Once annualized royalty, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 makes it clear CoD campaigns can't keep up with the pace – like Modern Warfare 3, this feels like another 'point five' release

At the very least, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has given me plenty to laugh about. How could it not? This year's storyline is accessed strictly through a "co-op campaign" listing on the main menu, an experience designed to be shared (though you can suffer it solo, if you must). Haphazardly tied together cutscenes and narrative beats flip jarringly between sudden reveals, badly done rehashes of classic Black Ops moments, and a deluge of hallucinatory dream sequence levels that deliver the most absurd mission objectives of any CoD to date. But with a friend there are very non-sensible chuckles to be had, even if it ultimately leaves me sour.

That's not to say Call of Duty campaigns haven't been deeply silly for years. The extreme conspiracy theories of Call of Duty: Black Ops in particular has always been part of its charm. But that tone has always been because it has remained at least partially grounded – the straight-faced over-the-top bombast part of the point. In Black Ops 7, it just becomes ropey.

Boss fights against what appear to be Warzone operators just happen in what appears to be a battle royale style open world map (Avalon) as they recycle a handful of taunts over comms before unceremoniously collapsing. One stage has me walk out of an elevator into an unchanged Black Ops 6 multiplayer map for some cursory 'protect the point'. More than one boss fight feels like Destiny 2 crossed with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – dodging massive AoE attacks marked on the floor while unloading clips into weak spots. Zombies mode assets are funneled continuously into the main story. Is this just what Call of Duty campaigns are now? How could the series that brought me the highs of the original Modern Warfare, Black Ops, and, yes, even WW2, come to this?

The numbers, Mason

I don't have to be Mason-level conspiracy pilled to have an idea. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is awfully similar in its approach to 2023's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This is part of an unusual shift in the series' annualized release schedule following the announcement of publisher Activision's sale to Microsoft and Xbox. The series numbering is present in both cases, making these seem like normal releases – but dig beneath the surface and as far as the campaigns are concerned they feel like odd ducks.

Previously, the military FPS would flipflop between sub-series and developer each year (such as the original Modern Warfare 2 in 2009, followed by the first Black Ops in 2010, then the original Modern Warfare 3 in 2010). Recently, we've had back-to-back sub-series sequels. This last happened with the rebooted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released in 2022, which was followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in 2023. Now, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which released last year in 2024, has been followed up by Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in 2025. In our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review we called it "one of the most underwhelming entries in Call of Duty's 20 year history". This is the birth of the Call of Duty halfway sequel I call a CoD point five. It's all become too much.

Thankfully, there are differences – Black Ops 7 does improve on Modern Warfare 3's "uninspired" and "lackluster" approach to its campaign. There, open world style missions were plonked into a battle royale-style open world having you run around an awkwardly large world completing samey objectives. Black Ops 7's Avalon is a similar approach, but with more varied objectives, even if it does all still feel too loose and spread out to really offer very compelling design.

At least in Black Ops 7, the Avalon missions are connective tissue between playing Call of Duty missions that are more traditional in structure if not in content. At one point that means David Mason and the squad handing control over to another unit who must track down data to pass by their way. More often than not, it means Team Mason walking into something like a shipping container to be gassed into having a hallucination nightmare.

These obviously take cues from what we've called "the scariest level in Call of Duty history" – Black Ops 6's Emergence. But, there, the integration of Zombies mode inspired content was a novelty. In Black Ops 7 to say there is a lot of it is, somehow, an understatement. Visually, these chapters offer some striking moments – twisting, spiralling highways of a Los Angeles under attack; a haunted, labyrinthine prison; gnarled jungle vines connecting together islands floating in the sky. The platforming isn't even that bad (though more interesting in its real world location deployment).

Year we go again

The narrative threads connecting these sequences are overly rushed at best, and a jumble at worst. And the mechanical demands mostly amount to mowing down huge waves of nightmare creatures that come right out of Zombies, but with some abstracted names above their health bars (oh, every enemy has a health bar now, I guess).

As a whole, Black Ops 7's campaign feels stitched together from whatever parts were available. Huge plot beats come and go fast enough to give me whiplash. One of the premise's major narrative drivers is explained away offhand, so fast it's easy to miss it. Others involving past series characters are complete nonsense – overly navel-gazing while simultaneously adding nothing to the overarching story because they're all dream sequences anyway.

It's not great, but it's extra frustrating that after the disappointing Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 6's campaign felt like we were really back on track… only to regress once again. It's clear that rather than being able to hand-off development between studios to successfully release a Call of Duty every year, we now have 'off-year' style Call of Duty games that are mid-step releases in all but their shiny, numbered names. The lack of signposting for anyone who isn't combing through every detail pre-launch almost feels a bit disingenuous.

When Black Ops 4 released without a traditional campaign at all, that was at least a part of the pitch. Ever since that appeal to the hero shooter crowd didn't bear fruit, the series has struggled to reckon with its place as an online gaming pillar amid the modern landscape of live service titans and its annualized format that's held strong since 2005's Call of Duty 2.

Personally, I'd rather Call of Duty games took a year off to really get each sequel right – as was once rumoured to be the case back when it seemed like Modern Warfare 3 was perhaps originally an expansion for Modern Warfare 2 rather than a full release itself. But what was a misstep there, even if it's been tightened for Black Ops 7, is now feeling like a worrying trend. At what point do we start skipping every other entry as players?

It feels like a strategy that may come close to burning fans – though if the majority of players just hop into multiplayer anywhere, maybe that risk has been weighed and found wanting. But, when I'm fighting a strange plant-like nightmare and gunning down 'summoned creatures' to open up its weak points I can't help but think of All Ghillied Up, Vorkuta, and Liberation. I miss when Call of Duty's campaign felt like calling card flourishes and landmark events, rather than an assemblage of multiplayer pieces that are an afterthought.

Which CoD games should you play? Check out our best Call of Duty games ranking to find out!