It's hard to believe we're already five seasons into Black Ops 7. One thing is for sure, it's been a wild road. From Z-Rexes in Endgame, to the return of the Maddox, to Blackout 2.0 coming in the form of Black Ops Royale, each season has had a decent amount of content. Here is where we sadly begin to run out of road, and those signs have already come even back in Season 4.
For those awaiting the Modern Warfare 4 beta, is there a reason to warm up in Black Ops 7 and Warzone? Or should you stay retired until October 23rd? That answer is hard to quantify, but the details below on each mode's abundance or lack thereof will hopefully point you in the right direction.
If you're into multiplayer, you're probably well satiated. This season has brought with it several maps and a couple of weapons. Although I think you have the good and the bad here, you at least have something to engage with.
Beginning with the maps, Dig sucks. I don't usually use that kind of language when identifying content, but Dig is one of my least favorite additions to Black Ops 7’s multiplayer. This round archeological site has been brought back from Black Ops 2, and I would have left it there. There are so many headies, open spaces where you get gunned down trying to get to the objective, and horrific spawns. It's chaos personified. If you thought Nuketown or any of the other tiny maps were bad, try Dig.
Frequency, on the other hand, should have been in the game sooner. While the spawns are still rough, this Black Ops 4 map plays amazingly well in BO7. It's not just the color and vibes; there's a flow that works for this game, alongside the omnimovement and wall-jumping. It's been such a good map; it even made its way into the Esports World Cup Black Ops 7 tournament in place of Colossus. Sure, it's a bangout, but it's a fun bangout.
Jubilee sits in both camps. This small section of a Japanese town has just enough map to be considered medium-sized, while packing a close-quarters flow in its tightly-bunched construction. As much as I think the pachinko parlor in the middle is a great touch, the odd flow of the verticality where a smoking porch juts out to a street is annoying. You can get pieced easily just trying to break that hill in Hardpoint. Besides that, there are a decent amount of positions and flanking routes that can be taken, although in that same porch area there are a number of stair glitches that let you cheese them for free kills. While the color can be a bit drab, I still think this is a fine map, just not a stellar one.
Ranked Play has gotten a bit of a makeover, and I like where the team is heading. Especially as they're helping with Modern Warfare 4’s eventual Ranked Play. Treyarch has thrown all the old maps back in, as well as inserted Frequency into all modes. This is exactly the way you should treat Ranked after the Call of Duty League season ends, giving a bunch of variety to players. I know we don't often have this many maps to add back in, but I'm down with this choice. I'd also suggest making gun changes as well in the future to mix up the meta. Besides this, matchmaking and SR have changed again, as you'll queue with people in your range more often, and the SR gain for better opponents has been adjusted. So far, it's working well, and I'm loving how the current system is playing out.
Moving on to the weapons, the FG42 assault rifle and Gremlin submachine guns represent two sides of the Call of Duty coin. On one, the FG42 is a great AR, a new take on the old gun. Where it’s usually been a light machine gun, in Black Ops 7 it goes for a faster pace. It shoots ridiculously straight, with the damage sitting somewhere in the middle. I wouldn’t use it over the top of the meta in multiplayer, but it’s still quite strong. In Warzone, however, it’s perfect, a laser with a great extended magazine offering. The only peculiar feature I hate about it is where the mag sits, obscuring some of the left side of the screen, which is irritating.
I may actually hate the Gremlin SMG, though. This akimbo weapon feels like wielding two Mac-10s that are a tad more accurate. It feels like I’m tickling the other player, placing these well outside the gun meta. It’s telling that I haven’t been killed by a set of them yet in multiplayer or Warzone – they just aren’t good. I’m sad about it as SMGs are usually my favorite new guns, but these are terrible.
By the time I get to this point of our impressions, I usually have more to say. I don’t necessarily feel that way this time around. Endgame might as well be dead. There are a few more abilities and a time trial race, but that’s not doing much for me. The best moments for that mode were during Season 1, with the Z-Rex and Origins robot. Warzone added a new POI to Verdansk, and Juggernauts that are way too powerful (which seem to have been addressed in a recent patch). But that’s really not much to talk about.
Zombies fans at least can look forward to the final chapter of the current storyline, as Rex Infernus looks crazy from the teases on the timeline. I’m a bit concerned about it resonating with the overall community, though, as Reloaded drops… the day before the Modern Warfare 4 beta. At least Rogue Run has been updated, with Astra Malorum joining the fight. If you haven’t played that mode, you really should, as it’s outstanding. With a new Starting Room and Directed Mode map for Kowakujō and Eidskallen Lighthouse coming in for Survival, the pickings are at least better than Warzone and Endgame.
In terms of cosmetics and the battle pass, I'm chill with what's been done. The BlackCell camos are still one of the best ideas they've ever come up with. Bundles have somewhat slowed down, but I think that's more due to the lifecycle of the game and a lack of big collaborations recently. This doesn't make a huge difference in the quality of Black Ops 7; I think this is par for the course.
I mentioned Ranked Play’s matchmaking, and I figured now was a good time to talk about matchmaking in general. Activision has implemented a new matchmaking system which supposedly mixes a bit of classic styling with the open system Black Ops 7 has been using. I don't know how much this game is affected by a low player count, but since the change, I feel like I'm getting slammed more often. These could be cheaters, and several times have been, but I've been through some gruelers in pubs. I'm not sure how this will translate in Modern Warfare 4, given it should be more “well attended”, but I implore Infinity Ward to gather as much data as they can from the upcoming beta.
Although Season 5 is where the rubber has certainly met the exit ramp, there are a few enjoyable items that make me smile. To me, Black Ops 7 has been a treat, and arguably my best performance in a Call of Duty game. Still, I see missed opportunities, especially watching Endgame and Warzone’s final gasps in this title. Bygones will have to be bygones, unfortunately; Modern Warfare 4 is too close for any redemption.
