My Thoughts on the Black Ops 7 Campaign: Casual Gamer Perspective

Earlier this week, I finally wrapped up the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign and unlocked Endgame! As a casual player who runs a campaign once and then moves on, I wanted to share my honest impressions, especially since there seems to be a lot of strong opinions on this campaign.

There are slight spoilers ahead....proceed at your own risk!

A Casual Player's Take: Why All the Hate?

Overall? The campaign was decent for what it was. I genuinely don’t understand the level of hate it’s getting. I’m not someone who tracks years of COD lore or debates which title had the “best campaign ever.” I drop in, enjoy the ride, and head back to multiplayer and Warzone with friends.

But one pattern did stand out: the loudest criticism about BO7 is coming from the same folks who disliked Black Ops 3. And what did those two have in common? Co-op campaigns. Is this the real issue? Do people simply not like co-op campaigns in COD?

Personally, I think co-op is fun; but it definitely has its quirks.

The "Sci-Fi" Factor

If I'm being honest, some of the high-tech, sci-fi elements weren’t my favorite. COD doesn’t need to go full “cyber future soldier” to be compelling. I've always preferred the realism of some of the past campaigns.

BUT, the concept of being hunted by your past traumas was actually pretty cool. Having to fight your past fears and regrets by being forced to revisit those moments was a nice touch. Looking beyond the game, this is a great point to launch a discussion on PTSD and dealing with past traumas.

Where the Campaign Frustrated Me

Interestingly enough, most of my complaints had nothing to do with the story. 1. No Mid-Mission Save Points in Co-Op

There don’t seem to be any save points in the co-op campaign. So what should’ve been a quick wrap-up turned into an extra 30 minutes of “we can’t stop now or we’ll have to start over.” Not ideal.

2. No NPC Fill

When you play co-op, you either fill with a random, or have no fill at all. I'm pretty sure in the past we had an friendly squad of bots to help out. We had a random player who didn’t keep the same pace as our Discord squad, which made the missions feel clunky at times. A basic AI stand-in would’ve solved the issue completely.

3. Campaign Length (Or… the Speed of Four People)

The campaign felt pretty short to me. It might just be because four of us were running and gunning through it, but it definitely went quicker than I expected. All and all, I still had fun. I played MEDIC and loved strategizing with the team to balance our perks. Crash Cart to instantly revive downed teammates, while someone else decimated the waves of enemy combatants with the war machine.

Ready for Endgame!

As soon as we finished the campaign it launched us into Endgame. I signed off, but will be playing that soon. Only the party leader needs it unlocked so looking forward to Squading Up with some Lounge Kats and seeing you in Avalon

If you played the Black Ops 7 campaign, what did you think? Want to really keep the conversation going? Or looking for other adult gamers? Check out our Discord community for adult gamers.