- Luke Stephens' Newsletter
- Posts
- š®ļø Black Ops 7 Broke My Spirit
š®ļø Black Ops 7 Broke My Spirit
I dove into the Black Ops 7 campaign and emerged with emotional damage - hereās everything else that happened this week.
Good morning!
Iām back again to wade chest-deep into the gaming industry so you donāt have to. This week I strapped myself into the Black Ops 7 campaign to find out if itās really as bad as everyone says. Spoiler: my PC is now in therapy.
In this edition, weāve got:
A Call of Duty campaign that forgets what a ācampaignā is
Studios breaking up, shutting down, or āconfusing the gameplayā
And one very spicy Zelda movie leak š
Hereās everything you need to know this week in the world of gaming - buckle up, itās a fun one. Want your game in front of 11,000+ passionate gamers and industry decision makers? Get in touch.
Iām thinking about adding a new tier to the newsletter - Would you be interested in more deep-dive essays, behind-the-scenes breakdowns, and spicy takes on the biggest releases and industry drama.
(Your vote helps me decide if I should double down on essays⦠or keep yelling about GTA delays and quick news)
Would You Be Into Industry & Game Deep Dives? |
TOP STORY
𤯠I Tried the Black Ops 7 Campaign to See If It's That Badā¦
Short answer? Yeah. Long answer? Oh boy.
Call of Dutyās latest campaign arrives dressed like a normal campaign but secretly functions like a half-converted multiplayer mode. Itās always-online, refuses to pause even in solo play, andāmy personal favoriteāoffers zero checkpoints. If your internet sneezes, youāre replaying the whole mission. Peak innovation, folks.
So what is this campaign trying to be?
Thus begins your journey through:
surreal hallucination battles,
Inception-style folding cities,
a kaiju boss fight (yes, really),
and even a mission where zombies are on your team pushing a payload like some bizarro Overwatch fanfic.
Itās weird. Itās wild. And somehow⦠still boring.
Mechanically?
Itās wave-based shooting with enemies that feel copy-pasted from the Zombies and MP modes. The levels look niceācredit where dueābut the structure feels 2008 in the worst way.
And since the whole thing is glued together like a co-op horde mode, it just⦠isnāt a real Call of Duty campaign. Not in feel, not in pacing, not in soul.
Speaking of soulā¦
The vibes are corporate cold brew, and the freshly discovered AI-generated art in achievements does not help. Nothing says āpremium $70 blockbuster experienceā like quest icons that look straight out of a confused Studio Ghibli generator.
The Verdict
Lookātrying something new is great. But Black Ops 7ās campaign feels like a committee-approved fever dream that forgot to be fun. When the highlight is āat least the environments are different,ā you know weāre in trouble.
For a ~4-hour experience, itās short enough not to ruin your week⦠but long enough to make you question some life choices.
Meanwhile, games like Arc Raiders and Battlefield 6 are actually eating CODās lunch on Twitchāwhich might finally force COD to wake up and try again next year.
Until then: hug your backlog, it deserves better.
LATEST NEWS
QUICK LINKS
š§© Industry & Business
š® Game Updates & Development
ā ļø Controversies & Censorship
š„ Studio Drama & Hot Takes
Thanks for reading - until next time!
Hugs and kisses,
Buh-bye! š
Luke