The shooting game market has been incredibly lively in the past two months, with new extraction gameplay in ARC Raiders, and new installments in the classic Battlefield and Call of Duty: Black Ops series.
What makes CoD Black Ops 7 special is that it was released only about a year after its predecessor, BO6. This significant difference makes it more likely to pique your curiosity: with such a brief interval, can the new title bring sufficiently engaging new content and changes?
To answer this question, IGGM will review one of the game’s most classic modes, the campaign, to give you a basic understanding of whether Black Ops 7 is worth playing.
Campaign Mode In BO7
The campaign mode has always been the narrative-driven gameplay element in CoD Black Ops series; you can simply think of it as the main storyline and mission system.
Campaigns typically feature entirely new and engaging stories, putting you in the role of various secret agents in intense gunfights or stealth and investigation missions from a near-cinematic first-person perspective.
Notably, until Black Ops 7, this mode was a single-player experience. This latest installment not only integrates the campaign with a global progression system but also adds cooperative gameplay for up to four players.
This means rewards earned in campaign mode can be carried over to other modes, and the gameplay has expanded – you can choose to complete it solo or in a team depending on your needs.
However, it’s worth noting that the previous purely single-player mode meant that multiple failures were acceptable. Now, if you don’t want to burden your teammates, it’s best to buy CoD BO7 bot lobbies beforehand to hone your shooting skills.
How About The Narrative Part?
In terms of evaluation, the biggest difference between the campaign mode and other BO7 modes, such as multiplayer or zombie modes, is the addition of a narrative evaluation.
While some players may enjoy the thrill of combat and not care much about the story, a solid main storyline is essential for a game to be truly good.
Black Ops 7 campaign mode doesn’t closely connect to its predecessors, instead setting the timeline in 2035 and relating to both BO2 and BO6. The main factions are Joint Special Operations Command led by David Mason, and the villainous organization, The Guild.
The story and related missions are divided into normal and endgame sections, comprising 11 large-scale missions. While this seems like a lot, the overall pace is fast, and a non-stop play through can be completed in approximately five hours.
In the story, Raul Menendez, the leader of The Guild, died in BO2 but inexplicably resurrected and returned, ordering his subordinates to research a weapon created from fear. Your task is to work with David Mason to investigate and thwart their conspiracy.
The plot follows a familiar formula, seen in DC, Marvel, and other well-known franchises. However, BO7’s strength lies in the fact that each mission is set in a different country or region, enhancing its appeal through rapid transitions.
Building on this, the development team further designed eerie storylines and diverse game environments based on the main characters’ memory flashbacks, achieving excellent visual effects and narrative pacing.
If there’s any shortcoming, it’s that the endgame content lacks some innovation, and compared to its predecessor, the element of playing as a spy and infiltrating – a perennial favorite among players – is somewhat missing, which is a slight disappointment.
How Is The Combat Gameplay?
The addition of the four-player co-op system is undeniably innovative, as most games’ narrative modes are primarily based on solo gameplay.
Teaming up means that with pre-planned tactics and division of labor, it’s easier than before to defeat dangerous bosses or infiltrate enemy camps. You’ll also feel like you’re truly fighting villains with your teammates, not just watching the story unfold.
Call of Duty series has always had its core competitive advantage in multiplayer gameplay, so this change further expands upon that advantage.
However, a major drawback is that the development team seems to have overemphasized team-based gameplay, resulting in a diminished solo campaign experience. For example, AI teammates are unreliable, and many gameplay elements feel lonely when played alone.
Overall, the truly fatal flaw in BO7 campaign mode’s combat gameplay lies in the difficulty options. Ideally, all missions should have enemy numbers and difficulty adjusted based on team size and mission level, but currently, the differences between levels are minimal.
This hinders solo players from making substantial progress in the early game unless they quickly upgrade weapon XP through BO7 redeem codes. It also prevents players from experiencing truly challenging content after entering endgame while in a team.
Furthermore, Black Ops 7 campaign mode is only playable online and cannot be paused. This is extremely unfriendly to players who don’t have enough time to complete all content at once or who find it inconvenient to repeatedly team up.
Best Strategy For Completing BO7 Campaign Mode
Given these shortcomings, to complete the entire BO7 campaign mode as quickly as possible, it’s best to play in a team. To do this, you need to ensure that you and your teammates have ample free time to complete all missions at once.
If you want to avoid unexpected interruptions, it’s best to bring your preferred combat setup and practice together in Black Ops 7 bot lobbies first, ensuring good teamwork before entering the main campaign.
Summary
Black Ops 7 innovates in its campaign gameplay and excels in its fast-paced and exciting scene transitions, but both aspects have their shortcomings. Overall, it’s playable, but not a particularly outstanding mode.
That concludes our introduction. Considering it’s not entirely without merit, more details about CoD Black Ops 7 campaign mode can only be discovered by playing it yourself, so give it a try!
