Call of Duty’s Latest Announcement Takes Us Full Circle: Mixed Emotions Ahead

Okay, so let’s dive into this crazy world of Call of Duty campaigns, the kind that keep coming at us year after year. Well, except for that one time in 2018, but who’s keeping track? Some of them have been, well, pretty epic. Think about CoD 4 – the whole nuke thing? Mind-blowing. And “All Ghillied Up”? Don’t even get me started. Modern Warfare 2 cranked things up even higher with set pieces that are basically legend now, and who can forget the infamous “No Russian”? It’s edgy stuff.

Now, Black Ops? That’s my jam. The twists, the whole historical vibe – feels like they really got me. Did they innovate? You bet. The thought of Black Ops 7 going even further? Makes me wonder if I’m excited or freaked out. Seriously.

You’ve got Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer doing their thing all traditional-like, but Treyarch? Raven? Those guys are throwing curveballs every time. BO2 gave us choices (multiple endings, what?!), BO3 introduced skill trees and co-op. BO Cold War tossed in side quests. And Black Ops 6 gave us this trippy mission with Zombies easter eggs. Now, rumor has it, we’re heading into some kind of extraction shooter scenario. Not sure if I’m thrilled or anxious – maybe a bit of both.

But hey, remember Black Ops 4? They had this crazy idea once to blend multiplayer and singleplayer – a mode internally dubbed career. It was ambitious, mixing it up with multiplayer victories affecting the narrative, but alas, it never saw the light of day. Now Black Ops 7’s campaign is borrowing from that idea. Bigger scale or not, it could be wild.

Some inside scoop says the last mission’s gonna be a jaw-dropper. Like, shifting the whole gear. The first 11 missions? Classic four-player co-op. But the final one? A 32-player extraction shooter. I’m trying to wrap my head around it. I mean, I’ve dabbled in the extraction shooter genre. Battlefield 2042’s Hazard Zone flopped, yet here I am, intrigued enough to give BO7’s take a shot. CoD’s gunplay? Smoother than my first attempts at driving stick. Maybe it’ll take off. Could be the fresh juice the creators need to lure in those multiplayer fans who’ve ignored campaigns so far. But there’s that nagging thought that it might lack… something.

Here’s a thought that’s gnawing at me: What if it loses the special sauce that makes Call of Duty campaigns sparkle? Think set pieces—those big cinematic moments that stick in your brain like a good tune. Without ’em, what have you got? It’s like Warzone just swallowing BO7 whole, with Raul Menendez possibly MIA at the last, crucial chapter. Who’s gonna miss dialogue cues and badass character arcs? Um, this guy.

Then I start thinking, how anticlimactic will it feel knowing the final mission’s outcome is a lock? Secure the thingamajig, bounce on a chopper… seen it, done it. And the lack of flashy action we love? If it’s just bridging it with multiplayer content, some epic, defining moments might be abandoned.

So it seems Treyarch’s attempting resurrection, blending this hybrid mold. Noble cause, kind of a second chance for BO4’s scrapped dreams. But here’s hoping it doesn’t wreck the rest. We don’t need another BO6 fiasco with Warzone’s messy story follow-up. Nervous vibes are in the air for David Mason’s latest gig, hoping there’s not just more content, but it’s got the punch where it counts. Keep those fingers crossed.