For many, Call of Duty is strictly an online multiplayer experience, but outside Black Ops 4, every COD release has included a campaign, usually around five-to-seven hours in length. They’re not groundbreaking by any means, but over time, players have softened up on them, with some recognizing that the stories are actually pretty good!
Sadly, based on the early impressions, the Black Ops 7 campaign won’t fall into that “beloved” territory, as it’s being heavily criticized by fans. Things are bad enough that the game is sitting at “Mixed” on Steam, with many of those critiques being pointed at the campaign. Now, COD fans are wondering how things got so bad for their favorite game.
Listen, Call Of Duty Has Never Had Oscar-Worthy Writing, But It Was Never This Bad
One thing that doesn’t seem to sit well with fans is that the campaign, as it’s constructed, is essentially a build-up to the extraction shooter mode that unlocks after completing the first 11 missions. If you’re a fan of the campaign, it’s understandably frustrating that it’s all a build-up of something you’re not likely to be interested in, just like Modern Warfare 3 was.
“The mode just feels like a commercial for Warzone/ Extraction,” one person wrote.
Another person had a more in-depth explanation of how things went wrong, which seems to be a Black Ops-specific issue. “It feels like the new team saw the original BO1’s ‘What do the numbers mean, Mason?’ and the original BO3’s ‘Train go boom’ and just flanderised the series. We see it with BOCW’s ‘We’ve got a job to do’ as well. Even the original BO2 only lightly touched on it/referenced it.”
“It’s honestly wild not hating, but I feel like they completely lost the plot and what the fans want,” one gamer added. “I feel like they are over complicating it way too much.”
Reading through the complaints, of which there are dozens upon dozens, it seems like baking the extraction shooter mode into the campaign was a miss. More than anything, it seems like the team misinterpreted what fans liked about the original Black Ops 1, 2, and 3 campaigns. They were chock-full of mystery, intrigue, conspiracy theories and more, but they didn’t necessarily make that their entire M.O.
It’s a delicate balance that seemingly hasn’t been struck, leading to frustration from those who’ve been following the Black Ops story since its release in 2010.
“I think that the writers have been overusing the traditional Black Ops mindf—ery. It would really help to only use it for like 1 to 2 missions… not the whole f—– campaign,” one person succinctly wrote.
As it stands, this will likely be our last trip through Black Ops for some time, as it’s rumored that Call of Duty 2026 will be a Modern Warfare 4 game that is set between North and South Korea. It is, however, expected to have futuristic technology, if that’s a deal breaker for you, according to reports. Whatever the case may be, it certainly can’t be any worse than what fans are currently seeing right now.
- Released
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November 14, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs
