The Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 campaign was marketed as a continuation of Black Ops 2, promising familiar characters and locations. However, expectations quickly turned to disappointment when it was revealed that the campaign would be a co-op experience. The last time the series attempted a co-op campaign, Black Ops 3, the result was widely criticized. Unfortunately, Black Ops 7 has only added fuel to the fire, delivering what many are calling one of the worst campaigns in the franchise’s history. Some players argue that buying access to a legit CoD BO7 Bot Lobby is the only way to get through the campaign's tedious missions, especially since the narrative fails to hold their interest.

Despite having access to the game for free via Xbox Game Pass, many players, including those who have seen the full campaign through online sources, have opted not to even bother playing it. What makes this particularly baffling is that Black Ops 7 continues the storyline of Black Ops 2, one of the most beloved entries in the series. Instead of building on that foundation, the game takes a bizarre, uninspired direction, leaving long-time fans shaking their heads in disbelief.

One of the most jarring aspects of the Black Ops 7 campaign is its reliance on over-the-top, often nonsensical action sequences. Boss fights in the game bear a striking resemblance to Resident Evil—with giant, mutated creatures and glowing weak spots—but they feel out of place in a Call of Duty title. Even the dialogue from the game’s villain, Kagen, has been described as painfully cliché, further undermining the experience. The inclusion of characters like Menendez, Mason, and Harper from Black Ops 2 only highlights how poorly they have been handled. The game's narrative feels completely disconnected from the original story, taking beloved characters and transforming them into caricatures.

The Black Ops 7 campaign also suffers from issues with game design and technical execution. While the game is designed as a co-op experience, solo players are left with a strange, disjointed experience. When playing alone, players control only David Mason, while the other squad members remain silent figments of the player’s imagination, unable to assist in combat. This marks a significant regression for the franchise, where even the earliest Call of Duty titles featured AI companions that added depth to solo campaigns.

The online-only structure of the campaign compounds these problems. Players are forced to stay connected to the internet to progress, even in single-player mode. If a connection is lost, or if a player simply needs to take a break, they are kicked out of the game with no option to pause. This results in the frustrating experience of having to restart missions due to temporary inactivity, which feels like a step backward for a series that traditionally focused on seamless, offline gameplay.

Additionally, there are no checkpoints for players who lose connection or wish to pause the game during cutscenes, further highlighting the game’s failure to respect its players' time. Players can even be matched with others during cutscenes, leading to awkward moments where in-game chat from other players interrupts key narrative moments. This online-centric design, aimed at syncing the campaign with multiplayer progression, detracts from the overall experience, making it feel more like a grind than an engaging story.

Another major issue is the constant inclusion of Warzone mechanics, which feel out of place in a traditional Call of Duty campaign. From armor plates to tanky enemies and weapon rarities, the game pushes the Warzone format at every turn, even in solo missions. This is particularly disappointing for fans of the series who expect a grounded, action-packed campaign rather than a Battle Royale-style experience. The constant nostalgia-baiting—reusing locations from previous Black Ops games like the Veruda Prison Escape—feels hollow, as these familiar settings are reduced to lifeless, uninspired recreations that fail to capture the magic of the original missions.

Many players have voiced that even if they overlook the problematic campaign, the game's endgame mechanics offer little to redeem it. The so-called Warzone-like progression system eventually boils down to a tedious camo grind, a feature that was never a highlight of the series to begin with. The entire experience feels mechanical, lacking the heart and soul that made earlier Call of Duty campaigns so memorable.

In conclusion, Black Ops 7 represents a significant low point for the Call of Duty franchise. The campaign is a lackluster, lazy effort that fails to build on the potential of its predecessors. It is disappointing to see how far the series has strayed from the narrative-driven, action-packed campaigns that once defined it. For fans who were hoping for a meaningful continuation of the Black Ops storyline, Black Ops 7 offers only frustration and a sense of missed opportunity. The game serves as a reminder of how badly Call of Duty has faltered in recent years, and it's hard to imagine how they could possibly sink lower.