After taking a three-year break from my almost daily routine of playing wargames, I decided to answer the call of duty and write the Gaming Boulevard review of Black Ops 7. This resulted in a large-scale battle with my PlayStation 5’s storage capacity, as well as a joyful reunion with old friends and opponents in fast-paced multiplayer matches.

You’re in the army now

Call of Duty… A series that debuted in 2003 and has stuck to a yearly release schedule since 2005. This is a feat that few other gaming franchises have managed to accomplish. This is all thanks to a cycle in which three different studios rotate the development of the games: Sledgehammer, Infinity Ward and Treyarch. The war machine must keep turning. And with the new year came a new game: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, co-developed by Treyarch and Raven Software.
But how does this Call of Duty release differ from all the others in the series? First, let’s review all the features that Black Ops 7 has to offer, before I share my personal thoughts on the experience.

Campaign

As with all other instalments in the Call of Duty franchise, the story campaign is one of the game’s major pillars. It is a military blockbuster story that can be experienced alone or with a group of friends. For the first time, the campaign’s progression system is now connected to the overall progression system. In other words, playing through the Black Ops 7 campaign will also unlock weapon upgrades, level-ups, calling cards, and so on.
Set in 2035, the story sees an old evil rise again into the public eye. Some sources reveal to the military that The Guild, a security organisation which produces military equipment including killer robots, may be a key player in these troubling events. The US military sends in a team led by Alex Mason to investigate, and the story becomes a mind-bending bullet storm. This four-to-five-hour blockbuster story culminates in Endgame mode. This is a new gameplay mode in which you and your squad can team up with others to form a group of 32 for a replayable PvE experience.
Contrary to popular opinion in recent days, I quite enjoyed my time with the campaign. I don’t really follow the overarching Call of Duty story, but I did have one problem: the Co-Op campaign’s always-online nature. I like playing story modes alone for the convenience of pausing whenever I want, but this wasn’t possible. At one point while I was playing, my son woke up from a nightmare, so I had to go upstairs. I knew I would be killed, but that didn’t matter because the game takes you back to quicksave points. However, what did bother me was coming back to my TV five minutes later to find that I had been kicked from the lobby for inactivity, even though I was playing alone. I had already been playing that level for almost half an hour. I didn’t bother restarting the level until the next morning and jumped straight into multiplayer.

Multiplayer

It wouldn’t be Call of Duty if you couldn’t battle it out with your friends online. For most players, this remains a social experience. Black Ops 7 delivers with over 30 multiplayer maps taking you all over the world, from Alaska to the Australian outback. While there are plenty of new locations, some familiar terrain has also been included, such as Raid, Express and Hijacked. The experience is as smooth as ever. Matchmaking was quick and I experienced little to no lag or delay. I easily went back to playing some of my favourite game modes, including Team Deathmatch and Domination.
So, what’s new this time around? Firstly, a new gameplay mode has been added to the multiplayer roster: Overload mode. In Overload, a device spawns on the map and your job is to gain control of it and take it to one of two zones to overload the enemy equipment. Each time you do so, your team scores a point. The team with the most points at the end of the match wins. This mode is all about team coordination. Finding the right balance between offensive and defensive strategies is key to victory, because the player holding the hacking device is visible to all other players. Are you a vanguard who charges towards enemy zones under fire, or do you stay back and defend the zones?
I mostly choose the vanguard because of the new movement options that have been added. Player characters can now wall jump or run along designated walls on the map, which feels incredibly fun. I can’t lie and say that I didn’t smile when I performed a headshot while flying through the air.
Multiplayer is still the best part of this newest version for me.

Zombies

Now, Treyarch wouldn’t be Treyarch if they didn’t add their Zombies PvE mode to the game. My chosen squad was still downloading the game this weekend — more on that later — but here’s a quick rundown of what you can expect in Zombies.
Firstly, there is the classic zombie mode that we have all come to know and love over the years, with a brand new map to explore: Ashes of the Damned. But making its grand return for the first time since Black Ops II is Survival Mode. Here, your job is to survive for as long as possible in a smaller version of Ashes. Replayability is once again the key feature, with new perks and a new wonder weapon at your disposal.

Consumer Friendly?!

I won’t delve any further into the online drama surrounding AI assets and the mass refunding of the game. People can have their own opinions on the matter, and the discussion is far too extensive for my simple review. However, I do have a bone to pick with Activision. Why, in 2025, do I still have to clear a quarter of my PlayStation’s memory before I can start playing Call of Duty? I had to delete three other AAA games just to make room for this behemoth — and some of those were also considered major releases. I realise that many players won’t have this problem; I play lots of different games, whereas most Call of Duty players only play this one. But why do I have to download Modern Warfare II (which I don’t own) just to play this game? 2025 may still be too early to feel the impact of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, but I hope this issue will be resolved by next year. Perhaps it’s time for COD to adopt the model of games like Fortnite and Apex Legends, offering a major update each year that changes the maps, alongside campaign DLC for those who enjoy the story mode.
For context, I used to play Call of Duty almost daily up until my son was born almost three years ago, mostly as a social game. One reason was that I didn’t want to play too much realistic violence on my family TV in front of a child. The other reason was the frustrating issues that came with playing COD, such as the lack of storage on my PS5. While multiplayer is fun and snappy, I have a feeling that the always-online campaign, the Call of Duty launcher, and the giant file size will get on my nerves again soon. Monster Hunter and Street Fighter 6, don’t worry — I’ll free up space on my hard drive for you soon.

Conclusion

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is what it has promised, for better and for worse. It delivers with its multiplayer and zombie modes, and to some extent with its campaign. However, a number of minor issues make the experience more frustrating than it should be: the campaign’s always-online nature, the large file size, and the occasionally confusing launcher all make playing Call of Duty more frustrating than necessary. Nevertheless, once you get into a multiplayer or zombie game, you’re sure to have a good time, especially when you manage to assemble a party of friends. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available on PlayStation and Xbox consoles and on PC via Steam and Battle.net.

7,5/10

Reviewed on PlayStation 5