Call of Duty Has Been Better: My Thoughts on Black Ops 7’s Campaign
CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 7 — CAMPAIGN REVIEW
For more than twenty years, Call of Duty has been a constant in my life. My journey began with Call of Duty 2: Big Red One, and through every sequel, spin, reinvention, and experiment, I’ve stuck around. I’ve watched the series climb to its golden eras, slip into rough patches, claw its way back, and chase new ambitions. No matter the trend or the decade, the campaigns always offered something solid to hold onto clarity, intensity, and purpose.
That’s why this review is difficult to write.
The campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is, without exaggeration, one of the weakest entries the franchise has ever delivered. And it hurts to say that. I’ve never been the type to enjoy negativity. I respect the work that goes into making anything, especially a project on this scale. I love creativity, I admire the craft, and I know how many hands, hearts, and hours go into games like this.
But Black Ops 7’s campaign is an uneven, disorganized experience that never quite finds itself. There are bright spots, moments of tension, flashes of excitement, and sequences that feel like they belong in a stronger narrative. Those moments just don’t hold together. The story wanders, reaching for too many ideas at once, never committing long enough to make any of them land. The pacing feels erratic. The writing swings from vague to melodramatic. The structure collapses under its own weight.
It doesn’t feel tight. It doesn’t feel focused. It feels lost.
And yet there is one undeniable positive: the performances.
The cast is exceptional across the board. Kiernan Shipka, especially, stands out with a performance that radiates personality and presence. Even when the dialogue dips into cheesy territory, she delivers with everything she has. Every actor and actress here showed up. None of them phoned it in. Their work shines despite the writing, not because of it.
No disrespect belongs to them. The talent is there. The script simply doesn’t rise to meet it.
When the credits rolled, I realized something that surprised me more than my frustration: I don’t want to play it again. Not because I’m angry but because I’m disappointed. The kind of disappointment you only feel toward something you’ve cared about for a long time. If I revisit the campaign at all, it’ll be to show friends how far the storytelling has drifted from what Call of Duty once excelled at.
Still, I’m not giving up on Treyarch or Raven Software. These studios are capable of extraordinary work. They’ve crafted some of the greatest campaign experiences this franchise has ever seen. They can absolutely bounce back, whether that next attempt arrives in 2028, 2029, or 2030. I’m rooting for that rebound. I want to see the spark again. I want the focus, the cohesion, the emotional punch that made the series great.
As a lifelong fan, watching Black Ops 7 miss the mark is saddening. But maybe that sadness is its own form of loyalty. You only feel this way when you’ve spent decades caring.
In its current form, the Black Ops 7 campaign stands as one of the weakest in Call of Duty history. I played it. I finished it. But I don’t plan to return.
And I hope the next one remembers what made this franchise unforgettable.
