The Black Ops 7 beta is a decent foundation for the full game coming next month, and Treyarch's willingness to deploy quick changes based on feedback means we're off to a good start.
Having said that, just like any other Call of Duty game, there are positives and negatives. Here are my thoughts after one day of the beta, with five left to go for changes to be made and my opinions to change.
The Good
So far, the multiplayer maps on offer have been a joy to play. They're classic three-lane maps with multiple pathways to flank or navigate vertically, and the areas where you can wall jump to get to higher vantage points are unique, at least for right now.
Black Ops 7 is also a pretty game to look at. It's bright and colorful and full of a fun near-future aesthetic that is a pleasure to look at compared to some other CoD or FPS games in general, where everything is drab, and gray or brown.
The game runs pretty well, too, especially on a PS5 Pro with 120 FPS, making for a smooth experience when utilizing the fun new wall jump mechanic, bouncing around and taking out enemies from above or their peripheral before they even know what happened.
Maybe the best part of BO7 so far, though, has been how quickly Treyarch has deployed changes based on feedback. For example, many (myself included) feel as if the time-to-kill is a bit too quick, and the dev said it will be " releasing a weapon balance pass in the coming days to adjust TTK and ensure all weapons available in the beta are competitive within both their class and their intended role within" the game.
This is good. Keep this up.
The Bad
So. Many. Doors. The maps are fine from a design standpoint, except for all those automatic doors that players inevitably camp behind and wait for someone to appear. You can trigger them by shooting them, but that involves giving away your position.
Thankfully, Treyarch has already addressed this complaint in the day two patch notes, which is excellent. I shudder to think about what classic maps like Raid will be like if there are doors like this everywhere. Only five of BO7's 16 six-vs-six maps have automatic doors, according to Treyarch, but the dev is making changes already, including:
- Forcing specific automatic doors to remain open from the start of the match.
- Increasing the time automatic doors remain open before they close.
- Increasing the distance a player needs to be from the door before it will automatically open.
- Players can still shoot the automatic doors to open them.
The Sweaty and Ugly
For the love of all that is holy, this game is fucking sweaty. Every single match feels like the grand finals of a CDL tournament, and this is just something that we have to accept, apparently. Skill-based matchmaking is a thing, no matter how much Activision downplays it, and CoD is no longer a game you can kick back and relax with friends on.
This is the main reason why my friend groups have all moved on from CoD. Trying to play the game while chatting and having fun means getting absolutely curb-stomped by Scump and the OpTic squad and having to "lock in" every round. It's exhausting. It's utterly unenjoyable at times.
I won't harp on this too much because SBMM (and EOMM) have been talked about ad nauseam, and it's not going away. Part of my struggles with the game are my increasing age and declining skill level (it happens to all of us), but man, it really sucks to immediately get punished by the system for having a decent game or two.
Players of mid-tier skill level and above all especially feel it, while the vast majority of casual players are protected by it in their lobbies to keep them in the game and playing. It is what it is, and that's why I don't play CoD for fun much anymore.
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The post Black Ops 7 beta impressions: The Good, The Bad, and the painful Skill-Based Matchmaking that plagues Call of Duty appeared first on Destructoid.
