From the pro — GamingTrend’s resident Call of Duty expert weighs in on the Black Ops 7 beta

Maybe it's for the best that I missed Call of Duty: NEXT. While our EIC Ron Burke did an outstanding job showcasing the game as a returning player to the franchise, I was certainly sad the event managed to land during my family's cruise. Now that I'm back in the US, it's beta time. I still have a few qualms about what Warzone is going to look like until next spring after what we saw at NEXT, but so far I've been absolutely FLOORED by how amazing Black Ops 7 has been in beta.

Black Ops 7’s multiplayer may be the best we’ve had in quite some time. While I enjoyed what I played in Black Ops 6, the pacing of Omnimovement and lack of map flow hurt it, causing a lot of fatigue within the multiplayer. Instead of blowing it up or doubling down, Treyarch decided to tweak things while molding both of these features in a way that fits Black Ops 7, both aesthetically and functionally.

Starting with the maps, these are simply divine. Flow is king, and the dedication to both three lanes and clear design is apparent. When I hit the ground running, I have a wealth of options on how to move through the map, but without a lot of busy elements that might make it troublesome. Less is more, and that’s what I’m seeing on each and every map. Headies feel intentional, flanking routes are fair, and lanes are clearly defined. Pair that with stunning color – Toshin is completely different from The Forge which is a 180 from Blackheart… you get the jist. The attention to making sure everyone can make their play on each map is impressive; I feel like I can run out there with any weapon and there’s a place for me.

Omnimovement is the next part of the formula, and the adjustments are exactly what the doctor ordered. When everyone can be Shotzzy, the matches just aren’t fun. While there are still plenty of speedy options for players to build their loadout from, you have to make an intentional choice. No longer do you just enable a setting, you have to choose between going fast or, for instance, being able to weather a grenade explosion or fully ADS in a slide. I do think the game is a tad clunky without Dexterity (although I prefer tac-sprint being a pointless pick), but overall, Omnimovement is better off in how it’s been delivered in Black Ops 7 and slowing the pace.

While I’m sure someone will (and probably have) break the wall-jump, Treyarch has found the right balance with it. Because the maps have been designed with Omnimovement and this mechanic in mind, I find myself trying to find fun jump spots, with several that have allowed me to take over a power position. Every competitive system needs a rock/paper/scissors counter to it, and while the jump is great, you’re exposed in the air long enough that you risk getting “skeetshot”. Continuing into a second bounce doesn’t even give you much more, so the benefits are truly in that initial jump. The parity this mechanic has is just right, and had to take a lot of testing by the team to get it there.

Call of Duty’s world-class gunplay isn’t something to linger on describing, but watching the changes being made in real time show the commitment the team has to “getting it right”. Every gun feels good to shoot, but initially the gunfights just weren’t fair. I’m not sure on what was going on in the netcode, or if it was just the time-to-kill being off, but it wasn’t to the standard initially I’d come to expect. As soon as it felt like I said that, Treyarch and company released new patches, and boom, we were back. The TTK is perfect, no notes. It also could be in the map flow, but I’ve also felt like I’m getting the opportunity to hit more multi-kills – it took forever for me to start getting them in Black Ops 6.

Some of this could also be due to the best addition to Call of Duty in quite some time: the Open Playlist. This mode throws you into a moshpit experience but with lower skill-based matchmaking, which means the skill level of your lobby is almost always different. SBMM has become somewhat of a curse word in the dedicated community, forcing you to constantly compete with other intense players without a break – even when I’ve been getting wrecked I haven’t seen adjustments by the algorithm. Now that I’ve tasted of the waters of “ping is king”, I’m not sure I can go back. Sure, I’ve gotten slammed in several lobbies, but this varied experience is less tiring than the SBMM one. I implore Treyarch like I did with the casual playlist, PLEASE let this stick into launch. I’ve rarely hit a moment where I wasn’t enjoying myself, and that’s because each multiplayer match is actually different from the last.

Speaking of different, Overload is a new mode for the game I’m vibing with. A competitive-focused one, it involves a device being grabbed from one of three mid-map points when it spawns, and taken to one of your opponents two bases. Score eight overloads, you win. You’ll also be defending your two bases as well, so there’s a constant battle for map control occurring with each push. Given this is a respawn mode, it can get really chaotic when both teams know what they’re doing. I cannot wait to see this as a possible replacement for Control in the Call of Duty League – 4v4 usually improves a game type, and this mode is pretty fun already in 6v6.

Scorestreaks are one of the few areas I see an issue with in this build. It seems like my opponents constantly have UAVs – this streak needs to be harder to get. The HKDs (hunter killer drones), are annoying little robots who explode on impact, but even worse come in waves. These are too powerful in their current form; there are too many of these in a single streak. That said, the Gravemaker is actually perfect and needs to stay in the game – it’s not overpowered like I assumed it would be, and at best I’d take a single shot away from the magazine.

Overclocks are also not as overpowered as I thought they’d be. These minor augments for your equipment and scorestreaks resemble the “pro perks” from Modern Warfare 2. Being only able to choose a single augment rather than both is a great decision by the dev team. These also don’t impact the playing field as much as I’d have expected, with something like Active Camo rarely impacting the game in a harsher way due to being able to charge it quicker or recloak after firing. While I’m certain some of them will be exploited eventually, none of them negatively affect Black Ops 7. It’s just another method to build your loadout, especially if you keep in mind the modes you’re playing.

Back when I played the beta for Modern Warfare III, there was an immediate bug with the stimshot. Even with that making the game unplayable, Sledgehammer quickly found an answer and killed the exploit, and during the beta no less. The level of communication the team had, recognizing issues, identifying them and relaying that to the community, and then acting on it, impressed me immensely. I’m getting that same feeling with how Treyarch has approached the Black Ops 7 beta, with tons of patches coming through and refinements being made along the way. It’s not just that, but the transparency in these posts is tremendous, allowing us to know why they’re making these changes. If they can keep that up throughout the Black Ops 7 cycle (things started well for Black Ops 6 and tapered off, although not to this level), this year’s title can rival Modern Warfare III’s good vibes.

Zombies will be an interesting narrative to follow around Black Ops 7, and mainly due to the intriguing TranZit-inspired figure eight of a map. The more open design with the Wonder Vehicle sounds awesome, but in beta we’ve only been able to trial a Survival map: Vandorn Farm. This faux-remake of Farm from Black Ops 2 is a blast to play, and for several reasons.

If you like the classic close-quarters of old, you’re going to live on these Survival maps. As is in the name, you’re thrown in with the objective of surviving. Through my short playtime, I was having a ton of fun sprinting and sliding around, training zombies behind me, and taking out the lot in a hail of gunfire. The spooky aesthetic of the farm is incredibly done, with the dark fog swirling every time I led a group of zombies through it. It just feels right.

A few are sure to bemoan the “Warzone-y” elements that return from Black Ops 6, like the plates or crafting. I’m hoping that as people get to experience this more intense Survival mode, however, it will change their minds. No longer are you tramping around a humongous space just to find a wall-weapon or ammo; the fight is almost always in front of you. Oh, and the Zursa bear? Amazing addition to the Zombies experience. Fighting that thing is awesome.

It may not be in the beta, but I did want to speak on the state of Warzone… or more specifically the lack thereof. First, I love the idea behind the new Resurgence map. We didn’t get to see much of it during COD: NEXT, but basing a Warzone map off of a Zombie map has worked well before in Rebirth Island. Liberty Falls is a cool place, and the mansion from Shattered Veil fits the bill wonderfully. Haven’s Hollow is sure to be a sublime drop.

That said, big map Warzone seems almost dead. Beyond the seeming death of the pro Warzone scene, returning to Verdansk, even with new weapons and movement, just isn’t enticing. My buddies and I got into Warzone because it was a great break from the pace of multiplayer, but if we have to keep dropping onto the same map we have for most of a cycle, count me out. Two new POIs do nothing for me. Heck, Warzone doesn’t even get the wall-jump, and even if that’s a good thing, it’s just another thing to add to the list of absences.

I get that the team is trying to keep Avalon in play for Endgame, but your free-to-play game is collapsing. It needs an injection of life, and having to wait for what sounds like an exciting “Blackout experience” just might take too long. A single Resurgence map isn’t enough to move the needle. That’s if this new experience even makes the Spring – we saw what happened with Verdansk. My confidence in Warzone is waning, and sadly, I know I’m not the only one.

Even with the negative sentiment I have towards Warzone, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 looks like the breath of fresh air we’ve needed for quite some time. The multiplayer looks downright fantastic, and Zombies looks like it’s beginning to regain that aura that has eluded it. I often have said at the end of these I’ll spend another thousand hours in the game, but it’s the quality of those hours that have diminished over time. If Treyarch can prove to deliver with their post-launch content, Black Ops 7 will be the worthy sequel to arguably the best Call of Duty game of all-time in Black Ops 2. Keep on track, Treyarch, you can do it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 releases on November 14th, 2025. You can pre-order now for PC, Xbox One and Series consoles, and PlayStation 4 and 5. If you have a Game Pass PC or Ultimate subscription, it will also release there Day One. Stay tuned to GamingTrend for more Call of Duty coverage and our eventual Black Ops 7 review.