It's time to wake up
After a couple of weeks with the latest Call of Duty, I have now played enough to settle
into my annual camo grind, and I feel confident declaring that the multiplayer portion of
Black Ops 7 is great. I have had an absolute blast thanks to solid maps, the awesome updated Omnimove system
and the choice to play either skill-based or traditional matches. It is not without its flaws, however
However, mid-match levers have been a real problem in the default matchmaking, and while
all of the guns feel really good, none of them really stand out for me, but the things
I like and some parts I downright love far outweigh the things I don't
So, since skill-based matchmaking is the most contentious subject around this year's Call
of Duty, I'm going to address it right here at the start. I believe swapping out skill-based matchmaking as the default setting is great and also it
sucks. It's a real Schrodinger's COD situation. The biggest win for everyone, however, is
the fact that you have a choice The freedom to switch between these modes whenever you want is fantastic especially because I often found traditional non matchmaking to be a very humbling
and sometimes frustrating experience. First, a little background for those unaware. This year
Treyarch bucked tradition by having matchmaking lobbies where skill is minimally considered be
the default, and the difference in terms of play experience is pretty substantial. You might find
yourself in a lobby of complete boneheads who you can easily beat or you might be paired with god
tier players who dominate and when that happens it tends to not be very fun there is something to be
said however about playing against people above your skill level if you want to get better you
gotta do it michael jordan didn't get so good at basketball by only practicing against the high
school team but on the flip side i am the high school basketball player and now i'm loading into
to a lobby with the 1996 Chicago Bulls. I love being able to learn from this superhuman level of play
but after a match or two of coming in dead last, I'm ready to find a new lobby
And I know I'm not the only one. I see at least one or two people drop out frequently
in the default lobbies, and it feels like other players are getting frustrated faster and more consistently In one extreme case my team had multiple players of exceptional skill and the other team just failed By the end of the match it was six versus one
and it turned an exciting win into basically a huge letdown. This is something I have never seen happen in a COD before this one
Does this mean I think including non-skill-based matchmaking was a mistake? No
but only because you could still go back to the old style. I do hope Treyarch decides to flip
which is the default in a post-launch patch and at least we finally get to see what it's like
after all these years of debate. The best part though is having both options
means everyone can be happy. Just kidding, this is Call of Duty
There's gonna be unhappy people no matter what. All right, now that we got the boring stuff out of the way
let's talk about the guns. Black Ops 7 is the first COD I can think of
where I haven't gravitated toward a single dominant weapon for my playstyle, but that's more of a testament
to how they generally feel really good across the board, even if none of them give me that past feeling of
oh yeah, this is the one I'm gonna grind first. One surprise though, is the Mark 78 LMG
I have always enjoyed the LMGs but this one is ridiculous I can score kills from halfway across a map like Retrieval with ease It kind of my favorite gun at the moment
and I expect some manner of nerf in the future, honestly. I feel the same way about the M8A1 Marksman Rifle
A well-aimed three-round burst can usually dispatch an opponent with ease no matter where you are on the map
And if you've seen any of my past COD reviews, you know I hate sniper rifles and the people who use them
But for whatever reason, I'm actually enjoying the Shadow SK this time
It's fun and I'm good at it, which makes me naturally assume there's something wrong with it
The only disappointment are the SMGs, which don't seem to work at anything but super close range this year
I'm hoping when I get deep into my camo grinds, I'll find some combination that feels right
But for now, they're very uninspired. But here's the thing about Call of Duty. The guns are always baseline good
good. They figured this formula out a long time ago. With the exception of the SMGs, this relative
equality of quality across the board is one of the more impressive parts of this series
even if it means I haven't found a standout daily driver for this year
It's ultimately a good problem to have. Oh no, I like almost all of these guns. Oh boo