The “Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | Story So Far” trailer ends with the line “In the world of Black Ops, the past never dies.” In retrospect, it reads like a joke—and a little like a threat. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is what happens when, instead of letting a storyline die, you embalm it with Mountain Dew and force its caffeinated corpse to reminisce with you. Sure, it’s an interesting way to revisit an old friend, but in between moments of nostalgic fun, it’s hard to ignore that you should probably open a window.
Let’s be honest, most people buy Call of Duty for either the multiplayer or Zombies, and while both offerings are as good in Black Ops 7 as they were in Black Ops 6 (BO6), they’re not all that different. The experience is similar enough to give you the cynical inkling that you’ve paid full price for a reset to your camo grind and to unlock a near-future reskin.
Part of this is an inevitable byproduct of Call of Duty’s biennial production model, where one... Read more