The campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was supposed to be special, but shortly after release, fans realize: It has big problems.
What kind of campaign is this? The campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 brings back a legendary villain from the shooter series and is also fully cooperative, playable with up to 4 players.
At the end of the story, which consists of 11 missions and takes players to various locations, the endgame of the campaign is unlocked in the form of a new 12th mission. During the campaign and in its endgame, you can level up your weapons, but the goal is to play your operator to level 60.
Black Ops 7 is thus the first Call of Duty to have an endgame for the campaign. This was supposed to be the big, special innovation and a highlight, but the first players express strong criticism.
The Black Ops 7 campaign makes a mistake that many gamers hate
What mistake does the campaign make? A few hours after the release of Black Ops 7, the first players complain in a gaming forum on resetera that the campaign has no save points (checkpoints) and no pause function, kicks AFK players, and requires an (always online) connection.
Also on Reddit, players express a similar tone. One user calls the entire campaign a big step back compared to the campaign of Black Ops 6.
Why does this bother so many players? Even in multiplayer games like Call of Duty, players often have a recurring demand for the campaign: it must be playable solo offline.
Especially the online requirement is regularly a thorn in the players’ side and repeatedly causes heated emotions, not only due to the often accompanying lack of a pause function.
- Blizzard’s Diablo 4 also received criticism for the online requirement.
- Also, the failed coop shooter Payday 3 had the online requirement as a major point of criticism.
- Even in survival games like Nightingale, players wished not to have to be online all the time. The developers have now responded to this request and provided Nightingale with an offline mode.
A part of the criticism of the online requirement is that games are therefore unplayable when a player’s internet fails. Especially a campaign should be able to function offline and solo for many gamers.
The topic became particularly heated when Ubisoft shut down the servers of the racing game The Crew, because the game then was no longer playable for players who purchased it on disk. It simply disappeared from the libraries of former buyers. A similar fate now threatens EA’s loot shooter Anthem.
What else is criticized about the BO7 campaign? Another major point of criticism associated with the coop campaign is the solo gameplay (cf. Reddit).
In coop mode, you and your friends take on the roles of various team members to support David Mason. In solo mode, however, you are completely on your own in battles. You do not get any NPC companions that control Mason’s comrades in battle. However, those operators still talk to you and appear in cutscenes – so they are somehow present, just not by your side in the fight.
If you are not one of the first players of Black Ops 7 and are still considering whether or not to buy the game, some basic information about the shooter might interest you: 10 things you need to know before buying Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
