The latest ‘Black Ops’ iteration shows promise

By Ethan Sprouse | Manor

Riots across the globe. World-wide terror. Panic instilled in everyone’s hearts. One company claiming to protect humanity. Four agents trying to dig up the truth. Sound interesting? Welcome to “Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.”

“Black Ops 7” takes place in 2035. Chaos has spread across the globe, incited by a returning character from earlier in the series, Raul Menendez, originally from “Black Ops 2.”

The Guild, run by Emma Kagan, on the other hand, has its priorities set on defending the world’s citizenry. “Our governments have shown themselves incapable of protecting humanity,” she claims at the start of the game. Walking personal-defense mechs roam the streets, slaughtering anyone who fits their bigoted instructions to kill. Four JSOC agents are sent to uncover the truth.

In the process, they accidentally release a bioweapon seen last forty years ago in the previous game, the “Cradle.” Inhaling dangerous amounts of the airborne toxin as they flee the facility, they begin hallucinating throughout the rest of the campaign, before finally capturing Kagan at the end of the game.

In the mode directly following the campaign, you are sent to Avalon in a team of up to four, including yourself, to complete both “activities,” shorter tasks to acquire a new weapon or, at the very least, some power points, and “assignments,” which are longer tasks resulting in much better rewards, though at a much greater risk. Power points can be used to charge up your skill tree, which unlocks abilities like carrying more armor in your vest or dealing more damage to opponents despite low health.

The game’s multiplayer mode so far seems promising. There are plenty of weapons and the large cache of maps run really smoothly. We finally have an open “moshpit,” much like we had in the older games, and the new overclock system can take a mediocre tactical grenade and turn it into a device to shut down the whole team. However, we are only a few months into “Black Ops 7’s” life cycle, and “Black Ops 6” seemed just as promising early on, but by the end was generally hated.

Finally, the game’s zombies already have two large-scale maps, and a returning Survival mode, a version based around surviving as long as possible in a very small map with all the essentials. Also, there is a Cursed mode, which plays like an “OG” mode with the old point system, four-perk limit and many more challenges, as well as many perks to have fun and earn more rewards.

The story to the two maps so far is already thrilling, and the return of the original cast from the first four games has the gaming community overjoyed. The boss fights are brutally challenging and have engaging gimmicks to keep them fresh.

What I love most about “Black Ops 7” is how new it feels, yet wrapping in nostalgia. It has many new features and even more returning from previous games, mixing into something that feels very fresh and new. I rate “Call of Duty: Black Ops 7” an eight-out-of-ten stars.