum level (i.e. 55), in order to obtain permanent bonuses. But also a singular player icon, to proudly display online. Something that is not obvious to the neophyte, because it induces to abandon the powerful and handy weapons hard acquired after long sessions, to return the time of a few hours on the starting kneaders. A bet that represents the only real way to progress in the PVP, until reaching the Master Prestige category that will make you trim to the 1000 level, in addition to the few optional challenges to acquire cosmetics for your weapons. The latter are also at the heart of the system of progression and reward, moreover, since they also gain levels and can in turn earn prestige. The weapons, in general, are well highlighted, with a whole system of customization allowing to change parts to change performance, and of course cosmetics in mess. Too bad, again, that we are in too classic, none of these petts really come out of the lot, while their number seems quite light in addition (still at launch).
In practice, the PVP runs very well, and it goes without saying that everyone will appreciate the improvements induced by new SSDs and recent configurations. The game is fluid, which is obviously all the more true on a suitable screen, but especially the loading times are quite surprising for someone who comes out directly from Ghost on PS3. In general, little is expected between two parties. The good point is that it is possible to check several modes by launching a quick game, which allows you to play only what you like. But above all to target all the categories that interest you, rather than just one at a time as it was twelve years ago. A system that we already found in the Modern Warfare 2019, and still finding so much meaning here. Finally, it goes without saying that the community did not move from one sole. Which means that Teamplay is rarely the priority, but especially that voice communications will make you feel like you've fallen to the heart of miracles... Fortunately, it is possible to permanently disable them. What I advise against, for their funny side. Another positive point is that much less is expected at the point of reappearance than in the past, which seems to be due to better management in real time. But what I remember most of this opus, and I would be unable to tell you if he is the first to do so, is the fact that the assistance has completely disappeared. Now, if you touch an enemy but another player gives him the fatal blow, you both get 100 points for elimination. A good way to erase frustration, and toxicity at the same time. But it's also an incentive to take risks, and a smart trick to speed up the pace of the parties.
Zombies ate my neighbors
Not back on Zombies mode since Black Ops The first of the name and its iconic Kino der Töten, the one of his suite, having seemed much less interesting, I was curious to see what it gave on this new strand. And I was pretty disappointed. Not that this mode in its own right is basically zero, I would be in very bad faith to assert it, but in my personal capacity I find myself much less for two essential reasons. The first is the size of the map, which I find unnecessarily large, something that brings to my sense only boredom and disappointment, in addition to the (rather ridiculous) necessity to drive vehicles to move over long distances. We find ourselves more easily alone, away from his teammates, and the overload of enemies passed a number of sleeves (since the mode still works on the same basis as it was fifteen years ago) gives all the more unpleasant the impression of being pushed, abandoned, while it is precisely a cooperative mode. But above all, we always have to do with the same community of players, again, and therefore the teamplay is not the priority, even though the success of the mission and the sustainability of the current game depend entirely on mutual assistance. So we come across a few more intelligent and friendly players than others, but unfortunately it's rather rare. And it's even strangely in this precise mode that we tend to fall on the most toxic players, when some are a little behind the band.
What I remember especially from my four little hours of attempts, because I didn't want to give it more time, it's a full of rules and appearance of increasingly powerful monsters, not promoting the integration of new players. I took a while to understand how to gain power and improve my character on the current game, something that requires resources and money, obtained by eliminating a lot of zombies. However, in my view it is a rather symptomatic problem of franchises that do not seek to lure and retain new players (among which I would gladly place League of Legends, Tekken or Monster Hunter, although the latter has made considerable efforts in three areas). Since it is assumed that buyers know well, and have followed the episodes of Black Ops for a long time, then no need to explain to them in depth the operation of a part. So there are of course some text tutorials, but they are rather avarsome in information, and transpiring a hardiness not far from being relibitory. What we also find in PVP, it goes without saying, where, fortunately for me, nothing has changed fundamentally since PlayStation 3, which ensures to find it quickly despite less clear menus.
Other things I do not understand well enough, the integration of an exclusive scenario into the Zombies mode, and the engrangement of experience for the online profile as well as the weapons, related with the PVP and the campaign. While the second wasn't particularly shocked at the moment (except in the Double XP period, because the rise after a busy game is absolutely huge), even though I don't understand the interest of linking the PVP and the PVE at this level (this risk of favoring some players who have never really set foot on the multiplayer), the first m So hear us well, I'm not against the integration of scenario into online modes in general, and it even seems to me that this is precisely what was missing from experiences that I deeply like such as Left 4 Dead, Back 4 Blood or Helldivers 2 (read our test). But here, apart from an introductive kinematic, frankly leaving marble, and some lines of dialogue quickly becoming unbearable in the heat of action, we are not given much to put ourselves under the tooth. Just enough to lose us, not enough to interest us, and too much not to be persistently annoying (in any case concerning me). Anyway, the Zombies mode will be without me.
The Great Army
Since it was necessary to go there to write this article, otherwise I would gladly have been accused of only half doing things (which would have been perfectly justified elsewhere), I decided to start the campaign. Experience that I understood a bit, since as said earlier I never touched the solo mode of a Black Ops, and I was a little afraid of being completely lost. Good news, lost or not, we don't care. Because on the screenplay level, this mode does not have much to offer. Some sequences that play it great revelations, some sloppy attempts at grandiose staging, but the ensemble unfortunately feels warmed up and suffers from a corridor aspect that recalls the worst hours of the PlayStation 3 generation despite the implementation of more open maps, in addition to passages of a ridiculous malaising largely due to a hallucinatory delirium whose relevance is still being sought. Generally speaking, we are on a waste rather aberrant of means, with to begin with insipid characters to which it is very difficult to tie up as they seem more stupid to each other than the other. This is a shame, because VF dubbing is not bad in absolute (even if I would have liked to be able to switch to English). It must also be said that this started rather badly for this campaign mode, which requires a constant internet connection, only justified by a somewhat useless connection, seems almost forced, to the general progression system of the Online.
In other words, as with Zombies mode and Multiplayer mode, you'll experience for your online profile and for the weapons you'll use. An operation that I hardly understand any more in this mode. Not that the idea is not interesting, I agree, but in execution we lose a little bit. First because it's not clear, you have to admit, but especially because if the campaign was good we wouldn't need this coarse carrot to get started. In fact, it was the only thing that stood on this lonely content from the first hour past, as much as I saw, heard and did seemed mediocre. Fortunately, it is short finally. Count an average of six to seven small hours. So yes, I hear the argument of fans who buy episode after episode from the release, and who may have very much wanted to see what he was going back to in this opus, after having enjoyed (I guess) the previous campaigns. And I am aware, therefore, that I am not the target heart for this specific content. However, for a franchise like Call of Duty, brewing as much money, and this almost every year that God has done since 2007, let me remind him, I find that the bar is placed surprisingly low.
The gameplay remains the same as online, in a little less perennial however since we do not benefit from some bonuses or any weight plume, and missions simply send us waves of enemies to kill without thinking too much about their placement, or their behavior of the rest. Because it was not to expect these computer-controlled opponents to integrate an AI pushing to the challenge. I was thinking of the campaign as the multiplayer's antechamber, but I was far from the truth. Nothing in this mode prepares neophytes for what they will find in PVP, exception to gameplay in what it has most basic, which will only concern perfectly novice players. Too bad for them and for all the others that the opponents are all small bags to PV, leaving the unpleasant taste in mouth of a life skewed by dishonest fireworks. Other titles suffer from the same problem but come out much better, like Guardians of the Galaxy or recent Borderlands 4. Two games enjoying a rhythm and a variety of salutary situations, details being cruelly lacking in solo Call of Duty : Black Ops 7. You may have noticed that I'm using the term solo, while this campaign boasts of being able to be done in cooperation. However, allow me to doubt the usefulness of getting into this with a stranger online. I'd have offered a friend to come and sniff this on my couch, down a few beers to pass the pill... But of course, it is no longer possible to connect two controllers. What a disappointment.
A life-saving season?
Of course, since I delayed writing this article (or rather because I was retained on the PVP where I accumulated more than a hundred hours of play), here is that season 1 has already landed. New change in experience, and new promise of content, it is true, rather tempting. Unfortunately, again everything is not clear, and not everything is perfect either. But above all, we want a little too much for my money for my taste, while I already dropped 60 euros just a month ago for what I thought was the game « complete ». Not only is every return to the lobby after a game an opportunity to remind players of the availability of a Combat Pass, allowing them to acquire a lot of small things (often useless as cosmetics) provided they open their wallets wide; but with this Activision added a tab « Shop » absolutely unmanageable. I hear that it is in no way obligatory to go to the cash register (again) to continue enjoying the game, but I think I'm not the only one to have the unpleasant enough impression of a prolonged insistence to remind me that undoing a small extra amount of my hard earned money would allow me to enjoy « better still » experience. Probably a parasitic thought of old reac, already refractory to the idea of paying for DLC (and rarely rewarded with quality content when it jumped otherwise). Thought which intensifyes to the idea that, in a year at most, Black Ops 7 Of course, since I delayed writing this article (or rather because I was retained on the PVP where I accumulated more than a hundred hours of play), here is that season 1 has already landed. New change in experience, and new promise of content, it is true, rather tempting. Unfortunately, again everything is not clear, and not everything is perfect either. But above all, we want a little too much for my money for my taste, while I already dropped 60 euros just a month ago for what I thought was the game « complete ». Not only is every return to the lobby after a game an opportunity to remind players of the availability of a Combat Pass, allowing them to acquire a lot of small things (often useless as cosmetics) provided they open their wallets wide; but with this Activision added a tab « Shop » absolutely unmanageable. I hear that it is in no way obligatory to go to the cash register (again) to continue enjoying the game, but I think I'm not the only one to have the unpleasant enough impression of a prolonged insistence to remind me that undoing a small extra amount of my hard earned money would allow me to enjoy « better still » experience. Probably a parasitic thought of old reac, already refractory to the idea of paying for DLC (and rarely rewarded with quality content when it jumped otherwise). Thought which intensifyes to the idea that, in a year at most,
will probably have been replaced by a new iteration with similar predatory mechanics. With this season 1, we still earn free content, with to start a lot of cosmetics to unlock in the game, as well as operators (understand playable characters) for the Online. Some weapons too, there again to unlock while playing. More interesting, of « new » Modes, which are actually taken from previous dopus (with the return of Caillou and Stick and Game of Arms in week 2, which I hope definitive), and four « new » maps, one of which is again taken fromBlack Ops 2
If he can actually boast of a very decent content, and a variety of modes that honor him (which is all the more valid with the arrival of season 1), Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will however leave many players hungry. Because in the end, despite the appearance of the mention « coop » For the Campaign mode, the latter remains absolutely mediocre, while the Zombies mode, while it has the merit of existence, is unfortunately far removed from the efficiency, freshness and simplicity of that of Black Ops first name. We will console ourselves with a Multiplayer mode that is always as addictive, offering a margin of denial of progression, but on which the less ardent will not have much fun due to a matchmaking that will not prevent them from falling in front of the biggest brutes. A good Call of Duty, of course, which certainly enjoys a vast content, but is more intended for regulars with a good level than for others.
For
- Particularly lively gameplay
- Multiplayer always very effective
- Content quite dizzying for the genus
- Reduced-assisted target on console
- Visually rather catchy
- The return of some maps of BO 2
Against
- Disappointing cooperative campaign...
- ... and requiring constant connection
- Zombies mode lacking freshness
- Content, yes, but also re-editing
- Community as toxic as ever
- Old Gen version not at level
I'm so surprised that there are still people playing with an Xbox One...
However, it is an excellent console, still today, and it has the advantage of being able to run Series games in Cloud via the GamePass