Black Ops 7 wants to be an interconnected social hub unlike any previous Call of Duty. Alongside the returning online staples of multiplayer and co-op Zombies, there's a co-op campaign – the first since Black Ops 3 – to shake up the usual single-player explosion fest and Cold War-inspired paranoia that the Call of Duty sub-series is known for. It's an understandable change made to meet these social goals but, as a sucker for online co-op, it's also a welcome one – until you start playing.
Playing the co-op campaign with pals can be quite fun, in spite of its bizarre hallucination set-pieces and lackluster gunfights against both the bellicose Guild and ravenous nightmare creatures. But that doesn't distract from the levels that are obvious mashups of ready-made assets and ideas lifted from other co-op shooters, like Destiny 2. Then, after a first credits fakeout, you're unceremoniously dropped into even more Black Ops 7 and you find out where it's all leading. You thought always-online, no-pausing, no-checkpointing, health-bar-chipping action was annoying? You ain't seen nothing yet, soldier.
