Throughout its lifetime, the Call of Duty franchise has produced numerous first-person shooter titles, most of which have been well received. However, there's no denying that the quality of its more modern titles is a clear downgrade from what came many years earlier, to the extent that many longtime fans have become extremely vocal, expressing considerable anger and disappointment.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a recent example that highlights this problem, as it has the unfortunate honor of being the lowest-scoring game in the franchise. While it's expected that new entries will often fall short, this one in particular fell so far short that even diehard loyalists have shown frustration.
So, what is it about Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 that has made many fans so angry and even lose hope in the franchise? To start, the game has failed to cater to those who have no desire to play with others and want a single-player experience.
That's what the campaign is meant to provide, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 handled it in the worst possible way by making it playable only online and as a shared co-op experience. This means if you want to enjoy the story and get the most value out of it, which is already a huge disappointment on its own, you'll need an internet connection and pair up with either your buddies or random strangers who've purchased the game.
This, along with other problems such as being unable to pause the game, being booted out for being idle, and enemies and objectives being significantly harder to deal with when playing solo, has sparked rightful outrage from fans. It goes against everything Call of Duty campaigns are supposed to be: something fun for the people who don't want to play with others.
Aside from that, what's really irking fans is how Black Ops 7 continues the franchise's downward spiral by deviating further from its semi-realistic military essence, even more so than previous entries. For one, it uses AI-generated artwork for things like calling cards, posters, and reward icons, making them look cartoonish and over-the-top, which is not something a gritty game like Call of Duty should have.
Another is that it continues on the path of adding in cosmetics that have no place in a first-person military-style shooter. Good examples would be Operator skins like Hellborne and Aether Assembly, as they look like something you'd see in Fortnite rather than Call of Duty. There are more just like them, which shows the franchise's persistence in trying to cater to more than just their core audience, much to most people's dismay.
But what I think is the biggest source of everyone's anger is how the game ventures into surrealism in its campaign. This is no more evident than in the infamous Harper and Nightmare boss fights, where players are expected to take on a comically gigantic soldier and an eldritch abomination.
Aside from having to whittle down their huge health pool, which is already a problem in itself, there are also things like having to find weak points or dodging attacks the same way you would in a platforming game's boss. They have no right to be in a franchise that's responsible for popularizing first-person shooters whose fictional militaristic narratives would still make sense if they took place in the real world. This is why many are so angry that Black Ops 7 has them.
There's still fun to be had with the game, as it continues to deliver the action-packed multiplayer experience that people expect from the franchise. However, it does too many things that make it feel like the Call of Duty franchise has lost its soul, and fans have made it clear they are not happy about it. Hopefully, if there is ever a future Black Ops entry after the seventh one, it learns from its predecessor's mistakes. Because if not, then there might not be any more fans for the franchise to try and please.
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