Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is the COD for 2025

Activision and Xbox finished off their showcase with the reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, though you might initially have expected it to be a Heroes reboot as a video game as Milo Ventimiglia was front and centre.

Of course, he’s not playing Peter Petrelli this time around, he’s playing David Mason, who’s leading the Black Ops team against a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else. The story is continuing the narrative threads set up within Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6, and looks like it could be bridging the divide to some of the ultra-futuristic themes of Black Ops 3. Or maybe it’s an Inception cross-over?

Speaking of which, we had an absolutely fantastic time with Black Ops 6 last year. In our review we said, “Modern Warfare had a great run, but Black Ops is now back on top in their ongoing sibling rivalry. Fluid character movement, high-tempo multiplayer, evolved Zombies co-op, and an incredible campaign come together in 2024’s most irresistible first person shooter.”

We’re once again seeing Activision going back-to-back with their Call of Duty sub-franchises, so there will be some trepidation for Black Ops 7. Modern Warfare 2 and 3 went back-to-back, and the latter really suffered for it, with a poor campaign and this unusual expansion to the multiplayer, instead of a fully new mode.

We said of Modern Warfare 3, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 isn’t an outright bad game, but it’s also not a particularly good one. Taken on its own, it’s a slightly above average first person shooter with a poor campaign, but in context, you can see how hurried and limited in scope this game really is. The multiplayer is effectively a classic map pack, Zombies and Open Combat Missions are game modes built within the existing Warzone map, and the campaign’s pacing and story come up short. It all adds up to a lacklustre experience and even a sense that Call of Duty is at risk of losing its identity.”

So… let’s hope it’s good.