admin When I think of Call of Duty missions, my mind goes to big blockbuster moments and curated setpieces that tickle my brain in the right way. The Black Ops 7 campaign is a different beast entirely. Leaving behind the mostly linear nature of last year’s story, Black Ops 7 is the series once again flirting with a pseudo-open-world structure, alongside four-player co-op. It’s one of the most creatively bizarre four or so hours I’ve endured in COD history, but the real surprise is the game’s performance on handheld PCs.
Earlier this year, you may recall that the ROG Xbox Ally reveal stated that any game showcased on the console can run on it. That includes Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, a direct sequel to both Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6, which sees Treyarch and Raven Software teaming up once again. Saying it can perform on the handheld is one thing, but seeing it in practice is another. With rumours before launch that this year’s entry is trying to go bigger with a sprawling co-op adventure set in the forthcoming Warzone map, Avalon, I wondered whether it might be too taxing technically.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, despite its often frustrating netcode, runs decent enough on my ROG Ally Z1e. It stutters infrequently, but it’s something I can live with. This time around, my netcode woes are mostly squashed out, but I’m genuinely surprised at how optimised Black Ops 7 is. If it wasn’t clear, the brand-new FPS game is part of a push to highlight the ROG Xbox Ally’s appeal. Microsoft outright calls it out, listing “ROG Xbox Ally handhelds” alongside the smattering of platforms it’s releasing on. For the first time since Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified on the PlayStation Vita, there’s an effort to let you know COD is going portable this year.
So what are we looking at settings-wise for Black Ops 7? While booting up the game defaults to a mixture of low and medium settings, I’m finding that the game can easily handle medium to high settings across different toggles. There’s the usual selection of upscalers and the ability to use frame generation, of course. I’m running Black Ops 7 at 1080p, hitting a mostly stable 60fps. While there is some artifacting in some areas, it’s a solid experience playing on the small screen.
As for the campaign itself, where do I begin? Call of Duty’s attempts to mix open-ended gameplay aren’t new. Black Ops Cold War’s ‘Desperate Measures’ is the series’ version of a Hitman mission, while Modern Warfare 3’s open-combat missions explore big arenas with fleeting objectives. Black Ops 6 mostly opts for the blockbuster approach, albeit with one or two moments that threaten to reintroduce those previously mentioned concepts.
After Black Ops 3’s four-player narrative, Treyarch has wanted to create an all-out co-op campaign again since Black Ops 4, too, as that game’s scrapped story would have explored that idea. A decade later, we’re back to square one. It’s just so creatively strange. The weird and outlandish moments you’re likely seeing on TikTok are admittedly fun in the moment, but it isn’t serving the game’s story well. Flip-flopping between boring “hold this area” objectives and more traditional action moments never comes together in the ideal way. None of it screams that it’s a Call of Duty game.
Cherry-picking locations and moments from the Black Ops halls of fame doesn’t exactly help things either. Despite claiming that it’s been in development alongside Black Ops 6, the whole thing stinks of asset flips. That isn’t uncommon in gaming, and it can be really well without you caring most of the time. Just look at something like Elden Ring: Nightreign, for example. Here, the need to revisit maps from Black Ops 6 as part of the narrative just feels uninspired.
I won’t spoil the ending itself, but things quickly move into Endgame, Call of Duty’s second try since DMZ to make a Tarkov-style extraction shooter. What happened here? Either way, at least it doesn’t run terribly.
