In my first three hours playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, I sprinted across over half a dozen well-designed maps, gunning down foes and capturing objectives. Its core mechanics are as silky smooth here as they’ve been over the last 20 years. But in the middle of a match on the snowy, multi-laned map Homestead, I had the epiphany that I was totally on autopilot. I couldn’t remember any particularly interesting moments that had happened in the time I’d sunk into the game so far. And in a year where popular multiplayer games have become increasingly about moments, this felt odd.
Anytime I sat down to play Black Ops 7, I couldn’t say I was excited to do so. That’s not to say I didn't have fun. In typical Call of Duty fashion, there are enough modes and oddities to make this worth the $70 asking price for those still hooked on this annualized series and ready to pump another 1,000 hours into its live service.
